Guitar Building and Kumiko

Pieces that I am learning: Flowers will Bloom, by Yoko Kanno Elegy for the victims of the tsunami of March 11 2011 , by Nobuyuki Tsujii Romance Anon Lagrima , by Francisco Tarrega Cantico , by Vicente Sojo Hana wa Saku (Flowers will Bloom) ,  by Yoko Kanno, performed by Kaori Muraji Elegy for the victims of the tsunami of March 11 2011 by Nobuyuki Tsujii ROMANCE ANON  Of the many interpretations, my favorite is by Tatsou Tabei. LAGRIMA by Francisco Tarrega, performed by Cesar Amaro. CANTICO by Vicente Sojo, performed by Rob MacKillop

My first design is a removable armrest that is attached to the guitar body with embedded magnets (see post ).  I found it clunky and did not look well integrated. I addressed these issues with this second design, a slim armrest that is attached to the guitar with dual sided adhesive tape. The adhesive is secure enough to hold the armrest in place, and easy enough to remove without affecting the finish. You can judge for yourself in these pictures. Material : sapele Thickness : 4mm, 1mm clearance from soundboard

This is my 2nd CG build. In brief: # 640mm scale # Woods are sitka spruce top, sapele back & neck, japanese cypress sides, IRW fretboard & bridge. # Based on FE19 body size & fan bracing. # French polished with blonde shellac I made the following design features over my 1st CG to improve this CG: # Increased the overall box stiffness with side braces all round & thicker sides # Increased top bout stiffness and sturdier fretboard base with C shaped heel  # Increased sound board to side impedance with harder sapele linings & stiffer sides # More flexible top (thinner & ligher top, lighter bridge) # Enhanced the bass with torvanoz & sapele top linings # Higher weight for robust feel & better bass response # For fun, added a kumiko over the sound hole. Guitar Build SHTAN#002 -  About & Rosette -  Neck & Headstock -  Sound board & back -  Sides, bindings, linings, b

After 1st FP session. After 3rd FP session. After final FP session and spirit off. Attach bridge Removable Kumiko over the sound hole. String up, setup and done!

There are ugly milky patches on the back, sides and neck of my Yamaha CG151S, so I decided to redo the finish, ie remove the polyurethane finish and replace with shellac using French polish. The sound board is not affected so I'm leaving it as it is. This is a picture of the milky patches on the back.  Removal method : the polyurethane layer is so thick that a chemical paint stripper has no effect. I had to resort to mechanical means using cabinet scrapers, planes and sand paper. The scraper is handy on curved surfaces on the neck. The plane is used on the headstock back and sides. The headstock top has a black plastic veneer, so it had to be sanded with sandpaper. Sandpaper is used extensively on the back and sides, starting with 80, then 120 and 400 grit. The polyurethane layer is very thick. It took a lot of sanding and elbow grease to remove it. Generated a lot of nasty sanded powder. The amount shown is from the patch on the guitar lower bout in the

Glue neck to soundboard. Cut sides to size and profile to heel wedge slots, glue and trim. Sized end block and glue. Trim side height flatness to match fit the back. Install top linings. Install back linings. Install side braces. Before boxing up. Trim sides to match fit the back and glue up with a combination of bicycle inner tubes and clamps. Install purflings, bindings and decorative strips. Here bicycle inner tubes does a good job of pressing and holding. Cut fret slots with a kataba saw and magnetic guide, and shape the fretboard to size. Glue fretboard to neck and soundboard, and sand flatten. Install frets, trim, flatten and file smooth. Sand surfaces to prepare for French polishing.