Jazz Nylon body complete

I back to the Jazz Nylon built. This week, I completed the body built. This guitar has been making for the La Gutarra 2017. On this guitar, I added a beveled armrest first time for the Nylon model. I also will add a scrolled edge for the cut-a-way top. Scrolled edge is the Taku Sakashita's signature design. I have been thinking to revive his signature design on my guitar. Finally, I added his design for the Jazz Nylon model.

SSJ Complete

SSJ Built completed. Finishing work went pretty good. German top and Honduran RW sides and back combination made pretty balanced tone. Tone sustain time is extremely long. This guitar showed very responsible tonal character. I may need a little bit more bridge adjustment for lower action setting. I have been waiting initial change for the guitar body stricture. I will show this guitar at the Winters Guitar festival in between June 23 and 24. If you are closer to Winters California, please come and check it out.

https://www.wintersguitarfest.com/

bridge making

I made two bridges. One bridge is made from Brazilian RW, and the other is Ebony. Brazilian bridge is 29-grams and Ebony is 39-grams. I like lighter weight bridge for better sound response. I have been exclusively using Brazilian RW for my bridge. This time, I will use Ebony bridge for color matching. I will have a guitar show in June. Please visit the Winters guitar festival in June 23 and 24. I have an exhibitor booth to show my guitars. I will show this SSJ and Juzz Nylon model in the show.

https://wintersguitarfest.com/

 Next week, I will start polishing for the SSJ. This guitar will be ready to play in two weeks.

Final coats apply

     Final coats apply work is done. I sprayed 8-layers of Water based acrylic finish using the Terget EM6000. This is my trusted finish material. Water based acrylic finish is a tricky material. Some brand requires very precise spraying technique. Too much spray makes a non-clear white layer issue, and too little makes dry and rough surface.  Some brand makes blueish and not clear coating color. However, EM600 has a lot of forgiveness. Also, EM6000 makes crystal clear coating. I have never failed finishing work using the EM6000. This time, I have gotten a pretty good satisfaction for my finishing quality.
     It requires two weeks to cure the finish. White waiting the finishing cure, I will make the bridge. I will use the Brazilian rose wood for the bridge.

Epoxy filler

All wood working processes have been done. Now, the SSJ project is moving to the finishing work. I completed Epoxy filler apply to top, sides, and back. After cure those portions, I will apply Epoxy filler to the neck. Honduran Rosewood shows very nice color with Epoxy filler coating. I really like the color contrast between Rosewood brown and Ebony black with White borders. I will have two Epoxy filling sessions for this SSJ project, and then move to spraying sessions.

Truss rod amd fingerboard install

I installed two graphite rods and steel truss rod. In the center of the neck head, I also installed an Ebony rod in between two graphite rods. This makes an optimum flexibility at the neck top. Neck top needs a little flexibility to make the best action setting. After install the graphite rods and steel truss rod, I also install wood covers for preventing a rattling issue due to the truss rod resonation. Also, wood covers enable for the final sanding to make a final neck flatness sanding. After complete all processes, I installed a fingerboard. Now, remaining works for this guitar are final neck shaping and final sanding before the finishing work.

 

Neck shape and Joint

This week, I completed neck rough shape and neck joint. Neck rough shape is required before the neck joint, because the neck heal section is very hard to work once the neck joint is completed. The mortise cut was completed last week. So, I needed fairly simple precise fitting work to obtain neck angle adjustment. Also, the precise fitting work is for the clean joint between the neck and the body. Neck fitting is a relatively time consuming work. However, if the mortise cut has been precisely done, this process is quite straightforward. In my case, I spend about one hour for the fitting work. Foe me, it was quite first. I have been using Epoxy for the neck gluing work.