Acoustic Guitar Construction

I am not sure if I am in the dub or not, but I also can't figure out if I want to be!

Back and top are glued on and trimmed back to the rims. I did some sanding down to 150 grit on the sides and top, and sprayed a coat of shellac on the top so it will stay clean as I continue to work. You do see a chip out there on the edge. This was not a good thing....could have been a disaster. I was lucky this time, the chip falls well within my planned binding/purfling scheme....whew!
I also cut out the neck blank and started planing the top of the headstock and made it flat.

Kevin

Started working on the fretboard. It is Madagascar Rosewood and I'm binding it with a cut off from one side of the fretboard blank.
I laid the fretboard out on the blank so I'd have plenty of width to work with from the cutoff. It trimmed the extra off on the far side of the board after planing the near side flat. I cut the piece in half, and ran them through my drum sander down to .080" for the 2 pieces of binding. Then I cut the slots using my miter box and LMI template set up. (picture to come tonight).
Next I'll trim and sand down to the line to form the tapered board to width minus the amount of the bindings. Then I'll radius the board, recut the depth of the slots as needed to be sure the tangs fit out to the edges, then glue on the bindings and take them down flush. After that install the abalone dots. I'll fret the board after it has been glued to the neck and test fit to the body so I can check the relief and put some in if needed. This will be the first board I've bound with the same wood. I'm hoping it turns out looking like a solid fretboard with no fret ends showing.

Kevin

Good plan; I'm interested in your fretboard binding approach, I've always liked the look.

The other thing I could do, is use some of the .010" black fiber I have and do a fine line between the binding and the board..hmmmmmm

Kevin

Here is how I cut my fret slots. I've shown it before but for you newbies to the forum, here it is.
The one picture shows the indexing pin that I epoxied into the mitre box...it is a drill blank the right size to fit in the LMI template slots.
I have teflon tape on either side of the fret saw that tightens up the saw in the slot in the mitre box, and helps it to run back and for smoothly as it is slippery. The depth of cut is set by the cardboard shims I place under the template and by the spine on the saw not being able to go into the mitre box slot. It is not precise, but close enough that I just watch and eyeball the depth of cut.

The fretboard still needs to be planed and sanded to the line but the binding is made and ready.

Kevin

Here's an alternate DYI slotting method/device

http://kennethmichaelguitars.com/fretslottingfixt.html