Shark

Todd Smith Pawless Guitar Progress Page

14 Fret Mesquite OM Style Specs

Building a new fingerboard instead of using the old one.

One side stripped and sealed.

a couple of clear coats before the medium brown.

Back to coloring the top! I put a double dose of bright yellow. This will bring out a rich honey golden color when the medium brown hits it.

Sanding the new herringbone and binding from the top.

Gluing more binding.

Bending the binding.

All the tape off and sliced up Indian Rosewood for the binding is made.

The new top glued and the channels for the herringbone and the bindings are cut!

This process is tedious as all the small areas where the top is not touching the side needs pieces of kerfing adjusted. The tape on the sides are marking where I need to add more kerfing, or raise the current kerfing up to level.

Next step is replacing some of the kerfing on the sides to have a level surface for the top to stick to. When the top was removed, some of the top splintered off and was stuck to the kerfing. This will be chiseled off, sanded and that part of the kerfing will be kept. However, in some areas the kerfing chipped out. That part will have to be replaced.

Gluing the top bracing.

Bracing pre-scalloped by sander and ready for gluing to top.

03/29/06 top bracing made and placement drawn out on back of top. (Bridge plate made of Pecan!)

03/15/06 Rosette Sanded

05/20/2008 02:20 PM

Cutting out the cavity for the rosette

Making the Mesquite rosette

After using the circle cutter, it's flat sanded from the top. This is the safest way to "release" the ring. It's sanded down "almost" to the cut, then an exacto knife is used to trim it out, then the edges are cleaned up

The outline is traced on the new soundboard and cut out with the bandsaw.

The new top being joined. A glitch in my humidifier cost me the tops of two new guitars coming out of my shop. I still live and learn. This is the new top being constructed.

Slotting the bridge

Slotting the nut

After the gluing

String spacing marked on nut.

Tapering the bridge pin holes.

Slotting the bridge and bridge plate for the strings to fit.

My "test" string set. This is made from a Martin string set because Martin has the largest "ball ends". This saves time in the setup as all the strings will fit.

Two strings to use for intonation setting (saddle slot cut placement)

Masking tape is used to denote placement of the bridge.

This is critical as the strings have to follow the fingerboard correctly, and the bridge pin holes control that.

Before the bridge is glued, two holes are drilled into the top of the guitar at where the two E strings are on the bridge. Bolts are used to hold the bridge into place while an outline of the bridge is "cut" into the finish.

Before gluing the bridge to the top, the finish has to be removed down to the bare wood. The "outline" is taped off with masking tape. I then come back and remove the finish using a paint and varnish remover. (I can't find the picture of the removed finish!!!)

Bridge being glued to top

Making the bridge:

Finished Bridge

FIRST of all... I had to streamline the design a bit. It was just too narrow in places so I made the radius cuts larger.

Piece of African Blackwood being sliced

Draw lines on the wood blank for cutting.

Cutting some pieces off the blank getting it close to the shape

The straight edges are sanded straight, as well as the "radius" cuts to the final outline shape.

Using a nut/saddle slotting scale, the placement of the bridgepin holes to be drilled is designated. One line is the saddle placement, the other line is the bridge pin hole placement. The bridge pin hole placement is a tad wider. This scale is important to use because it compensates string thicknesses, therefore the space between each string is the same regardless of the string width.

The holes are drilled on a drill press.

After drilling the holes, lines are drawn for "sculpting" the edges on the sander.

The bridge has been "sculpted" to a more streamline shape for the top, and oil is applied. Nice grain showing on side.

A wallpaper?

More neck shading. Some shading will later be scraped off of bindings and inlays.

Neck construction complete with frets installed. More shading to come with final finish.

Shaping the neck

Removing the lacquer from the soundboard where the fingerboard will be glued.

Photo of gluing the fingerboard to the neck

Installing the truss rod. This will be one of the first guitars I'll make, in fact THE first "head accessible" truss rod I have routed in one of my new guitars. This will make it easy for the player to adjust "relief" in the neck.

Here's you a good Wallpaper if you want it.

Inlaying star into headstock first.

This is the bigger inlay, similar to Jack's first guitar. Lines cut and

inlaid.

Doing some detail work where the neck fits the top. This is critical to be extremely level as the fingerbaord has to ride over this area in continuity between the neck and box.

The fingerboard after being "profiled". The inlaid shark tooth has also been covered with epoxy to seal it.

Hanging on the wall letting the glue cure after neckset

Routing the neck dovetail joint in the box

Routed Dovetail

Heelcap is glued, then the neck is set.

The dovetail to the neck had to be recut to have the angle I wanted.

Walnut Headstock Plate

Endstrip after medium brown shading and color scraped off Pecan

Medium Brown, Tobacco Brown, then scrape it off the herringbone...

Inlays after sanding. Real shark's tooth in the 12th fret, abalone dots in the 7 and 9 frets, and an abalone shaped shark's tooth in the 3rd fret.

Inlaying a real shark's tooth in the 12th fret. I've decided on the lower right tooth. I had to sand it flat on both sides while making sure it's done in order for the shape of the tooth to stay "intact".

After Sanding it on both sides

Tracing the outline

Gluing the tooth at a certain "level" to make sure the shape again stays intact after final sanding flush with the fingerboard.

Abalone shark cut out

routing the cavity

The abalone shark glued into the Mesquite

Spray spray spray spray.....

Detail of top herringbone and binding.

Shaving the binding, then it will be sanded flush with the top

Gluing the Indian Rosewood Binding over the herringbone and purfling.

Slicing the Indian Rosewood strips for binding

The bindings before and after bending. I soaked them in water, then were bent by hand over a hot pipe.

First, the end piece is sanded flush to the body. This has to be now because I need the body to use as a guide in routing channels for bindings and purfling.

Below I'm routing the edges for the herringbone AND the binding. You'll see two different levels as the herringbone is very thin.

Gluing the black/white/black purfling that will border the inside of the herringbone.

The herringbone

End strip install sequences. Pecan with black/white purfling. I'll work those other "artist" related pieces in the guitar elsewhere. I just wanted Pecan on a Mesquite guitar!!

Gluing the side bracing. Indian Rosewood is used, and cotton fabric/glue is use for the inside of the upper bout.

Gluing the kerfing and the side bracing. Side bracing is of Indian Rosewood

Gluing the tail and neck blocks to the sides. This will go back into the mold for kerfing and side bracing to be glued on to it.

Ends are trimmed and it's placed in the mold while the other side is being bent.

Side bending starts with soaking the wood in hot water.

Initial bend is done by hand because the waist is too tight for the bender's heat to reach.

Joining the back

Profiling the side pieces for bending

Thickness sanding the back and side woods to the right "thinness".

Ugh...sorry about the bad picture! Anyway, here's the top bracing. At this point it's carved, and I'll sand all the sharp corners smooth. It looks rough, but before I'm through with it it'll clean up. Something I do in my guitars....is there are not sharp corners. My idea is to keep the sound flow un-interrupted as possible. I'm doing something different here. I've used a thinner piece of cedar for the "treble" part of the x bracing. What I'm doing here is adding another piece of spruce parallel to the area of the guitar where the "bass' end of that end of the x bracing is supporting. It is not attached to the xbrace, but it runs alongside it to support the "area". My idea is a good treble response, a general good tone overall, and at the same time keeping good support in the bass area around the soundhole.