Acoustic Guitar Construction

Hey Dan....new to the forum but I have found both of your build logs to be a great assistance for someone looking to take on building their first. Thanks for taking the time to be so detailed! Love the look of this one!

Kristen

Coming right along Daniel. You'll be pickin and a grinnin in no time.

Progress continues.

Glueing of the ebony head plate, and shaping of the peghead/heastock (is one term more appropriate for acoustic instruments?).

Here the ebony plate is just sitting on the neck. I've marked the top edge of the fretboard, as well as a parallel line that is slightly less that my final nut width away from the fretboard. I'll make sure the head plate overlaps this line, allowing for a clean cut / channel for the nut.



For the taper of the headstock I prefer to use a plane, as I can ease right up to the dimensions I want, and have a beautiful smooth finish. For the final few passes I check that the sides are square with the face of the headstock, as well I keep a close eye that I don't plane through the wings.

Some Pau Abalone from Luthier Supply



And the router base / downcut carbide bits for the inlay work. I'll use 1/8" for clearing the larger areas, and a 3/64 for the detail. I also use a few smaller bits that I picked up at the dentist.

Test fitting some of the torch inlay.



And after the first application of black CA glue, and a quick scrape/sanding. The triplets of dots still need to be inlayed left right and bottom of the torch.

In preparing for inlay on the fretboard, I first mark the center points of section (3rd, 5th, 7th and so on), lightly glue the inlay pieces down with TItebond, and trace before the glue fully cures. I then carefully pop the inlay piece off with a marking knife, and being routing the pocket.

So tough to decide on a pickguard. Fortunately I have at least a few more weeks before I'll need to decide.