Tagged With: project
Atomic Age Surfcaster
With the charity guitar (the “Wishcaster”) complete, it’s time to start the next build. Though I still haven’t completed the acoustic, I really want to build another Surfcaster – this time for me. A few weeks ago I acquired three burl Maple bookmatched caps for the next few guitars. Perhaps it’s the fact that during … Continue reading
Dyeing the Wishcaster Blue
With the neck now attached, it was time for a quick trip to quality control – my eldest son Sean – for a check. Thankfully it passed and so the project moved forward to making the pick guard. Pickguard construction began, as usual, with templates. They were prepared from 1/2″ MDF using the full-size drawing. … Continue reading
Carving the Wish-caster Neck
After a couple weeks away, I was finally able to spend a weekend in the shop. Returning to the fretboard, I gave it a bit of thought and ultimately decided rather than try and fix the bad frets (there were probably 8-10) and paint the fretboard with CA (see the previous post), I would basically … Continue reading
Building the Stairs and Installation
Building the stairs With the main bunk bed complete, it was time to turn my attention to the stairs. For safety reasons, mom insisted the bunk bed have stairs instead of a ladder. The original design featured drawers on the end and paneled sides. Upon further reflection (and measuring) it was clear that this placement … Continue reading
The Back “X” and Top Bunk Safety Rails
In the last few weeks since my latest post, I’ve made significant progress on the bed. I applied the finish to the poplar parts and glued up the head and foot ends of the bed. At this point I was able to test-assemble the bed and give the kids a chance to take it for … Continue reading
Test Assembly and Finishing the Ends
Over the last couple weeks I’ve completed the construction of the side and end rails and cut the slats for supporting the mattresses. I also settled on somewhat novel connection hardware for the rails. Woodcraft sells a very inexpensive bed rail set bracket set that are nonetheless very sturdy and heavy duty. I’ve augmented the connection … Continue reading
The Rosette
The soundhole rosette is an aesthetic embellishment that provides an excellent opportunity for the luthier (or newbie like myself) to leave his distinctive impression on the finished instrument. Consequently I spent much time considering the design for the rosette on my first guitar build. Although I’ve significant experience inlaying wood, I’ve never worked with abalone … Continue reading
The “Veronica” Puppet Theater
Upon seeing the version I built for my kids this past Christmas, my brother-in-law suggested that his daughter, Veronica, might like one as well. I’d already fielded a few requests for these and figured I really needed to come up with a more practical design — something a bit more portable/shippable and lighter weight. The … Continue reading
Building the “Wings”
Now We’re Getting Somewhere The front came out so nice, I’ve updated the design to include frame-and-panel side wings instead of plain edge-banded cherry ply as I had originally envisioned. It’s been a busy couple of weeks and there hasn’t been much shop time available, but I’ve scraped together enough hours — usually after bedtime … Continue reading
Constructing the Frame and Panels
Birdseye Maple on Cherry The design for the top panel calls for birdseye maple. It seemed a shame to use my only piece of birdseye maple up on just one project. I decided to resaw the board. A few passes through my old Grizzly G1066 sander later and I had a beautiful 3/32″ sheet of … Continue reading