Trimming the Overhang

 

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Lots of photos today....

First of all, I ended up spending the morning and most of the afternoon sidetracked a little bit. I did some shopping for a new laminate trimmer for my binding router jig. The old one worked, but it was a bit of a pain to raise and lower the trimmer, with just a wingnut to tighten and loosen. I bought a new Ryobi laminate trimmer which has a lever that you just flip, to unclamp and clamp the router in the base. I also liked that it has a kind of keyway that locks it in position, and that it's a little more compact and easier to handle than my older trimmer. It runs very smoothly.

Anyway, I spent a couple of hours or so making a new phenolic base for the trimmer, for use in the binding router jig. Here it is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was all in preparation for my next task — trimming the soundbox overhang and later routing the binding and purfling ledges. I wanted to make sure to have something that worked smoothly.

Before I took the soundbox to the router jig, however, I trimmed the bulk of it with these tools:

I left about 1/8" for the router jig to trim flush to the sides. To hold the guitar as I was trimming it with the tools above, I used my guitar-holding clamp, which I made long ago, from an idea in the GAL Lutherie Tools book.

Below are a few photos of how the clamp is constructed and used. It consists of two 1/4" plywood jaws lined with carpet, two 12" pipe clamps screwed into two pipe flanges 16" apart. I have two bungee cords hanging underneath the jaws, to support the soundbox should it slip down. The thin plywood jaws are flexible, so they gently yet firmly support the top and back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

INDEX:

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  1. A Little Detour....A Tour of My Workroom!!!
  2. Joining the Top
  3. Starting to Bend
  4. Bending, Day 2
  5. Bending, Day 3
  6. Neck Block, Center Strip, Cutaway!
  7. Bracing the Back, Gluing in the Blocks
  8. Shape Back Braces, Glue Neck Block, Make Spreaders
  9. Spreader, Rim, Kerfing
  10. Rim-Sanding, Brace-Shaping, Go-Bar Modification, & Obon!!!
  11. Side Strips & Rosette
  12. Beginning the Top Bracing
  13. Bracing, Continued...
  14. Gluing the Back
  15. Gluing the Top
  16. Trimming the Overhang
  17. Routing for Binding : Day 1
  18. Routing for Binding : Day 2
  19. Fitting & Gluing the Bindings
  20. The Soundbox is Done!!!
  21. Truss Rod Slot, Peghead Veneer
  22. Peghead, Start Heel
  23. Threaded Inserts, Neck Trimmed
  24. Fitting the Neck!!!
  25. Truss Rod Cavity, Heel Cap, Fingerboard Trimmed
  26. Finishing and Gluing the Fingerboard / Peghead Inlay
  27. Carving the Neck
  28. I Feel Good....The Basic Building is Done!!! (Now on to the Finishing....)
  29. Pore-Filling
  30. Sealing
  31. Finish Coats
  32. Finishing the Finish!!!
  33. Gluing the Bridge
  34. It's All Done!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I took the soundbox to my binding router jig, with the new laminate trimmer. I set the soundbox into the holding cradle, clamped the cradle down, and used a bit with a flush-cut bearing to trim the rest of the overhang. It worked really smoothly and well!!! I am feeling better now about the upcoming task of routing the binding ledges. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this.)

To see how the soundbox looks now, all trimmed and beautiful, go to the Next Page!!!

 

 

 

 

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