Lattice Nylon Project

 I have a new project for a Nylon strings guitar. This guitar is for a California International Guitar Festival.

https://www.californiainternationalguitarfestival.com/

This time, I will make a traditional classical guitar for the exhibition. I will use balsa and carbon fiber Epoxy lamination top for the highest possible over tone generation. Neck will be a sloped neck with a beveled edge for the best high position playability. Side and backs are King wood. I am still working on the top design. I made a balsa and carbon fiber epoxy composite 6x6 lattice top using an Adirondack spruce. I will make another top using the Yellow cedar with 9x9 lattice design. I will select one of the designs. Body has a massive carbon fiber rod reinforcement. This carbon rod flame makes the strongest possible body with minimum weight increasing penalty. Side material was already laminated with yellow cedar. My goal is making a guitar with the best tonal quality and playability.

 

SSJ Complete

      SSJ making is completed. I set-up high-E is 1.9mm at 12F, and Low-E is 2.7mm at 12F. This guitar showed nice over tones with a bit brighter tonal character than the rose wood. This is due to the Padauk B&S and Adirondack top combination. Tonal character is in between RW and Mahogany. This guitar has very responsible touch. I installed the D'addario EJ16 phosphor bronze set. This set has quite bright tonal character. So, it may change the tonal character with other strings set. However, EJ16 is my reference string set for testing a new guitar. 

     The SSJ is in a Guardian CG-044-HD case. Fitting in the guardian case looks very good with nice holding. Before shipping this guitar, I will replace strings to a new set. I also will have a polishing session before ship this guitar.

Wet sanding, Polishing, and Bridge install

      2000-grit wet sanding and polishing works are done. I take only one 2000-grid wet sanding session after the final coat of the EM6000. 2000-grid wet sanding requires a little bit longer sanding time to make a perfect smoothness. However, this method makes the best polishing quality, due to the smallest possible sanding scratches. If I use the 1200-grid session, the following 2000-grid session is not able to remove the 1200-grid scratches easily. Therefore, I only have one 2000-grid session after the final coat spray. 

     I also completed the bridge installation. I have been using the Tight bond for the bridge gluing. I also have been using the vacuum clump for the bridge clamping. First clumping is approximately 7-minits. Then, I clean the excess glue using a wetted cotton fabric. I also remove the masking tape at the bridge portion. So, I can clean the surface near the bridge edges. Then, I resume the vacuum clumping additionally half hour. This bridge assembly process is the best for me.

Final coat spraying

 I completed 8-layers of the final coat apply. I applied four coats in the day one. In the day two, I filled some missing spots for the pour filling. I did three times of Epoxy pour filling sessions; however, there are some missing sots. I mixed between the EM6000 acrylic finish and the silica filler for creating a thick filling material. I filled all missing spots with this custom filler. In the day three, I took a 1200-grid wet sanding for the surface leveling. Then, I back to the additional 4-more finishing material apply. Total layers are eight. I have been using the Emtech EM6000 water base acrylic finish. I also applied the EM6000 to the bridge. I will wait 7-days for the final coat curing. Next week, I will start wet sanding and polishing work.

Bridge making and Pore filling

 I made a bridge using the Padauk. For me, the Padauk is the best material for the bridge. Padauk is much lighter than Rose wood. However, the material hardness is almost equivalent as the rose wood. So, the Padauk bridge is lighter, but equally hard enough to the rose wood. I wanted the bridge weight less than 25grams. This bridge is 23grams. I completed the final sanding work for the guitar. I did a first session of the Epoxy filling work using the System-3 Epoxy with the Silica thickener. It looks like that the Padauk requires three Epoxy filling sessions before go to the spraying session.

Neck Shape and Fret wire install

 After install the finger board using the Epoxy glue. I did the 20' radiousing work on the finger board. Then, I installed fret wires.  I also completed the Neck shaping work. My neck profile is 21mm at 0-fret and 23mm at 10th fret. This guitar has the Gibson style neck volute. Gibson neck is quite famous abut neck braking when the neck has herd impact. My neck has the front and back veneers. Also, my neck has double graphite re-enforcement at the joint between the neck and the head. So, my guitar has the super strong neck configuration. After I complete the neck shaping. I move to the final sanding work. The sanding work will be done in couple of hours. After that, I will move to the Epoxy filling work.

Truss rod and heal cap install

Neck installation requires precise adjustments. I have been using a 70mil (1.78mm) distance from the bridge top. I have been using a straight edge with a dial gauged to precisely measure the neck angle. After install the neck. The mortise neck joint requires to install two dowels for the permanent neck joint. After complete the dowels installation, extended truss rod channels were cut. Then, I installed two graphite rods and an adjustable truss rod. Truss rod covers were installed using Epoxy glue. I also installed a heal cap. Next steps are the finger board installation and the fret wire installation.