$100 Local Materials Challenge, Eddie McRae, Grand Auditorium Cutaway Acoustic

[Mark Swanson]

Hmmm, I can only make guesses from here! But you have loosened up the top with the scalloping. The missing arch may pull up a bit with the string tension but you won't know that until you string it. I think that when the braces are made looser, they tend to want to flatten a bit, if that makes sense....that's the only thing I can think of, other than I have had that happen to me as well and I just dealt with it by properly setting the neck. After that I had no troubles.
Was your bracewood well-dried and all setttled down?

[Eddie McRae]

Thanks Mark. The bracewood came from some spruce that's been in the shop for at least 10 years so it's well dried, no doubt. I tend to think the scalloping was probably the reason. At any rate, I resolved the issue but it took a little time to do so. I normally don't like to cut the neck angle until after the body is complete so I can actually take a physical measurement, but in this case, I was trying to make up time.

[Eddie McRae]

I got the necks fitted on both. I'd already made both bridges earlier but I decided to go ahead and make a couple of black walnut pickguards and then mocked everything up just to get an idea of the outcome. Still not sure about the pickguards....can't decide if I like them or not.

[Josh Humphrey]

I love the pickguards! Long live black walnut.

[Jason Rodgers]

I love the pickguards! Long live black walnut.

Yup! Keep em!

[Tristan Williams]

Lovely!

[david frassetto]

+1 on keeping the pickguards.

[Eddie McRae]

Thanks. I've grown to like the pickguards the more I've looked at them. I did manage to get the necks carved over the weekend and got started with the purfling and binding work today. Hoping to be done with the construction work on these by Wednesday and from there, it'll just be finish work. Needless to say....I guess it's pretty safe to say now that I won't be making that deadline. They'll be built but they won't be finished.

[Eddie McRae]

Glued bridges....

[Eddie McRae]

Finished up with neck attachment system....

[Eddie McRae]

Both are complete now as far as construction goes. All that's left is finish work and then setup. This is a pic of one of them bolted back together.

[Jason Rodgers]

This thing is gonna have some tasty color under finish!

Can you give a side pic of the neck joint? Specifically, once that button is locked into its hole, what's the rest of the fretboard extension doing: flush with the top or floating just a little?

[Eddie McRae]

The fretboard extension mount has an 8-32 threaded insert in it. A cap screw is threaded from the inside of the body through the fretboard support and into the mount. It pulls the fretboard down tight and flush to the top. The complete system consists of the 2 heel bolts (1/4-20 cap screws) and the fretboard bolt (8-32 cap screw). I generally like to place the mount further down towards the end of the fretboard but because of the upper bout brace, I wasn't able to extend the support that far.

[Josh Humphrey]

Neat idea! I would worry about vibration in the unsupported area- do you supplement with any glue?

[Eddie McRae]

I've never used any glue with this system. I've built 11 acoustics and resonators using this setup and haven't had the slightest problem with any of them. However, as I said above, I generally place the mount directly under the 19th dot inlay but in this case because of the location of the upper bout brace, I wasn't able to extend the support that far. So I had to place the mount under the 17th instead. In the future, I may eliminate the upper bout brace on this model. The solid fretboard support under the soundboard should adequately support the top without the need of that brace and it would allow me to place the mount closer to the end of the fretboard.

[Eddie McRae]

As requested....a couple of close-up pics of the fretboard extension and it's fit.

[Eddie McRae]

Construction work is complete on both. So now it's time for some finish work. I'll most likely start spraying seal coats on them over the weekend but I certainly won't be making the challenge deadline.

[Mark Swanson]

That's a couple of nice lookin' guitars Eddie!

[Eddie McRae]

Thanks Mark. These 2 acoustics, along with a custom cherry LP that I've just finished up with, will all be getting nitro burst finishes. I'm looking forward to getting them setup to hear how they sound. I'll post pictures of them when they're done.

[Matthew Lau]

Tasty!