Sorry, my power was out for a day. lol
But.
Seriously!? That’s doable?
Awwww. Now you’re just funnin with me…
lol
I could see me coming up with something completely unique. lol I’d love to put something like either one of those together.
For better or worse.
Never built a Dred before, just guessing with the thickness off the top and back, the size of the braces, type of bracing. I forgot to take a picture of the top, I added braces on either side and below the sound hole. I also doubled the thickness of the upper bout on either side of the neck block. Hopefully to eliminate any cracking concerns. Martin used a ‘popsicle’ brace in this area, I skewed the direction of the grain lines a little off from the top’s grain direction. With the large upper transverse brace (utb), the extension of the neck block which is tied into the UTB and the braces tying them to the X brace I am hoping a neck reset is years away.
With the box sealed I finally got an idea of if I messed up building it as I had. Tapping the top and back and I get the feeling it might be pretty responsive. I was trying to balance how responsive it is for playing acoustic gigs and in a band situation. I am thinking a feedback buster might be in the cards in R&R mode. I forgot that I wanted to put in a sound port, if I do I will have to reinforce the inside of the side. Also, he wanted a barn door type of pickup system, not a big fan of them, we will see what happens. But pretty happy I got to where I am. The weather turned cold again and I will not be humidifying the house as much. I have been keeping the body bits in 45-50% RH when not under construction, would be better gluing up in the same range but wrong time of year for that. Hope all ends up well.
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Are you going with a matte finish?
Good question. Maybe a semigloss, the intended recipient would like a sunburst. It will be another first for me, at least a serious one.
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I’m really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I love the matte finish look but, either way, it’s going to be special.
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Looking good, what wood will you use for the binding?
I did want to use plastic binding as it takes nocks better and this guitar will be taken out regularly. I think I will do walnut though as I have a lot kicking around. I did trim the sides after bending and was going to use them for the binding but then I need a piece for the mini arm bevel. But if I keep the binding strips I cut off that means I will have to make another dreadnought. Oh the conundrum I am in.
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Good luck with the arm bevel. I have not done one yet and probably won’t, but I will be interested in your progress.
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I am a little nervous about doing the bevel as I never done one with binding.
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Do you follow Robbie O’Brien’s videos? Luthier tips de jour. this is discussing the arm bevel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_EVunKZQg
I believe the arm block is glued in prior to closing the body. But that’s not to say it can’t be done after the body is closed.
I have seen a few of his videos. I have a block in for the bevel on this one. It is just a question of how I will cut the binding channel. Not a real head scratcher, just some trial and error. I added a bevel on a cheap guitar once.
The above really helped with my pain issue as the edge of guitars hurt me. It is a converter plywood nylon string. But it is 24" scale and has a flat fretboard so I decided to make one from scratch, ended up doing the bevels the same way as I did not know where exactly the linings would go when building. I glued in some after I cut. It was a little nerve wracking.
Fitting a curved piece of spruce was not fun but I got it pretty close.
Gluing it in I used CA and misaligned it a little and had to fill in some cracks.
Not a big deal as this is a personal guitar and I see it as a tool rather than a piece of art. Along with the bevels I made the back and sides out of spruce also to keep the weight down, may not have saved all that much but every little bit helps. Have the neck glued up and ready to carve. Put it off as I wanted to get the Khaya guitar body finished while the weather was still warm enough for me to humidify the house more.
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Not bad at all. What I have seen is the bevel wood is the same as your binding wood.
And the table saw is out in the garage and it is - 24C out and it needs a belt.
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New total scratch project. Body is Padauk (pa-duke), neck and fretboard will be hard maple. Maybe a bit on the heavy side, right now the body weighs 7.4#. Might find it will have great sustain.
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Chamber the body? I have some Padauk B&S’s, I have used it for bridge plates also. And I think my pine bodied Tele is heavy.
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Solid body. Prior to drilling out the cavities the body weighed 7.4 pounds.