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I'm enjoying a nice 4-day weekend. Working on finishing my maple/redwood build and started a Mac Ebony as well. I was going to FP the top and tru oil the rest but I've been so happy with the way the tru oil has turned out so far I decided to do the whole thing with it because I don't have a guitar to play right now and it's driving me insane!



Laminating Mac Ebony sides

Wow, that is wild maple! The True Oil finish looks good.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Wow! Fantastic, Joey!
The woods are gorgeous!
I've never used Tru-Oil, but your results look great. I think I'll give it a try.

We were blessed with 65F Sat and Sun.
I almost finished a hollow-body Tele. Just need to cut the neck pocket and locate the pickups.
I made a neck that's nearly finished. I cut and planed down some Mesquite for fingerboards.
Man, Tele's are so easy and fun to build. I hope to keep this one: I gave all of my others away.
Well, back to my real job tomorrow.

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Thanks, for the nice comments. Luckily you can't see much detail! The finish goes on well but it's really highlighting the many mistakes of my overly ambitious wood choices/purfling and binding scheme. It has been a great learning experience though. I have sister sets of this maple and the redwood as well. I used it because these were some of my cheaper sets that I have since I milled them myself. However, I am regretting using these woods right now as the learning curve was steeper than I had anticipated. I didn't realize how soft redwood is, I marred it just running the binding cutter jig around the top. And the maple was a chore to bend and the sides potato chipped. Lots of mistakes on this thing but it's just for me to play for a while so no big deal. I hope to revisit this design down the line and build the same guitar without all the errors. Definitely will be laminating the sides next time- no doubt about it. In fact I think I am going to laminate all sides from now on lol.

Dan let's see some pics of that Tele!

Just finished up my first uke. It's a gift for my son, though I'm not letting him touch it till he's 18.

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Aaron Craig

Very nice, Aaron - I hope your son is 17!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

18!? That's a loooong time to wait. I learned to play guitar when I was about 13-14 I think. I wish I had started a little younger. Nice Uke!

#3 & 4 ready for the finish room. I don't actually have a 'finish room' but I do like the sound of that. Go Seattle!

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

He's 2. He already has lower quality options he can beat on now. I may not make him wait till 18, but it will be a while.

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Aaron Craig

Nice Aaron! I bet your son will cherish and pass it along to the next generation.
Doug, I've never seen a double cut-away acoustic - cool! The fret board end cut is neat!

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What you are looking at there is an Irish Bouzouki...sort of a double octave mandolin, sort of.

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Finishing up dressing the ends of the frets on my busted zircote fret board. Finally got it all fixed, but had to pretty much grind all the barbs off the frets, then glue them in place. Seem to be holding fine, at least they survived getting the ends filed down!

Patched all those chip outs with dust off the fingerboard and super glue. Only disappointment was the super glue turned the dust black. If it had been a lighter color, the patches would have been invisible.

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

Choosing woods to do a build class with George Leach of the Phoenix Guitar Co.

Going to build a 12 string with Ziricote and a Sitka Bearclaw top

Trying to clean up the shop so I can actually get in there to work

Nice work guys!

Level sanded and buffed.

Gil thats looking incredible Needs a neck.

Thanks Greg. I have some sand-throughs to deal with on the neck!

I finally get to add something to one of these threads! Well I'm making good on my 2014 resolution to complete a scratch build. This weekend I pulled out some reject wood that I got from Martin a while back and did a couple of practice bends. I've never bent before and I have to save it went quite well, but it helps to have good information out there like on this site and John Hall's videos. It went so well I was tempted to start bending all of the wood in my shop! After I got the confidence and the process worked out, I bent a pair of sides for my scratch build. I didn't realize that there was a little wax on the end of the first side and well I learned that under the heat of bending, the wax would be drawn in to the side more. Most of it will be cut off when I trim the side. Anyhow, on the second side, I cut the end off before bending and there was no issue. Here are a few pictures of what I did and my too helpers!

I just bent my first set of sides last night. This Panama RW is a dream to work with!

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Brad

Congrats! We're in the same boat!

Strung up my latest. Maca B&S, sitka top with black heart sassafrass rosette and details.

Shane

French polishing a baritone guitar, and restoring a 1920's banjo ukulele.

As the finish goes on, I am realizing my purfling scheme was too ambitious given my skill level. Oh well, it's a learning experience. Once the finish on the guitar is done, I'll glue on the bridge and set it up. I really don't know what it will sound like, but I have some hopes.

The banjo ukulele needed a replacement friction peg, a new bridge, strings, and set up. While doing the work I realized it had never been played--the action at the nut was impossibly high, and there was no wear from playing on the frets or any other part. I'm pretty sure this uke was a going away gift to someone from all his/her friends. While the owner never played it, he or she kept it carefully for many decades. It came me from an eBay seller who bought it at an estate sale. It sounds good, and it really shows the character of its time. I'm happy to have it.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

I really enjoy seeing these posts.
Thanks guys, incredible builds!

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Finally wired and put together a temperature controller with a fancy rosewood enclosure. I should have bought or built one of these years ago.

Me too! I've had the parts sitting in the shop for about two years now, same controller too. But I don't think I can spring for the rosewood enclosure.

Nothing guitar related going on here, but I am working on a pinewood derby car with my son. It is going to be the coolest car at the event, in my humble opinion.

The painting is a bit sloppy but the kid is 6. Give him a break, ok?

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC