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Nice! Bending is one of my favorite parts and walnut is my favorite to bend.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Thanks Bryan. I am enjoying working with walnut. All the good aspects and none of the negative ones.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Being "mathematically challenged " I need help with a problem. I have a KMG Mega mold that I had intended to use to sand my top and bottom radius on the now joined sides. I now realize the radius bar is 15'. I need a 25' radius. I don't own a dish. Ideally I would like to cut an accessory piece to add to the existing bar. Here is where I need help. How do I scribe a 25' arc on a 22" long bar? I'm assuming if I knew the center height above a straight line I could pin a flexible piece of ,maybe binding, to a sheet of paper to obtain the arc. I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Here's what I used. http://liutaiomottola.com/formulae/sag.htm It will give you the measurements to plot your curve.

Alex

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

Thanks Alex. I "believe " I found the answer. Waiting for a friend working the problem from another angle to compare. It sure good to be able to come here for help.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Moving ahead, the top and back bracing are done. This is probably my favorite part of the build. I'm working for a lightly braced active top. I spent a lot of time sanding and carving to get the tone balanced and am happy with the results. The redwood is dry and very stiff. I thinned on the lighter side, careful to not go too far. I'm expecting this guitar to be sweet sounding.









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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Quick update. Thanks to the radius issue resolution I was able to make the bar I needed to get the sides dialed in. Installed the kerfed linings today and realized there was an interesting photo op right in front of me. That's the rear wheel of my 29' model A.



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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

I'm in the process of carving the neck. It is an almost creamy colored mahogany and it doesn't go well with the walnut back & sides or the redwood top. I'm considering staining it as close to the walnut as I can. I tried a couple of samples at the local paint store and it turns either too much toward black/ dark brown or in the red range. I would appreciate any advice on staining including what not to do. Thanks.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

All the Hog I've ever seen for necks went quite a lot darker when finished.
It's just an off chance, but have you wet it, say with methanol or naptha to see?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks Colin. I tried wiping down a scrap with 2 coats of Zinzer. It did darken it a little. I have a couple mahogany necked guitars and the color of either of them would be fine. My sample is about half way there. Light tan is about as close as I can describe it. After sunset when it cools down I'll try some tru oil. My other concern is the base composition of a stain. I'm probably going to use rattle can lacquer. Any recommendations on what type of stain to use?


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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Sorry, can't help you with the stain.
(Edit) Although with all the end grain involved with a neck, I'd be tempted to go with a tinted finish rather than a stain.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

IMHO, that looks good as it is. Though, I'm not much of a fan of stained woods. If you do stain it, I wouldn't try to match the walnut. You will never quite get there and close but no cigar will probably look worse than big contrast.

It is common to see factory guitars with mahogany necks that match the body (usually stained) or darker wood bodies with stained mahogany necks and that kind of becomes what you are primed to see. Don't let that be the sole reason to stain your neck. Spend some time looking at your color combination and try to distance yourself from what you are used to seeing. I think you will come to like the uniqueness of it.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

TBH, I agree with Brian.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Another milestone reached. The box is now closed. I haven't said it recently, so, Thank you Joel for making this build possible.


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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Great job, Brad! I sent my top, back and sides with a friend to have him run them through his thickness sander a few weeks ago, but I've not gotten them back yet. I'll be leaving for a work trip on 7/2 and will be gone a week, so it's going to be the end of July before I actually get started it looks like.

I have a back problem that keeps me awake very late, so I read older posts and try to learn something. I don't remember the guy's name that had a video using spring steel with sandpaper attached to smooth out bumps and dips on the sides. Seemed like a good idea, so I set up today and went at it. I have a bending aid that I got from LMI. I tried using it while bending my side pieces, but found it more trouble than benefit , likely operator error. Turns out to be perfect for the side sander. It is just a little to thick to get into the tightest last inch of the waist bend on my OM, so I used a plastic pipe for that. The built in handles make controlling pressure over a long distance easy. Since it is the same width as the body thickness it sands perfectly flat plate to plate. This should go a long way in making a good even, tight fit of the binding. No divots of any kind for the router guide to drop into. I'm checking with a straight edge for any bumps or dips. So far just minimal, easily scraped spots.


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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Here is the latest progress report. After leveling the sides I routed the purfling and binding channels. This is a very tense process for me. I guess the potential to screw everything up in 1/2 a second looms large in my mind. 8 trips around the box and decided my paper thin ebony purfling strip was inadequate. I had just enough pieces of custom strips bought from this site to do the job, so, 8 more times around to set new depths. Since the bloodwood binding was already bent I had to tape the new stuff to the top and inside edges and run it over the bending iron. I used binding tape and heavy rubber bands to secure it all while gluing. It came out with a few minor gaps that will get filled with sawdust/glue paste. I'm happy with the look but probably won't use bloodwood again anytime soon.


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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

I'm moving right along and it seems like a good time for an update. I finished shaping the neck, installed a new LMI truss rod, have the headplate trimmed and drilled, backstrap on and shaped. The fretboard is bound. All the frets are on it. I used a copy of the Dremel tool jig posted by another builder to clip the end tangs on the frets. Worked like a charm. Glued the fret board on yesterday and did some finish work on the ends. Got the bridge location plotted and masked the footprint. I started the egg white pore filler on the walnut back. It dries fast, so several applications between sanding is easy. It works great so far. I have a coat of schellac on the redwood top. I intended to pore fill it also, but after a light sanding it's smooth as glass. A bunch of pics below.


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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Coming along nicely, Brad!

Alex

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

Look in' good Brad!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Nice work!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Nice work, Brad. You will have crossed the finish line before I even leave the starting gate. My top, back and side wood are all with my friend still. He left for Belize on a mission trip and has only just gotten back. I hope to get everything back soon.

Thanks everyone. I am enjoying this build a lot. Roger, no race here. Hope you get your wood back soon. I'm anxious to see you get started and to follow your progress. I'm so tempted to bolt the bridge on and string it up just to hear it. Patience is hard, but I'll wait till the finish is done. The reward will be that first strum. Been hearing it in my head for months!

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

New update. I finally (!) finished the French polish on the box. Many trials and errors, lots of sanding back a coat or two and starting again. A friend who used to finish guitars professionaly agreed to come by and show me the errors of my ways. I bought a video and read everything I could find and still could not get a satisfactory finish. Anyhow, it now looks pretty nice. I decided to go with different tuners and found a deal over at AGF. I have the nut and saddle cut to the preliminary size. During one clamping moment I managed to break my aluminum vice. It was really not very good for what I was using it for, so I didn't mind getting a parrot vice from LMI. Should have done it sooner. I'm doing the final fit on the neck to body joint before gluing the neck on. I cludged a makeshift buffer that worked out pretty well. Next up is scraping the footprint and glueing down the bridge, then slotting the nut and onto fret leveling. String up and set up hopefully by the end of next week. Anxious to hear what it sounds like.


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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Finished Today!
Here are some photos of my now complete Mystic Dawg OM. The finish still seems to be the most difficult part for me. This one is French polish with schellac . I'll let it stay as is for a month and then start sanding and finishing the top again. The rest of the walnut looks good. I did make a few errors along the way and learned what not to do or expect, so I'm happy with the process. It has a very balanced sound, plenty of bass, resonates very well. I'm happy for the opportunity to have participated in this new builder effort and want to thank you all for the help and encouragement you gave me. A few projects around the house before I start the next one. Time to ponder what it will be.


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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars