Follow My Progress

Status Updates - December 1, 2011

Status Updates December 1, 2011 December 2, 2011 December 4, 2011 December 5, 2011 December 12, 2011 December 14, 2011 December 18, 2011 December 20, 2011 December 21, 2011 December 22, 2011 December 24, 2011 December 28, 2011 December 29, 2011 January 1, 2012 January 9, 2012 January 11, 2012 January 14, 2012 January 16, 2012 January 22, 2012 January 26, 2012 January 30, 2012 February 8, 2012 February 9, 2012 March 31, 2012 May 17, 2011 June 22, 2012

I have been spending a LOT of time drawing my guitar on AutoCad. Drawing things, checking and double checking measurements and drawings. I have to make sure everything is perfect in the drawings. By drawing the guitar, I can do a lot of thinking and save myself a lot of mistakes and errors when building the guitar.

I started building seven more cam clamps the other day. I still have a little bit left to do on them but should have them completed by next week. This will give me eleven or so. I also bought wood for the guitar neck from the Ole General Store in Geneva, Florida. Bob Hughes and his son Tim own and operate the company. I bought some sapele and hard maple for my guitar neck. Tim showed me some beautiful Brazilian rosewood but too bad for me, it wasn't wide enough for me to make a jumbo guitar out of it.

This is the first preliminary drawing of my guitar. I plan on getting it to the printer tomorrow or next week. Once it is completed, I can cut a Lexan pattern and start building the guitar mold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My "To Do" List for next week is:

1. Finish the cam clamps
2. Get the preliminary AutoCad drawing to the printer
3. Make a simple chisel sharpening jig
4. Order drill press (It was out of stock at Harbor Freight this week)
5. Make resaw jig
6. Start construction on thickness sander
7. Take a field trip to Clermont, Florida to look at the neck/body joint of a McPherson guitar

 

I wanted to build this guitar without a lot of layout of cash. To do this, I am trying to cut costs wherever possible. So far, I've got almost all the tools I need. I still want to buy a drill press and will do that tomorrow or next week. Harbor Freight has a 12 speed drill press on sale for $129 but my local store was out of stock. Right now, I am using a hand drill that is mounted in a drill press mount. It works okay but is not quite as rugged as I would like

 

Here is some sapele and some hard maple for my five piece guitar neck. I also bought a really nice looking piece of Brazilian Rosewood for the bridge.	Two finished clamps and 14 blocks of oak that will be 7 more cam clamps when they are finished. I glue them up on aluminum foil so I don't get the glue all over everything.
Two sets of wood for the tops of guitars. One is a White Kermode Spruce, the other is called "Dusty Rose" spruce. Also pictured are two blocks of spruce for bracing.

 

Once I get the thickness sander built, I will cut all the parts for the five piece neck, sand them to the correct thickness and glue them up. I am excited to get going but I know this is going to be a lesson in patience for me, especially with the back problems I have.