Fustulant Work

This past week has been dedicated to tap tuning the top plate and getting the heel cap and heel cap thread inserts dealt and done with.

I am beginning to take a journal of notes for my future reference. I can refer to my notes after each guitar is done and make notes what works and what does not along with other observations and innovative thought. For example, when I routed out the treble side braces to resemble I Beams I had my wits about me to break out the scale and do a before and after weigh in. The longest brace originally tipped the scale an 10 grams. After I I Beamed it, it weighed 8 grams. That is a 20 % decrease in weight which is good for the higher frequencies.

The weight of the top plate with the braces glued on and before I scraped the Ebony around the lighting bolts was 220 grams. After scraping the Ebony flush and shaving material off the braces and graduating the top while tap tuning the final weigh in is 210 grams. I put the plate down and have left in alone for now. I'll let it settle and pick it up again and tap and maybe tweak it some more. As it stands I am very happy with the tap and response of the top. There seem to be many different resident frequencies at the various nodes and a nice overall stiffness. When you tap tune a guitar you have to commit what you hear to memory and intuitively judge the sound and vibration - or at least that is my approach. I have developed a feel for how things should feel - stiffness and vibrational response. I understand pitch and I am aware of the ringing sustain but I'm still honing my ear. This top sound real good to me. When I lightly rub my fingertips along the top surface it's loud and spreading. Before the braces where glued in it was hard not to find a node where the top wasn't alive and ringing.

I also bonded the Ebony heel extension on to the rim under the neck pocket. It bonds to the Maple sides with three dowels and Epoxy. The heel extend the neck joint and the bolts anchor the neck down and keep everything perfectly aligned.
The neck is true to the center of the guitar and the geometry to the top plate and bridge location is textbook.

I have also been dressing the frets to level and have decided to dome the fret ends. Doming the ends is something that I've always wanted to try. It look really professional and refined. It's also about three extra hours of fussing.