Body making complete

SSJ body making is completed. SSJ body has the completed beveled armrest. This armrest is made by 1.5mm Maccaser Ebony. For the beveled armrest, other makers usually use a very thin (0.6mm) veneer for easy bending and gluing. However, the armrest portion is part of a binding. Binding has two functions. One is for protecting the guitar edge, the other is for tightening the guitar edge as the rim of a drum. Therefore, I have been using fairly thick veneer material (1.5mm), even thought the bending and gluing processes are very difficult. After install the thick beveled armrest, the body showed substantially long tap torn. This is a very good sign for creating nice sound from this body construction.

Binding install

I have been working on the binding install for both nylon and SSJ model. Nylon model was completed the binding install. SSJ needs to install bindings at beveled armrest and cut-a-way portions. So, the body making is pretty much done. I selected highly flamed Hawaiian Koa binding for the nylon model. Hawaiian koa is a non traditional material for Classical guitars (nylon). However, this nylon model is designed for mostly Jazz and contemporary musicians. I selected a non traditional binding material. I also selected Madagascar rose wood for SSJ model. I have been using Ebony for my steel strings models; however, Ebony is quite brittle, and I usually loose 30% of binding materials. To avoid loosing binding materials, I switched to Mad RW. Mad RW is so much easier to bend. I never broken the binding material during the bending process. Hawaiian Koa is a wonderful material for bending process. However, I am not able to use the scraper for the leveling process after the installation. I have to use sanding paper for the leveling. This is a time consuming process. So, each material has advantage and disadvantage.

Purfling for Body

Now, the project is moving to details for body making. I finished purfling install. I also completed rough neck making including truss rod channels and head shape.So, I put together to show completed guitar shapes for both SSJ and Nylon models. Both bodies have finished all channel making for binding also. Binging installing at the cut-a-way portion is also completed. After install the binding, body making is over.