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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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.

Hi Paul, thanks for your comment and question. I have used both ways of fitting a nut. The slanted bottom nut is when the nut is sitting on the peghead, up against the fingerboard, and the flat version is when the the nut sits on the neck itself on the same plane as the fingerboard.

I find it easier and preferable to aim for a flat Botton nut. With my CBG's it's not a problem as I just move the fingerboard foreword to have the nut sit behind it. But with a full acoustic guitar one has to have the 12th or 14th fret and the bridge in the right locations, so nut positioning has be correct from the get go.

Yes I've had a fingerboard bow back on me in the past, it can be attributed to tight slots, does not take much, slots too deep making fingerboard flexible, like kerfing. Taff

Question: do you prefer to use a flat bottom nut or the slant bottom nut?

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.

Next is fitting the cone and preamp and coverplate, and I'm done with this Journey.

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.

Killer job Taff! Post a video gotta hear it!

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).

Beautiful.

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