Yesterday I got a whole big bunch of extrusions to make a router table. (Actually I thought I was ordering a single extrusion, so this was a huge disappointment). Anyways I decided to make it work and epoxied them all together. Today I drilled, tapped, and assembled the finished table for the Y axis of…

For a couple of years I’ve been fooling around trying to get a CNC machine happening so I can ‘rough in’ necks. This has become more pressing now because I’ve had some ideas lately about how to make the necks more playable by accounting for how the shape of the closed hand changes as you…

When the finished soundbox of the Boomer came out of clamps this morning, the tap tone was terrific. The sound is tight and big. I routed off the lip left by the top, and then routed the top and bottom of the guitar with a special bit for binding. The only trick is to make…

I need more clamps. This is barely enough. It will do, but frankly I’d rather have clamping pressure along every single inch of the seam. If anybody wants to know what I want for Father’s Day, or any gifting opportunity for that matter, it’s this: more bar clamps.

I glued the maple bridge patch on here yesterday and now I’m starting the top bracing. I’m using Sitka Spruce, in an X configuration. This picture is of the first spar of the X.  This involves a lot of careful whittling, lots of patience, taking only a little wood at a time so it hugs…

I caught up the maple-bodied boomer while waiting for the fingerboards… and today those came, so I am putting together a neck too. The last thing today is making up a rosette, based on a new pattern I have been working with… using a laser engraver. Once it’s engraved I’ll cut it out. This one…

I tried. All weekend long. I really did. But it’s over 100 degrees Fahrenheit here in Minnesota,  and it’s only the end of May. What is July going to be like? What is 2025 going to be like? The guitars will have to wait a few days.

Light duty day. I sanded the top and cut it down on the bandsaw. Also added another brace to the inside of the guitar, after tap testing it and deciding where it would be best. Discovered I’m out of fingerboards so there will be a pause in the action until they come. Can’t lay out…

I took the guitar body out of clamps and routed the back flush to the sides. It looks nice. It almost looks nice enough to skip a binding. I’ll have to think about that. Next, I glued up the Sitka Spruce top the same way I glued the walnut back. This set has been sitting…

I sanded the back after it came out of the clamps, laid the guitar body down on it, marked it with a No.2 Ticonderoga pencil (very important) and cut it out on the bandsaw. I sanded it with a drum sander.   I chamfered the edges of the tail block and head block with a…