Dave's 2nd Build: A KMG J-200

[TonyinNYC]

That spruce top is about as nice as they come. Nice work so far!

[Dennis in Anola]

Cut it out Dave. I'm starting to get GAS. Fabulous! I'll watch this build real close.

[Ken Hundley]

Gorgeous work so far, keep it up!

[dave d]

I don't know where the last month has gone since I posted the previous photos, but my progress hasn't been stellar.

Anyway, here we go. It's time to prepare the top for the bracing and subsequent gluing to the rim.

The x-brace is notched and placed on the pencil lines. Note that on the J200, the lower ends of the x-brace don't go into the kerfing.

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The X-brace is clamped while the bridge reinforcing piece is glued.

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Gluing one leg of the x-brace on at a time.

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Fast forward to the point where some more bracing is glued on, but not fully carved/scalloped yet.

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Ready for gluing the top to the rim.

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More to come...

[dave d]

And on to the back bracing.

Preparing the reinforcing strips that go down the centre of the back.

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Don't forget to use the clamping caul when gluing!

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There's some pretty nice glue squeeze-out along the edge of the brace with just one clamp. You can see that Ken's 3x5 cards are being utilized to create the 15' radius.

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With the rim and top and back at this stage, I'm ready for notching the kerfing for the braces.

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[dave d]

Gluing on the top!

With the top held in place with a few elastic bands, the locations of the shoulder brace and top of the x-brace are marked on the rim. (For other guitar models, the lower x-brace would be marked too.)

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The depth of the notch (and height of the braces) needs to be less than the binding width minus the thickness of the soundboard. The binding is closer to .25" but the micrometer was slipping around as I took the picture.

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The thickness of the soundboard.

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This is where the popsicle stick can be used as a measuring guide. Mark the notch on the kerfing (looks untidy but I know which lines to cut on) :) and then use the razor saw/box cutter/chisel/potato peeler/lie-nielsen marking knife or whatever works for you to carefully cut out the notch.

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With the top placed on the rim again for a trial run, there is no gap, all the way around the edge where the two surfaces meet. Patience comes in to play here if it doesn't. Just gradually tweak the notch or brace where you need to. Yes, I should have taken a photo where a brace is actually visible sticking through!

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Voila. The top has been glued and the overhang trimmed off. I use a Bosch Colt laminate trimmer/router, and take several passes to be careful that I don't get tear-out. Using the right router bit makes a big difference. A spiral downcut bit with a bearing works great.

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Note: The lower bout looks as big in person as it does in the picture. :)

[Dave Bagwill]

Nice!
What kind of kerfing is that?