First mistake on Stewmac kit

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mr roper

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I made my first mistake today and its actually pretty cool. I've got the side dots installed so that it works either right or left handed. That's right, I put the side marker dots on the wrong side. I had plenty of material to go back and do the three dots on the correct side for me.
 
I made a mistake today in the Stewmac kit i'm building too.

Even though the instructions explicitly warned me not to, I cut the plastic pieces for the inlaid rosette too short. I had to muck around a bit to figure out something to 'fix' it. So, now i've got the usual rosette pattern (black/white/black/white/black) about nine tenths of the way around the circle; the last tenth is made up of five layers of white. It looks not too bad.
Hard to explain...perhaps i'll post a photo at some point.


Btw, i'm just around the lake from you Mr Roper, in Kingston (about 2 hours straight north of Syracuse).
 
Jamie, We're going to make these mistakes, aren't we. I'll be happy if this things turns out to be nice to play and sounding good.
 
You guys building the tenor kit? The build manual says that the fretboard won't cover the rosette, yet on mine it does. I have cocked up spectacular style?
 
Roper - okay, smokes signals at noon tomorrow...?

Shifty - i'm building a tenor. I read in the instructions that the tenor's fretboard shouldn't cover the top of the rosette. But, I think that there might be a mistake in the manual.

Pete - I having a blast; this is my first stewmac kit. I think i'll do a couple more of these and buy a few tools, then I might be calling you for one of yours!
 
No matter how much experience you have, and how many instruments you've got under your belt, there will always be something that goes pear shaped on you. Every single one of us has to deal with those unforeseen or stupid stuff ups. You learn an awe full lot about instrument building and repair inadvertently.

My first time to re-top a guitar was because I dropped one just after its last coat of lacquer went on. Bounced nearly as high as from where it started. As you can imagine, I wasn't all that happy at the time. But when a client came in a few months latter with a guitar that needed a new top, I had the confidence and know how to tackle the job.
 
Sometimes I think I over think things. Like right now I'm thinking of not following the instructions on when to glue the fretboard. I'm going to do the neck alignment and dowels before I attach the fretboard. I hope that doesn't lead to "Second Stewmac kit mistake"
 
It's the way I do it - align the neck then fret fingerboard and glue in place. It is a logical pathway that allows you to cater for slight misalignments
 
Pete Howlett said:
It's the way I do it - align the neck then fret fingerboard and glue in place. It is a logical pathway that allows you to cater for slight misalignments
Click to expand...

You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that!
I'm thinking I will align the neck to the body with the fretboard only attached with locating pins. Then I would remove the fretboard, put my finish on the sound box, and then glue the fretboard in place using the locating pins I added earlier.
Does that make sense?
 
I usually use the excuse that I have to build kits to review them for American Lutherie magazine, but the truth is that I just like to build one now and then (and writing them up let's me get paid for it). Its important to remember that, cosmetically speaking, whatever you do is right, right up to the point where you have to please a customer. As far as the rosette thing goes, Selmer used a wedge of ebony to hide the spot where the rings came together. Nobody ever said, "Hey, you guys are cheating!"
 
When you mention Selmer are talking about gypsy guitars? I'd like to see a ukulele styled like one of those.
 
Yes, I mean the gypsy jazz guitars (like Django's). They don't thrill me, I'm just using them as an example. Don't be too bound up with what everybody else might expect of your instruments.
 
are these kits hard to build?

i fancy having a go, but i'm a bit kack at woodwork and DIY.
 
Strummin simon said:
are these kits hard to build?

i fancy having a go, but i'm a bit kack at woodwork and DIY.
Click to expand...

I have found it to be very straightforward so far, though I haven't yet finished it. Just follow the instructions and don't try to improvise on your first kit and you should be fine. Only uses basic hand tools as well, which I assume you probably already have as you do repair work.
Stewmac also sell a DVD made by Char and Gordon at Mya Moe that shows them building a kit from start to finish which is quite useful.
 
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