KMG 00-12 Walnut - Daniel P's Build

[Daniel P]

Peter -That backstrip is from Stew Mac. It has a nice crisp contrast. I've tried some from Grizzly, but it is much lower contrast as the "white" looks more like light mahogany.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bindings,_t ... strip.html

The nice thing about this .25 zippered strip, if you are routing a back strip after joining the back it, is that it will fit snugly in the dado cut by a .25" bit. I used a downward cut solid carbide bit for a really clean cut. Slightly relieved the back edges of the back strip, glued, pressed into place and clamped.

[Kevin in California]

Purty purty

[Daniel P]

I'm back to working on my walnut 00-12.

Last night I started work on thinning to perimeter of the top around the lower bout. I started work by using my precision router base to drill a series of approximately .020" deep holes 1 inch from the perimeter. Then a series of approximately .010" deep holes 2 inches from the perimeter. I went back and drilled another series of .020" holes right along the edge to ensure that I would not be dishing the top.

I then used two different sanders to carefully thin the top until the holes were gone.

[Daniel P]

I've routed the back binding channels and installed one piece of the figured maple binding. Everything went in well, and I I scraped it down and wiped with a few quick coats of shellac to get a sense of how the woods are looking together.
Unfortunately I'm not seeing the find of figure in the maple that I hoped for - just one of two little waves if that.

So now I'm contemplating routing this piece back out before going any further, and replacing it with wood with a little more character. Since the router is still set up for the channel it should be quick to remove it.

Photo edited to show grain better.



Photos as shot:

[Herman]

Nice pics of great wood Daniel. The binding looks real tight. Well done.
Herman

[Kevin in California]

Yeah really nice install. I have a bunch of maple bindings that I cut look just like that. A nice natural look!

[Daniel P]

Thanks guys. I decided to stick with that maple binding, and finished binding the back last night.
The seam at the neck block isn't quite as clean as I hoped, but still feel very good about the progress.

A quick wipe with shellac after scraping the bindings gives a good idea of how it will look.