Portland Guitar Co.

( 192 ) 30-June-2013

After the braces have been glued in place the guard ring around the sound hole needs to be reduced to size.

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I use my oscillating sander for this job.

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I sand the ring flush with the sound hole.

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Now I am working on the contra-rosette.

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I have created a template out of clear plastic.

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I carefully cut out each piece and arrange them in order.

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I have to be very careful that each piece is identical. Here I am holding down the template over the veneer.

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Here is a look at the assembled contra-rosette.

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To finish it off I am installing black binding.

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Here is how it will look through the sound hole.

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I put a layer of lacquer on the ring to bring out the pop.

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Here we are installing K&K pickups.

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I like to include a brace to constrain the cables.

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I use the router table and a special fixture to route out the heel channel in the heel block.

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I route the channel with several passes.

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The heel of the neck will fit in here along with the attachment hardware.

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The tail graft channel get made with the same fixture.

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The tail graft mirrors the shape of the heel.

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I use a disk sander to put a bevel on the reenforcing strip that will be used on the back.

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Here I am using the go box to glue in the conta-rosette and the reinforcing strips.

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I measure the side braces to fit in between the kerfing.

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A couple of clamps hold them in place as they are glued down.

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And a little hand sanding cleans up the glue marks.

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Before gluing the back onto the sides I clean up and glue marks on the back.

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And I install fiducial buttons to help align the back as it will be glued down.

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Here I am marking the position of the attachment hardware in the heel channel.

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A few holes get drilled.

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And the wood inserts get installed.

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The neck adjustment hardware hole gets drilled.

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And a wood insert is screwed into place from the rear.

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A look at the hardware.

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And the label gets glued in place.

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Here I am taking a slice of the pistachio to use for the heel tail graft.

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The band saw is used to cut out the tail graft.

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I carefully hand shape the tail graft blank to fit into the channel.

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A bit of glue secures it in place.

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And after it is dry the overhang gets trimmed off.

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Getting ready to glue the back on to the sides I have sanded scallops into the over hang so the bolts will clear.

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A bit of glue goes on the kerfing.

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And tape to hold the back in place.

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Then the bottom flange gets bolted down. This will apply even pressure all around the rim.

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A little bit of squeeze out.

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And I clean up the squeeze out before it dries.

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After the glue dries the assembly comes out of the form.

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Before I trim the overhang off I install a block in the bottom of the heel channel to guide the router through the heel channel.

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I use a small router to trim off the over hang .

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Everything is flush.

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Before gluing the top on I round off the guard ring in the sound hole.

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Then the kerfing gets a bit of glue.

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The ends of the braces that will contact the sides also get glue.

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And then the top is pressed into place in the form.

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A c-clamp makes sure the fretboard shelf gets pressed into place.

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And after the glue dries it comes out of the form.

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And the router is used again to remove the overhang.

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I take advantage of the angle of the heel channel to create the fretboard shelf wings. These will help hide the seams when the neck is attached to the body.

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A look at the back.

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And a look at the top.