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This is my 50th guitar build. I am building this guitar for a friend, Mark, who has spent  time researching and playing guitars to find that perfect size and wood combination for his custom guitar. Mark has decided on my G-45 slope shouldered Dreadnaught. He has picked a beautiful Adirondack top and East Indian Rosewood back and sides.

Below is a picture of the sides before sanding. Mark chose these sides knowing that when they were sanded they would display some awesome coloring. See next picture below:

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First side ready to be bent

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Bending at 300+ degrees

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Both sides in the building form

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Heel and tail block glued to sides

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Kerfed lining glued to bottom edge of sides

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"Driving the bus" -  Sand paper is placed in the radius dish and turned back & forth to sand sides and kerfing to a 15' radius

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Top and back of sides & kerfed linings sanded to 30' and 15' radius.

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Side reinforcement strips installed

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Using a hand plane to true the two sides of the back so they will fit together tightly

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I try to take off about 2 one-thousands of an inch of material every pass to work the two pieces of East Indian Rosewood until they fit perfectly

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Back pieces and zipper back strip glued together

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Back & soundboard joined

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Back braced, carved and mated with sides

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Sound board rosette: black/white/black outer ring and Pau blue abalone inner ring

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Sound board bracing

Top braced and braces shaped

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And signed

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Top mated with sides & back

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Routing binding and purfling ledges

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Super gluing and mitering purfling to binding ledges and tail graft cut out.

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Binding installation

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Sound board binding, abalone inlay and purfling flush sanded.
The next step is to apply 3 coats of sanding sealer to all surfaces and sand between coats. Then 6 coats of clear wood pore filler to smooth out the surface of back and sides (sanding between coats). This will prepare surface for finish sometime after initial neck fit.

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Neck blank Glue up

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Neck truss rod slot cut

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Neck tenon

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Neck mortise

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Slide show of peg head veneer prep

I built a peg head binding jig. A heat gun is used to soften the white plastic as I form it to the jig.

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Peg head veneer ready to install on neck

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Initial roughing of neck

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First neck fit to body

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Fret board glued to neck

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Neck with fret board fit to body. Fret board sanded to 16" radius and smoothed using 80, 120 220, 320 & 400 grit sand paper.

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Peg head veneer ready to be glued to neck

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Neck peg head shaped and sanded to veneer. Tuner holes drilled

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Shaping neck

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Cutting heel flush for heel cap

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Heel cap glued

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Fret board Mother-of-Pearl position dots installed

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Pressing frets

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Fret board side markers

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Applying a water based finish

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After finish is sanded and buffed, neck is attached to body

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Rough bridge blank is shaped to sound board radius

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Bridge is hand shaped to finished specs

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Bridge location determined

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Bridge glued to sound board

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Holes are reamed for bridge pins

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Frets leveled, crowned and polished

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Gotoh 510 mini tuners with black buttons (my favorite) and initial nut fitting

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Finished pictures by Jeanne Giltzow

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