How do you know when you're an eccentric?

1. You know where everything is in the mess that is your room (no harm done)
2. You've got sellotaped glasses (fairly mild)
3. You can recall most Pokemon at the drop of a hat (bit odd)
4. You repeat everything you say twice. That's four times (annoying)
5. You named your granny after a cordial..and it sticks to this day (weirdo)
6. You have a jar of your own baby teeth (STAY AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN!!!)

I dunno...I think i'm a bit odd sometimes....
Loads of thoughts running around in my head. For instance:

What direction am I going in my life?

However, in the same thought I can completely waylay my fears, push them to the back of my head and save it for a rainy day, eating toast for breakfast before class in the morning and watching another bomb blast in Bagdad while at the same time letting it breeze over my head while all I do is worry about No.1.
I'm such a cretin.

I don't know why these things bother me....live for the present, right?
But that's my problem. I'm obsessive. I don't put something down, I let it linger, let it follow me around and beat me with sticks like some asbo on a mission.

But then I chill out and put on some Dave Matthews.

He'll sort me ri' out!

And he does. Bless.

Finished project!!!

So there you have it! That's my diary of my guitar. I had a lot of fun making the guitar and builiding myself up as a luthier. Please find enclosed a jpeg of my guide.

Stringin' up!

Now I had to tune my guitar! I placed the strings against the bridge pin and inserted them into the bridge. I then slotted the strings through the machine heads, wound them and snipped the ends of the wires. I then used the electronic tuner to tune up the guitar. At first the guitar wouldn't stay tuned, but after 3 comebacks it is now perfect!

Shaping the nut...

I sanded my nut to be flush with the neck. I looked at the Stew Mac string spacing ruler and marked out the positions on the nut by going 3 mm in from either side of the nut inwards and then marking the rest as it best suited in those circumstances. I used the Junior Hacksaw to cut the slots and then used the small files to put the repsective strings.

Bridge glued...

As I came into Inst Tech I noticed that my bridge was glued and proceeded to take care when reaming the bridge pins holes. These pins would hold the strings in place when tuning and although I may have reamed slightly too far, the mistake was managable.

A Bridge Too Far...

My bridge is the bridge from another guitar which I subsequently removed with the use of a wood chisel and two kitchen knives. The bridge was dowelled so I sanded it down flush. However, the bridge was meant for a right handed guitar, so myself and Gary had to make some modifications. I inserted a strip of maple into the saddle slot and sanded it flush with the bridge. Gary then changed the jig to a left handed channel router and routed it out. I then sanded a bit of bone to make the saddle.
The bridge was flush with the top plate so I glued it on. Next would be shaping the nut, saddle and finally STRINGING IT UP!!!

Attaching the fretboard...

I laid the fretboard down on the neck and made sure that they were lined up. I then took it off and glued the truss rod into the channel routed for it in the neck. Following that I spread glue over the neck and joined the fretboard. When tightening the g-clamps there was slight displacement of the fretboard on the neck but I sanded it back flush.

Attaching the machine heads

I screwed in the machine heads into their respective holes. I believe they are pretty good machine heads. They'd want to be for the price!

Forgot to mention!

I capped off the heel of my neck with a square of maple so it looks like a continuation of the binding! It took about 15 minutes to complete this procedure.

Joining the neck!

About time! Gary cut me two slivers of veneer and I super-glued them to the sides of the dove tail joint for a tight fit. I filled the area which the joint would be filling with wood glue and jammed the neck in. The fit was great.