Ready for lacquer

Palmorado's deep baritone is now ready for lacquer. Now I've shaped the neck, using 4 sanding steps. I use my spindle sander to shape the curved areas near the nut. I use round end of my edge sander to shape the heel. I use a strip of sandpaper to shape the neck profile using a sort of shoeshine technique that makes it very easy to quickly approximate any kind of neck profile, and then finally hand-sanding with a foam block backing to close in on the final shape. About half-way though this neck profiling process I'll also put a straightedge on the fingerboard and sand the surface to get it perfectly true. All that remains then is a final round of finish sanding and detailing, making sure all the bindings are sanded flush and that there are no hairline scratches to be found. Tomorrow I'll leave the guitar with Addam Stark, who expertly applies a thin layer of nitrocellulose lacquer.

Palomorado's neck coming along

I've been assembling the neck for Palomorado's deep baritone. Here are three photo galleries of the progress; Gallery 13, Gallery 14, and Gallery 15. I especially like the way the bloodwood binding stands out against the ebony fingerboard. Next I'll be shaping the heel and neck profile.

All Bound Up!

Over the last two days I've installed the binding and then sanded them flush. Before I rout the channels for the bindings, I use a handheld sander to thin the perimeter of the top around the lower bout. This adds some flexibility to the top so that it will vibrate as a unit at lower frequencies and provide a strong bass response. Another thing I do is spray on one temporary coat of lacquer so that the delicate top won't be damaged when I remove the masking tape I use to glue on the binding. When I sprayed this thin coat on I got really excited about this guitar because I could see how that bloodwood rosette really popped out. This one's gonna be a beauty! :)

Closed up Palomorado's Zebrawood Baritone Box

Now I've braced up the back of Palomorado's zebrawood deep baritone, notched the rim to accept the back braces, and glued the back onto the rim. Next I'll be thinning the perimeter of the top with a handheld random orbit sander, and then routing for the bloodwood binding.

Glued the rim on to Palomorado's Top

Today I notched the rim of Palomorado's rim to receive the the x-braces on the top. Then I glued the rim on and used a flush cutting router bit to trim off the the wood from the top that was overhanging the sides. Here are the pictures.

Palomorado's Deep Baritone Top is Braced Up

The Adirondack top of Palomorado's deep baritone is all braced up now. You can see a couple of my ideas for bracing the top for this model. One is to have a very small bridge plate to keep the area behind the bridge a little more flexible than I would have it on a normal grand concert guitar. A more flexible top favors a deeper bass response. The other idea is to lightly reinforce the area between the bridge plate and the soundhole with small offcuts from the soundboard. Because of the long 29" scale length on this model, the distance from the intersection of the x-braces to the bridge plate is a little longer, so I like to make sure there's sufficient structure in front the bridge. The only analysis that suffices for these kinds of design elements is to build the instrument and see what happens. Having built several of these I'm happy to say that it's really working! :)

Zebrawood Baritone Rim Ready to Go

Now I've completed assembly on Palomorado's zebrawood deep baritone. The two sides have been glued to the headblock and tailblock. The kerfing is glued on and the gluing surface where the kerfing will meet the top has been carefully prepared. Usually I use spruce for the side braces but for this guitar I decided to use bloodwood to match the binding. Just a little snaz for those of us who are geeky enough to go looking around inside soundholes. :) Next I'll be bracing the Adirondack spruce soundboard.

Top and Back plates thinned

Yesterday I thinned the back and top plates on Palomorado's deep baritone. Now that I've cut their outline to shape, albeit 1/2" oversized, you can start to get a sense of how this guitar is going to look.

Baritone Top and Back Prepared

Yesterday I jointed the Adirondack spruce top and the zebrawood back, and installed the rosette. The backstrip and rosette are bloodwood. Next I'll be thinning these plates in my drum sander. The back will be thinned to about .090" and the top will be somewhere between .1" and .094" depending on how stiff it feels as I go. At a certain point during assembly I'll thin the perimeter of the lower bout further. This added flexibility will act as a hinge for the top to flex as a unit.

Zebrawood Baritone in the Works

Clifton's zebrawood sides bent like a dream. This wood has a light density and texture that's similar to mahogany, and it has a creamy, lustrous appearance. The back on this guitar has some very dramatic figure so stay tuned for some pictures of that when I get to jointing it. Clifton has chosen bloodwood for the binding and rosette with cocobolo for the bridge, fingerboard, and headplates. Gonna be fun!