Portland Guitar Co.

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Now I start working on the binding. Here I am using the drum sander to dimension the individual cocobolo strips.

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I will using the bending machine to shape them. Here they are going into the heating blanket.

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The bending machine.

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When I am done the strips have the shape of the guitar body.

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Before I install the binding I sand the top and back around the rim.

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And then I sand the sides smooth.

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I use my bindalator to route the channels for the binding.

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This tool holds the router vertical as I work my way around the rim.

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The back channel

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The top gets and extra channel for the purfling.

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The top channels.

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I use a few shims to center the heel in its channel, and then I mark the side for the heel binding.

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I use a small saw to cut on the marked line.

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And then a chisel to create the channel.

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Now with the neck installed in the body I trim the binding until they just fit into the channel.

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After gluing the binding in place I cut a little bevel into the pin striping

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And then I install the rest of the pin striping.

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Next I install the cocobolo binding.

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It looks a bit messy.

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But have no fear, it cleans up nicely.

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Now with the binding installed I can return to the neck. I drill two holes where the fulcrum set screws in the heel channel contact the neck.

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And then I install two short brass plugs.

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I sand these flush with the heel.

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Here is one of the fulcrum set screws... the end is shaped into a point.

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Next I fine tune the hidy-wing channel.

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When I install the neck and tighten it down, the set screws press into the brass plugs making firm contact and leaving a small indentation..

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With the neck in place I use this special sanding tool the level the end of the heel for the heel cap.

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To make the heel cap I first install the pin striping.

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And then I glue the end cap on to the heel.

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Next I use my CNC router to route the channel for the head stock rose inlay.

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A few hand tools ...

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and I install the gold wire into the channel.

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Here is the Portland Guitar Rose.

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Now I use a small file and some polishing pads to dress the ends of the fret wires.

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The top of the guitar has a 20 foot radius, so the bottom of the bridge needs to match it.

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I use a shaped sanding block to sand the bottom of the bridge blank.

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And then I glue the pin striping to the bottom of the blank.

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And then the wings are formed with the oscillating sander.

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Ready for the saddle plate.