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well of course in the 60's we all wanted to learn guitar, and the book by bert weedon was the bible, sadly i found it difficult to figure out :cry:

don't feel too bad andy all you have to say is that your grandad told you about it????? :twisted: :roll:

paul :wink:
 
But thats the sad part I've still got the book and can't play :oops:

Andy :wink:

ps. and as long as you don't tell everyone I've still got a few of Burt's LPs
 
well they do say without him, there would be no clapton, and certainly most of the shadows blamed, or is it praised him???? :twisted:

the real question is is that the naffest albumin your collection :lol:

actually the only thing wrong with bert's technique was his smile :roll:

paul :wink:
 
Have you had a look at the UK Guitar Builders Forum? I'm a regular poster there, it's a good place to ask questions like this and check out other peoples work. I'm only building electrics right now, but once I turn out a few more successful builds I might branch out into acoustics - the main thing putting me off is that since I've not played that many acoustics, I don't really know what I'm looking for in a build but after seeing yours now I'm thinking maybe its best to jump in at the deep end and try everything! :D
 
Hello there,
Just discovered this forum, think I might spend quite some time here.
Re the advice about glueing a veneer to the top ,this is a big no-no as the glue line will seriously inhibit vibration and be a real tone killer.
The other advice I would give is to visit the mimf website, this is a superb resource for instrument builders and very friendly.
Also be aware that guitar building can get seriously addictive(ask me how I know :lol: )
 
How do i plan to bend the sides someone asked .

I have no idea :D I was thinking of steaming them but reading up on it a bending iron is used . So either make or buy a bending iron i suppose :?
 
I saw Bert Weedon at a holiday camp in Scarborough 1972/3. :oops:
P.S. I liked him. :oops: :lol:
 
scarborough, holiday camp, bert weedon, boy a combination to blow the brain.

my memories of scarborough are olivers' mount, bazzer, and jarno saarinen blowing ago into the weeds about the same time. :roll: :twisted:

such a wasted youth :lol:

paul :wink:
 
Here's an intersteing article on bending with a bending iron. I recon you could make one easily with the element from a cheap iron (clothes) and a steel rod.
 
I use a solid alloy bending iron that I had cast years ago, it's electrically heated. The cheapest form of 'bending iron' is a simple hollow pipe at around 3 or 4 inch in diameter and heated with a propane torch. You have to reach a fairly high temperature, enough so that when you flick water at it the beads do a little merry dance. Forget steaming them, at a thickness of 2 mm or a little less that technique tends to result in your sides coming out very corrugated, they may corrugate even on a bending iron.
The other option is a 'fox bender' which is a strange contraption with light bulbs inside, popular with a lot of modern guitar makers. I hate them ( the fox bender
that is) -takes all the fun out of it.
 
Well here`s a collage of my Fox bending machine I made. I built light bulbs into my machine but I won`t be using them because I bought a heat belt to use with it. It also has a cut away attachment.

FoxColage.jpg


Here are my heat belts. The thin one at the back is for bending mandolin rims. I also purchased a machanical timer for theses belts to prevent burning them out.

heat_belts.jpg


This is my first experience of using these heat belts. I successfully bent a quite tricky part of an F5 style mandolin rim using the mandolin heat belt. I`ve already made two of these instruments and on each one I managed to crack the scroll while bending on an electric bending iron. Not fatal, as I repaired the crack with TiteBond and carried on bending when dry. Using the heat belt was a doddle. No problems at all, the rim was bent in six minutes, two and half for the belt to get up to temperature and the rest to bend. I spritzed the side with water, wrapped one layer of brown paper, one layer of Bacofoil secured with masking tape and this package was then placed between two strips of spring steel.

bending_mandolin_rim3.jpg
 
Dunno how he will get on, but I "Freecycled" some cedar along with other clearance stuff today to a guy who had just bought an old piano for 99p on Ebay, and was going to use the spruce from the soundboard and the mahogany from the case to make a guitar :)
 
Thanks for the help everyone :D
I've just been looking at some youtube clips and i have made the dovetail wrong and as you know this extends into the neck . Did i mention the plans i have don't show all detail !!!!!!!!!!!
So i now have a dovetail with the thinnest part at the neck and heel and the widest part where it joins the body , like a mortice dovetail i suppose .
Any way around this or do i have to remake the neck ? ](*,)
 

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