Acoustic Guitar Construction

Okay so I am finally going to start my next project since completing my last one in September.
This is going to be a dreadnaught built similarly to a D45.
It will be EIR back & sides
Sitka top
EIR bridge
Bone nut and saddle
EIR Headplate, probably only on the front
Curly maple bindings instead of white plastic
Abalone top and back purflings
A maple neck - non traditional but that is what the recipient wants.
Madagascar rosewood fretboard
Probably abalone dot fretboard markers
Bracing as close to the D45 as I can get it
Probably a pick-up but don't know what it will be yet

I am hoping to have it done for a late summer, early fall 2013 delivery. This one is a gift to my wife's cousins husband who plays in a band.
I will be starting out slow with a 2 month gap in March and April in the process while my daughter, husband and grandkids are visiting from India.
Then I will hit it hard again in May. I'll try and not post too many boring photo's but for sure will show how I am doing things with my tools, jigs, etc.
So............here we go!

Kevin

I don't think we get bored by photos, Kevin!! Post away, I say.

Nice project -- I really like that it is a custom model rather than a clone.

I was talking to Preston Thompson a couple of weeks ago -- he too has a 45 in the works, (Brazilian $$$$) I think more than one, but anyway to my surprise when I asked how he cuts the channels for the trim around the FB extension he said "by hand" ! What's your plan?

Haha....It will be custom....no purfling around the fretboard extension planned. However, I have plenty of abalone, so perhaps I will consider it as well.
I would probably also do it by hand...exacto knife and mini chisel.

Kevin

Perhaps this is going to turn out more like a D41.........we shall see. I wasn't planning on abalone side purfling either!!!!!

Kevin

I've gotten started. Spent a couple of hours yesterday and about 3 hours today pitt'lin around mostly.
I cut up some African Mahogany heel blocks, which I also use for my neck blocks by gluing two together. I bought a 8" x 13/16" x 36" long board, ripped a 3" wide neck blank off of it and cut the rest into heel blocks. I paid $18 for the board, nice ribbon figure, good enough for back and sides. If you purchase heel blocks, you will usually pay $5 each for them. I got 12 from the board, plus a neck blank. You can see the economy of this move, yes?
Okay, so I made the heel block and the neck block (not quite done yet with it). My maple neck blank was 1" x 3" by 36" long. It was slightly warped so I had to hand plane the concave side flat, then run it through my drum sander to flatten the other side. I ended up with a 3/4" thick board. There is also some staining on this blank that did not completely come out as I removed stock, so little bit might be showing up on the underside of the neck shaft up by the nut. I will see how it turns out......may not use it because of this.
So I laid out the blank, cut the scarf joint on my band saw and cleaned it up on my 12" disc sander....Whoppie!...did that work out nicely for this. I should have taken a picture of this process, but I'm sure you can all get the picture in your mind.....wood against a rotating disc!!
I cut off the pieces on the other end for the stacked heel. Then I thicknessed the scarfed piece down to 1/2" on my 4" belt sander and glued it on the neck shaft, and glued the stacked pieces together. When dry I'll glue the stack to the neck blank. Because my plank ended up being 3/4", to get enough height at the heel, I have to glue up 4 pieces to the shaft. This gives me about 3 3/4", just enough. I am hoping the stacked heel seams don't show too much. This may also be what causes me to not use this neck, so we will see.
So that is that for now. I'm going to work on the neck a bit before I start work on the sides.

Kevin

Keep up the pix, this is really fun and educational!