Acoustic Guitar Construction

Hello Everyone!

I've been lurking on these forums for a few weeks and, since I have just received my first KMG package, thought it would be a good time to introduce myself. My name is Oli, I'm 25, been playing the guitar for about 15 years and have been eager to have a go at building one of the things for the last few months. I was initially considering scratch building, but given that I have no woodwork experience and no place to store any large tools (I am building this at my desk in my tiny London flat) I sensibly opted to start with a kit - and Ken's kits were the obvious choice.

I am going to be building a Martin style 000 with a 12th fret neck joint. Spruce for the top, rosewood for the back and sides, pyramid style bridge, some nice open gear tuning machines - I will be aiming for a vintage look.

As I say, I don't have any woodworking experience so I have been cutting my teeth on cam clamps and workboards. Nothing has gone catastrophically wrong so far. Cutting the pressure pad for the clamp was a bit tricky with a handsaw, but the thing works so I am happy.



See you guys around!

Great to meet you, Oli! (I'm not really sure what a 'flat' is - I reckon it's what we would call an apartment? :-))
In any case, you've made a great choice for your first build. Please keep posting your process!
Dave

Nice choice. Go slow and read and re-read Ken's instructions. Don't get ahead of yourself. Tempting, I know. My first two guitars were KMG kits. Love them.
Look forward to your progress.

Yes I will be interested in watching the build. Are you going to follow Ken's process.

Dave - yes that would be an apartment ;)

John(s) - yeah I am going to follow Ken's instructions to the letter.

I will keep this post updated as I go along - all the best, nice to meet you all.

Since I last posted I have finished the mold, cut the sides to the right length, glued on the neck & tail blocks and glued on the kerfing to the top side. It all went well, although I used too much glue for the kerfing and had a lot of squeeze out to deal with. Having never used wood glue I was overcautious about how much I needed to get a good stick - hopefully the back side kerfing will be a bit cleaner.

After I have finished the kerfing I will add the rim reinforcements, and then sand the top side flat. In the instructions Ken says that the rim should be proud "8 3x5 cards" off the mold for the 000 deep body model. Is there a height I should be aiming for if I am making a standard 000 12th fret? Or just stick to the 8 card stack?

After the rim assembly is complete I will be moving on to the top rosette and bracing. Since I hadn't decided on a rosette style when I ordered the kit I asked Ken to leave the soundhole / rosette channels uncut. I would really like to bind the soundhole in white, and then have a basic rosette of just a single b-w-b ring. Does anyone have a fool proof method for binding the soundhole?

Here are some pictures of my progress. I am really enjoying myself, and I suspect this won't be the last guitar I make ;)

Please make sure you are clear in regard to the stack of 8 "index card" measurement (which applies to all styles). This is part of the upper bout sloping operation and has nothing to do with preliminary operation of sanding the rim flat.