Grrr... everything is on hold

Well, I'm working on the fretboard.  I'd ordered brass through Amazon for some inlay that I REALLY want to do for this build.  It was being sent via a 3rd party with 8-10 day wait (1st argh moment!).

They sent it via DHL who took a few days, then transferred it to USPS for delivery.

On Monday 10/28 the post office marked it as delivered.  Two hours later when I checked the mailbox it wasn't there.  (2nd argh) Ok, this has happened before, things just show up a day or 2 later.

Tuesday I went to the post office and they looked in back, nothing there. (Argh!)

Wednesday I went to the post office with copies of my "informed delivery" docs.  They took my name and number and the relevant delivery numbers.  Said a supervisor would check and call me. (Argh!!)

Thursday I went to the post office and got to talk to a supervisor.  They told me that multiple addresses in my neighborhood reported missing mail and/or packages for Monday.  In my case, one package was left by USPS at my door (which was there) and 2 packages in my mailbox, both missing.  Post office said they were opening a case with their investigators and would get back to me if they found anything.  (ARGH!)

Friday I went to the Police station and reported it.  Seems the post office doesn't report this stuff to the Police so it was the first they were hearing of the issue in my neighborhood.  

I don't expect to see either of my packages again.  

The vendor of my other lost package was quick to create a new order for me at zero cost and has already shipped part of it, but 3 items are back ordered.  I'm ok with that.

My brass inlay through Amazon is another mess.  Amazon customer service directed me to the 3rd party customer service chat.  That system is more like email than chat.  It also seems to be entirely AI and doesn't understand what I type.  They think I want to return something when I want it resent if possible. (AAARRRGGGHHH!!!)

After 3 days of round and round I'm still trying but less hopeful.  I re-ordered the exact same brass inlay, it is on sale and cheaper (only $8.50) but now delivery is expected Nov 30 - Dec 2.  

I just can't win!

fretboard beginnings

Setting up to cut the fret slots is up for today.  First, a checklist of things to do and the order I'm choosing to do them.

Zero clearance for the blade to support a clean cut and 0.062" depth using a dial caliper.

This is a Stew Mac blade and has a 0.022" thick kerf.

I stacked the fretboard, the wedge shaped cutoff (that got things level again) and the jig guide.  These are taped together with double stick tape.  Then it's just cut a slot, lift the workpiece while returning the sled part of the jig, then engage the next slot and repeat the cut.  Easy peasy and done in a flash.

Note above that the slot and the blade are offset.  I think it made things easier since the blade and the guide slots are different widths, I just had to remember to take it into account when I taped the guide to the fretboard.

Below I placed the fretboard, wedge, and guide board on edge just to get the picture so you can see what I've been talking about with the wedge shapes.

All slots cut!

On this next picture, this pattern will get spray glued temporarily to the top of the fretboard.  The black lines represent where the string will be and the red lines represent the 2 tapered outside edges and the 3 inner red lines will be brass inlay.  Hopefully it'll make sense later.

Then I made a new jig to hold the fretboard while I cut those red lines on the tapers.  The jig runs in the miter slot of the table saw.  Those lines won't be cut until the brass gets here (in the next few days supposedly).  So, all in all, I only got to check off step 1 of the list up above but I'm in good shape to move forward soon.

The blade will cut flush with the edge of the jig so I can clamp, line up the lines on the pattern with the edge of the board, and cut.  I just need to ensure the depth is set correctly!  No oops allowed here!

Brian

New saw blade, jig work for the fretting to come soon

 My new, thin kerf (1/16"), saw blade arrived today.  This got used today to notch my new jig for 15" scale fretboards and will get used on the fretboard for some inlay.

I used a new insert to allow for a zero clearance fit.  It's 1/8" fiberboard cut to fit.  Then just start the saw and raise the blade to appropriate height for your cut.  No big gaps at the sides of the blade and the work piece is supported giving cleaner cuts.

Here is the fret pattern jig with the new slots cut.  I cut this from the back side of the table so I could get good alignment without leaning over the blade to get things lined up.  In use, the pattern will sit on top of the back side of the fretboard.  This will put the front face down on the table saw to cut the grooves.  The jig and fretboard will be held together with double sided tape, then I can just align the slots with the pin you see in the second photo and cut a slot.  Move to the next mark and cut another slot.

I noted yesterday that since the fretboard is slightly wedge shaped that I'd need to use the opposite cutoff to give me a flat (parallel to the table) surface to attach the jig.  I cut it off today and it looks like it'll work.

I haven't cut the fret slots yet.  I'm still thinking about the process order for the steps I need to take to complete the fretboard.  They include cutting fret slots, inlay slots, and then tapering the fretboard.

Brian

tiny steps today

 Today I determined that I needed to order a couple things for the fretboard, so I've got those coming and there may be a delay for a week before proceeding too far.

I did start on the jig for cutting the fret slots.  I'll need my new saw blade (coming tomorrow) to finish this pattern jig.  Then I'll show the rest of the jig that fits on the table saw.  

Thinking about it now I'm going to need to do some tweaking since my fretboard isn't flat on the bottom... this could be tricky.  Then again, I've got the matching piece so maybe just cut that off square and double stick tape it to the bottom of the fretboard.  This would square it up so I can cut fret slots on the top side of the fretboard using the jig.  That should work!

Brian

trim the top and start on the fretboard

 Took the top out of the clamps and proceeded to sand the overhang back to the body.  Also sanded a couple dings on the top, that Western Red Cedar is stiff but has a soft surface.

Then it was time to lay out the fretboard across a nut stand-in, and the bridge.  I took a number of measurements and then it was time to cut.  This was a picky operation as it needs to fit tight to the neck but also extend over the top plate of the body for a bit.

Some hand sanding on the bottom of the "ledge".  I did this on the edge of the table saw.  This gave a nice flat surface and a good 90 degree angle to hold things in alignment.

I needed to cleanup the end of the head plate towards the nut.  It was straight but not quite perpendicular.  Got it squared up with an exacto and a chisel.  My design requires a 1/2" piece of maple on the headstock side of the nut so I cut and fitted that.  The fretboard will be maple to match.  Nothing glued up today, I have a bunch of work to do on the fretboard still.  The neck will have to be thinned down a bunch too now that I have a fretboard thickness.

Starting to see the end of the tunnel!

Brian

Time to glue on the top

 I did some clean up on the back stripe first.  I haven't touched it with sand paper yet.  I used a card scraper on the surface to get the zipper stripe flush with the back plate.  I love this wood!  I then used a rasp/file to bring the edges back flush with the sides.  I won't do any sanding until the top is also attached and flush.

I then did a bunch of looking and reflecting on the top, and decided it was good to go.

I signed the under side where no one will ever see it.  Then I glued it up and "clamped" it just using weight, but the bottom/sides/top are clamped between 2 matching radius dishes so they have even pressure all the way around.

Then I spent a little more time working on the bridge.  I don't know final dimensions yet for the bridge but I'm getting it closer.  

Once the top glue is set up I can start measuring for the nut/fretboard/bridge(saddle) dimensions.  When I know those dimensions I can get to work on the fretboard, which I'm kind of excited about.  

Hope I can pull it off!

Brian

my mistake is now a feature!

 So as I noted previously, I tried a new glue on this build for the top and back plates.  It was a water proof glue meant for boat building.  Since I force my plates from flat to hemispherical I thought that maybe using heat and moisture might help the plates conform with less stress.  However, instead the glue just failed and let go, leaving the back plates hemispherical but not glued together.  They also would NOT go together without re-jointing.  So, I re-jointed and tried to glue them together, but with curved surfaces there was no good way to clamp them up and this is what I was left with.

I could have started over with different wood but my other option is to do something with the gap.  As seen in earlier pictures I glued in a support strip on the inside covering the gap.  This is a normal step but I did use a wider strip than normal.  Then, with the back glued to the body it was time to fix it.

I knew that I wanted to install a "zipper" to cover this.  Here is what I am calling a "zipper", it's a piece of inlay used on guitar backs or as purfling around the edge binding, etc.

Next step was a jig to guide the router while routing a straight groove across that curved, hemispherical surface.  I had the jig I'd used to create the radius dishes so I grabbed the guides that matched the 8 foot radius.  I cut square blocks that matched the width of my router base and nailed them between the radius guides.  Then these got clamped across the back of the uke body.

I used a speed controller on the router to slow it down quite a bit and proceeded to cut the groove.

Then test fit the zipper.

While most of the groove was a good fit there were a couple TINY gaps along side the zipper.  I grabbed a bit of sawdust from sanding these plates to thickness and proceeded to glue the zipper in place and then rub the sawdust into the gaps where the glue had squeezed out.  The masking tape should help a lot with cleanup later.

The zipper is proud of the surface by about 1/32" so the card scraper and sand paper should clean things up nicely after the glue is dry.  Looks like my earlier mistake is now a feature!

Brian