Hi, I thought I would post a few photos of a build journey a few pics at a time to save a big lengthy post at the end of the process.
This may be of interest to some members as there appears to be quite a bit of interest on here regarding Resonator guitars., and this is my journey to building a low-cost full-size resonator guitar.
This is the first time, other than the very first instrument I built, a mountain dulcimer back the early 1970’s, that I have built using plywood. And its not instrument grade laminated timber its hardware shop grade 3 ply. You know the stuff that bows up like a photograph in the sun. For this reason, as soon as I got it home, I cut it up into usable dimensions and put weights on the pieces. But that might depend on where one lives.
I will not show every stage but mainly the important milestones with some comments along the way. Enjoy…. I hope…………………….
Next, working on the back. Taff
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Hi, this will be the last post on this thread, it’s the end of the Journey……
Body and neck had the grain filled, but not fully filled as I did not want this guitar to look too much of a “polished” finish. Only about three coats of rattle can Poly and a waxed finish rubbed on after the Matt finish had been slightly rubbed back.
The no rules “rule” can also apply to any musical instrument, not just CBG’s, so I fitted an arm rest to this guitar. It serves in two ways, to keep my arm and perspiration off of the chrome coverplate and off the thin poly lacquer finish.
Well this is my Christmas present to myself………… I hope yours is as fruitful.
There’s more info and photos in another thread. The Journeys End Drought Breaker Resonator
Thanks for following,Taff.
Beautiful.
That's the kind of craftsmanship we can all aspire to. Wonderful work and equally wonderful documentation. I'm sure everyone on the forum appreciates the extra time and effort you took to get step by step photos. You should consider putting it all together in a how-to book. There are few books on building a resonator and insights and tips are priceless for the first time builder.
Thanks again for posting this (all of this).
Killer job Taff! Post a video gotta hear it!
Getting close to the finish now…………
I drilled the tuner holes in the peg head just under size and ease them with a reamer to get a firm push fit for the bushings. I use a tool I made up to do this, no hammering.
When installing the tuners I always mark one hole, drill one hole, and fit one screw, then line up the tuner and do the same for the other screw. I also use candle wax to lubricate the tread of the screw. I use a 1/16 drill for the regular sized tuner screws. See the difference in size of the good quality screws that come with good quality tuners. Grover, dearest purchase of the whole project.
The nut was too low, so I had to add 3mm to the bottom to get my 3/8” string height over the fingerboard. I did this by cutting up a bone saddle to size and gluing and pinning it [with bone pins] to the underside of the bone nut. Then sanding it to size and polishing it.
The special ruler for marking out string spacing allows for the different string sizes, so the spacings in between strings are all the same.
The fingerboard is next.
I cut the fret slots on my fret slotting machine, so I need the board blank unshaped. After slotting I install the position markers and cut it to shape on the bandsaw and then fine tune on the sander. As it’s a lap slide no radius on f-board in needed.
The board must fit exactly so that the 12 fret sits over the start of the neck/ body junction, so I can’t allow the board to move under clamping pressure. The remedy for this is shown in the photos.
Two very small nails are tapped into the neck and cut off at an angle to leave a point, I then line up the fingerboard and press it onto the nails marking its position for gluing. Add glue and clamp up.
The fingerboard can be fretted before or after being glued to the neck.
I also use 2 "finishing" nails to keep the fretboard steady while gluing to the neck. I put them in a fret slot and pull them out after it's all in place and in the vise clamps. The fret covers the tiny nail holes.
Love the veneer on the headstock It all looks great.
Thanks Paul, its a good idea, but I more often than not fret my boards before gluing on, so haven't use your method. But other manufacturers have, as I find out when removing fingerboards and bridges for repair.
That peghead overlay is a bit more than a veneer, its 2mm thick so that it helps to form a channel for support of the high nut to sit in.
Taff
Question: do you prefer to use a flat bottom nut or the slant bottom nut?
I tried putting the frets in first once and my fretboard started to curve on me and I cut a little too far in at one fret, I was worried that it would break at that point. It is hard to hammer frets in after the board is attached though, the hammer tends to bounce more that way and can lead to hammer marks on the fretboard if you don't have enough control of the hammer. Pressing in frets is better with fretboard on neck or off neck!
Building acoustic style guitars is so different than electric solid bodies or arch types, acoustic is much more involved and some of the work can be tedious at times. I have respect for your building techniques.
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