Plate joining

So I've got my materials ready. Now it's time to join the back and the top. I used a hand plane and improvised a shooting board to join the two halves of the guitar back. I followed Cumpiano's directions and the back passed the "candle" test. If you don't know what the candle test is I'll tell you. When you get the back joined and hold the two pieces together there should be no light shining through the joint. I then made a simple pressure clamp and used the weight of a large hand plane to hold the wood down while glueing. Don't forget to put newspaper underneath the wood so it doesn't stick to the table. I followed the same steps to join the top. Now, on to thicknessing!

Go-Bar finished

I finished up my go-bar deck. Turns out the deck railings didn't work.
They were extremely wobbly. So I got some all thread and electrical conduit. This thing is sturdy... and HEAVY.

Thickness Gauge

I made a thickness gauge out of a cheap dial indicator from Harbor Freight nd some scrap MDF. I need to move the dial indicator down so that the nail and indicator needle are in the middle of the opening. You'll see more of the thickness gauge later.

Tonewood

Woo hoo! Wood has arrived. Ordered the top and back of my guitar from Colonial Tone Woods. Steve, the owner of Colonial, is great and very helpful. I will definitely be ordering from him again. So here's the pics.

Yet more mold.

I picked up more MDF, Titebond, some 3/8" lag screws and washers (for the go-bar) and a small paint roller from the orange Borg this morning. When I got back to the house Iunclamped the mold from yesterday an set it aside and then cut the last 2 pieces of the go-bar. I chose 2 pieces to be the top and started glueup. I got the small paint roller to help spread the glue. Too spongy. It soaked more glue than is spread. I trashed it and used the cardboard piece, to which the roller was attached. Once glued, I clamped up the boards and set them aside to cure for minimum of 30 minutes. While the boards dried, I hand sanded the guitar mold. I checked it with a try square and the mold was within 1/32". I hope that is good enough. It took me about 30 to 45 minutes to sand the mold. Guess what! That just happens to be the amount of time to wait to take off the clamps on the top half of the mold. I took off the clamps and repeated the gluing process for the bottom. I decided to follow Stewart MacDonald's template for a go-bar. I use MDF where they recommend plywood. The top is 2 3/4" pieces and the bottom is 4 3/4" pieces.

Mold Part 5

9. Repeated the gluing process for the second half of the mold.
10. I weighted down the first half of the mold with the clamped up half. Now, just wait 24 hours for the glue to cure.

Hopefully, tomorrow I can sand the inside of the mold and finish up the go-bar.

Go-Bar

I wanted a go-bar. And I had some time to kill, so I decided to make one. Earlier, when I was at the Borg, I picked up some synthetic porch railing. Why synthetic porch railing you ask? Because they are extremely sturdy and on sale for $0.50 a piece. Look at the picture to see what I am talking about. I had some MDF left over so I cutup 4 pieces at 24"x24". I need 2 more pieces. Guess there is another trip to the Borg soon. The upside is that it took about 45 minutes, which meant I could undo the clamps!