Page under construction... building a Prima for Steve Babb.

 

I managed to get some very nice curly walnut for the back. This is going to look good!

The back is about 0.087" thickness, an experiment that is significantly thinner than most steel string guitars.
The Engelman spruce top with the rosette installed and the sound hole cut. I need to replace this pic... the color is way off (though the pearl sure looks great!).

Here's the rosette: B/W/B purfling, the pearl inlay, more B/W/B purfling. Came out very nice. (Purfling is the thin strips of plastic material used for trim).

This was a good learning experience for me. I used some fine sandpaper on the drum of my drum sander. But there were black smears on the surface when i was done. Turns out that you have to use coarse sandpaper so you don't over heat the plastic, then do finish sanding with an orbital.

The top is about 0.105" thickness.

I had a problem with the purchased mold. It wasn't the correct Prima shape and the bending patterns were made to yet another shape. So I made my own. Should have done it this way from the beginning because it's not that hard!

I had bent the sides with the bending pattern that had the error in it. The waist bend was too tight, so I re-bent the sides with the new pattern. Fortunately walnut is very forgiving and it appears I was able to get things reshaped OK.

 
Using the flat sanding bar to get a jointed edge on the sides. I was off a little with the saw and this put things right.
The edge after working it to shape. I managed to take it down to 1/2 of the pencil line thickness.

Tail block glued in place.

When I made the new bending pattern, I adjusted for material thickness rather than making it the same shape as the mold. This is a necessary adjustment since the mold accomodates the outside shape of the guitar while the bending pattern is made to the inside shape of the guitar.

More of the same.

I've got another cataract operation and a vitrectomy scheduled plus some changes that need to be made in the garage & shop (water lines for humidifiers, electrical work, insulation, false floor over the garage ramp, a portal over the shop & garage entrance), so I won't be able to pick this up again till late December at the earliest.