# My first guitar build



## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

hey glad i found a site like this so geared towards canadians i think its great. 

anyway i recently decided i wanted to become a luthier as my career. so i started looking for a school in canada and found timeless instruments in tugaske saskatchewan. David freeman has been teaching courses there for 30 years almost and building for even longer. 

anyway heres what i built during that 7 week course: 

Its and Engleman spruce top, with koa back and sides. OM size body 25 1/4 scalelength. 1 11/16 nut width to fit my big hands. 









engleman top 









koa back 









walnut neck cut and headstock glued on 








heelblock rough shaped with bandsaw


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

unworked heel 








chizeled roughwork 








innitials on the foot (visible through the soundhole) 








glueing headstock veneer


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

koa veneer on top of walnut neck 








dry fitting rosette 








outter ring bwb,bwb inner ring bwb,paua,bwb inner ring is same as outer 








lol dno what to say about this one. like the photo though


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

goboard setup. gluing in back strip 








laying out bracing on template 
sides, binding and purfling bent 








side bending press 








getting into the fun stuff. the bracing and tantalones etc.


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

good shot of the scalloping i did to the bracing








already wanted to put strings on her 








little early for strings 








roping up the back


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

working on the butt strip 
































rosewood letters inside the koa strip with chevron purfling on the sides to match the back strip and purf.


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

drilled and inlayed 








fine herringbone purfling on top of the engleman top 








fingerboard soundhole decoration. taken up to 12k grit micro mesh, oiled and fretted 








first cut shaping the neck


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

finished neck shape 








french polishing stuff. shellac mix, methyl bottle and tampon 








body before any finishing 








first couple coats(of 15 total) looking shiny already


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Looks great. I don't know anything about Luthiery or whats going on in most of those pics, but that looks like a sweet guitar. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

bridge template and ebony blank 








finished bridge 








cleaning off finish to glue bridge 








glueing bridge


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

bagpipe said:


> Looks great. I don't know anything about Luthiery or whats going on in most of those pics, but that looks like a sweet guitar. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.


thanks it is finished if i could post more than 4 img in one post you could see it all lol. almost there haha


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

bridge glued 








saddle shaped but not compensated. setting action and intonating was the next step 








gohto tuners installed 








back of headstock


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

ready for the trip back to ontario 








class picture. im the big guy in white shirt with a beard. 

ill have to get a good pic of the finished product, just realized i dont really have one of the entire thing done but i do of everything else apparently kqoct


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Fantastic thread!! 

Beautiful work kksjur

Congratulations :bow:

Thanks for sharing and for all the detailed pics and comments.

Dave


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

Paul, Great job on a first time guitar....Larry


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Cool stuff. I like seeing guitars being made.
Lost of nice pictures there of it.

I wish I had the aptitude for it.
Thanks for posting.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Awesome. The best thing is that it's FINISHED!!! 

good stuff


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Nice work! You got a keeper, and you did it yourself too!


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

thanks for the comments. and its not going anywhere with my initials all over it. dnt think i could let it go in any case. now the hard part of getting some cash for tools and wood build some jigs and start going on my own....oh and customers kqoct


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Very nice work Paul. I don't think you'll have any trouble attracting customers if they see these pictures, or better yet, the actual guitar.


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## Spikezone (Feb 2, 2006)

Well done, Paul. Great pictorial history of your build!
-Mikey


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

very nice indeed 
paul 
kksjur


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

Hi Paul,.......great thread............beautiful pics........awesome guitar........can you comment some on the string "clamping"........saw the knotches, is that a kind of tounique?............also like the idea of "beefing up" the clothes pegs with the elastics....ingenious.........cheers, Gerry


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

the roping im told is a spanish technique. we also had our body joins in the traditional spanish heel. so it has a foot extending out onto the back and the heel block has slits cut out with the table saw to take the sides. but those workboards are just a big guitar shaped 3/4 inch ply board notches cut out to let u anchor your rope around them. also used dowel clamps on that workboard to line up the sides and keep everything in place will working on the box and bracing before that back is put on. the clothespins yeah work great for tantalonies and kerfing. can't take credit for any of these things all the teachers doing. next step is to clean out the garage and start building a bunch of those jigs and workboards


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

those are great pictures, and that came out great!

did you have prior woodworking experience?

Rodney is near-ish to london, isn't it? feel free to build me an acoustic haha


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## [email protected] (May 30, 2009)

yep 30 min south down the 401 i am in London almost every weekend. went to school there a couple years ago. and no not much wood working experience other than building shelves and random stuff like that with my dad. 

and feel free to send the cash advance with all the specs haha. if only i had all my tools alreadykqoct


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