After I had done all the tapping I cared to do, I decided to get to work. First I designed a tail graft that was a little different than the ones I have used on my other guitars. The graft is a bit larger and the curves are different on both ends. I like the design, but I think I will go a little smaller on the next one. These looked smaller off the guitars than they do on. Hopefully the curves on the top will kind of die into the bindings which will make it all tie together. I hope that will make them look a little smaller too.
Once those were done and glued in, I got the second neck rough shaped and ready for the inlays. My plan is to have these guitars ready for finishing no later than the last week of October. I want to get them sprayed and in the curing stages by the first week of November so they will have a good month to cure before final polishing and setup. That will give me just short of a month to have them finished for Christmas. I can't believe I am sitting here in September worrying about having these things done for Christmas!
The two boxes after the tops and backs have been trimmed. Kinda getting that guitar look aren't they!
Here are the bindings after bending. All 8 pieces bent nicely with no cracks or breaks. They are Koa.
One guitar with the heel graft glued and clamped in place.
Here are both necks rough shaped. Unfortunately the volute on the closest one is a lot smaller than I would like it to be. The wood was very hard to chisel out and it wanted to chip and splinter like crazy around the spot where the laminate piece is. I did get a nice 'V', but it is a lot narrower than the other.
Here is a closeup of one of the koa tail grafts. If I feel up to it, I will route out the binding channels tomorrow and maybe get one bound up.
2 comments:
With regards to you saying the parabolic one sounds better tap wise. Looking at the pictures, Van Linge would say you over braced it. Which top "felt" heavier, do you remember? One idea behind parabolic bracing is that the peak of the parabolic shape should be on the top seam. And given the mathematics of engineering beam theory, you should be able to use less bracing for the same deflection as scalloped.
They both felt about the same weight but the parabolic felt just a touch stiffer. As I was shaving the braces, I would flex the top as well as tap. I am still learning how far to go with brace removal and how stiff it should feel. The scalloped felt a tiny bit less stiff but not much. Now that they are closed up, they both have a nice ring to them, but the scalloped is deeper sounding. I think they will both sound good but one will definitely have more bass to it than the other.
It's a fine line between too much bracing and too little. Too much and you kill some of the sound, but take too much off and the top will implode. I am still working on finding that line!
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