Looking the part

 

I've been making a fair amount of progress. The main instrument is now complete with binding fitted, and the fretboard glued in place. I sanded down to 600 grit and then finished everything (except the belly and fretboard) with my Chestnut buffing kit . I think it looks great, but I needed to hold on tight while working on it as it is now very smooth and slippy.

I will finish the belly with Renaissance wax and will probably leave the fretboard unfinished (or maybe some Dunlop Oil).

Now that the fretboard is on, I have been able to take some measurements of where the strings will go -  I am aiming for 2.5mm at the 12th fret, and about 0.75mm at the 1st, Unfortunately, this means my bridge is a little too slim, so I will need to raise it a few mm by gluing some walnut/dyed maple underneath (to match the bindings).

Fretboard

The Fretboard is pretty much finished - it was a bit of a pain fitting the frets! The fretboard is radiused at the nut end (about 35cm radius), and flat at the bridge end (my thought is to make it a bit easier on my arthritic fingers). I started hammering the frets into the slots (I always start at the bridge end in the hope that any early mistakes are well away from the main playing area), but it was a messy method.

I decided to finish off with a press. I need to drill a hole in the end of it to take a caul (Amazon...), and make a threaded hole to lock the caul in place (I still hate tapping holes).

Pressing was SO much easier than hammering.

I finished off by dressing the ends of the frets, but I will leave working on the crowns until the fretboard is glued into place. The board develops a very slight upward bow with the fret tangs driven into the thin board, but this won't cause a problem and will be flat again once it is on the neck..

Here is the DIY fret press.

Bridge

 

I made the bridge out of an offcut of walnut. I found this video from Beau Hannam Guitars and Ukuleles very useful...

Gluing the back on

 The obligatory photo of lots of clamps. Before this went on I stuck on a label and  sprayed a couple of coast of clear shellac on the insides to seal them.

Back

 

A quick update - I have now added the three braces to the back - I went with walnut in the end - I didn't feel it needed the stiffness of spruce. The walnut dots are glued into the fretboard too.

I shaved down the belly braces a bit as part of my attempt at tap tuning. It sounds a bit brighter to me, but who knows!

Slotting the Fretboard

 

For all my previous instruments I have hand cut the fret slots with this little thing, using a fretting saw with a depth guide. I have found this a bit awkward, so I decided to make a slightly more sophisticated jig. It was based loosely on the one that StewMac sell.

The saw rides along the little oak cross beams (height adjusted via four bolts). The first test was disappointing as the saw was binding in the slot but the fix was to give it a sharpen (I found some useful tips in a video by crimson guitars). After this it cut nicely and I made the slots for the fretboard.