Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:40 am


All times are UTC - 5 hours


Forum rules


Be Nice to our new friends! Remember, everybody starts somewhere!




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:34 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:06 am
Posts: 271
First name: Roy L
Last Name: Smith
City: Apache Junction
State: Az
Zip/Postal Code: 85119
Country: USA
Focus: Repair
Status: Amateur
First kit guitar. Getting ready to do a center strip on the outside of the back. What I have is a rosewood strip, about 0.160"wide and .038" deep, bounded on both sides by a similar strip of cherry, although a little taller, about 0.060" high, then BWB on both outsides edges, 0.040" wide by 0.080 or so tall, I forget that number, but it's irrelevant to my current question(s). On a practice hunk of mahog, I routed a channel that's about 0.479" wide and 0.034" deep. Dry fitting shows it's a pretty tight fit, all except a couple of inches at the lower bout that have a bit of a gap I'd estimate to be a little more than 0.010". So I'm thinking some ebony sanding dust, but I'm not clear on the best process for one of not so considerable talent.

What I'm thinking is I'll do is a little shellac in the channel after routing, dry fit all the parts, taped down crosswise so they're stable, but with gaps between the tape that let me use CA and Accelerator to stabilize the components in the channel leaving space(s?) where I see a gap. In the area where I have a gap ( I think it's only one), should I:
1. Use titebond hoping the wood strips will swell a little, then press in the ebony sanding powder? Or
2. Fill the gaps with the ebony powder first and then some light CA
3. Develop some fixture that lets me CA the wood strips together first? That freaks me out a bit.
4. Use some process y'all have had success with that I dunno...

I do know it's gonna be a tight fit that will probably need a little judicious tapping in most of the channel.
Thanks in advance for any advice. Roy


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:25 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:41 pm
Posts: 316
Location: Trois-Rivieres
First name: Alain
Last Name: Lambert
City: Trois-Rivieres
State: Quebec
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
If understand correctly, the gap is in your practice piece of mahog. You have not routed your back yet.
Then the gap is caused by an uneven width of one (or some) of the strips or by some wandering of the router.
What I would do is rout the back a little narrower and sand one( or the two cherry) so the strip acomodate the channel.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:16 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member

Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:26 pm
Posts: 455
First name: Carl
Last Name: Dickinson
City: Forest Ranch
State: California
Zip/Postal Code: 95942
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Roy, is the back glued together yet? I usually glue the strip between the halves joining them all at once.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:53 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:46 pm
Posts: 2124
First name: Freeman
Last Name: Keller
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
I do the same as Carl - sandwich the back stripe between the two pieces of the back. Sometimes it is a little thinner - I just push it down against the backing board and then cover the inside with the cross grain reinforcement. If the insert is thicker than the back it can be sanded down.

I know people do join the back and then route a channel for the backstrap, I think that is doable but I've never done it.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 6:59 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:06 am
Posts: 271
First name: Roy L
Last Name: Smith
City: Apache Junction
State: Az
Zip/Postal Code: 85119
Country: USA
Focus: Repair
Status: Amateur
I did it the way Alain suggested, picking one of the many cherry strips I cut that made the assy a tad too large thru the middle and locked my calipers to the minimum thickness of the strip, then sanded the edges down til it just fit thru my calipers. That gave me a really tight fit I could use CA to mount. My description was on a test piece, but then I routed the real back when I figured I was close enough to make something work. I had quite a few cherry strips similar to those two and had test fitted about 5 of them in conbinations.

Image

I had enough trouble getting a light tight fit between the two plates, I can't imagine how I could use strips of wood mounted totally between the plates and get it light tight. Mebbe if I had a light box, and was using materials that were cut by a process much better than my bandsaw...For now I at least have a process I feel like I can duplicate. Thanks for the response, they were actually helpful.
Roy


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:35 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:19 am
Posts: 1322
First name: Richard
Last Name: Hutchings
City: Warwick
State: RI
Zip/Postal Code: 02889
Country: United States
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
I just went through this myself. I will probably never try to put one in after the fact again.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 12:52 pm 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:14 am
Posts: 982
Location: Shefford, Québec
First name: Tim
Last Name: Mullin
City: Shefford
State: QC
Zip/Postal Code: J2M 1R5
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
I always inlay backstrips and I’ve done them between 3 and 16 mm in width. I clamp down a heavy steel straightedge on the back as a fence and choose a cutter that is a bit smaller than the strip. After making the first cut, I can then add strips of purfling, binding and tape along the fence to shift the router as much as needed to get the required width. Some tight spots can be eased 1 or 2 thou by running through some sandpaper. Once all the parts press into place, I hit it with CA. With few exceptions, back and strip materials behave well with CA, so no need to use shellac or other sealant.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk



These users thanked the author Tim Mullin for the post: flemsmith (Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:42 pm)
Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com