Heres the hard part.

I can't figure out how to get the pictures to go in the order I want. So For now youll just have to read this part, then the captions. I decided to do something incorrectly in the guitar building realm. I said, I am going to mount the bridge before I mount the neck. I will put the neck on the way it should fit, but I am not going to glue it. I had no specific intentions or expected results from this, I just assume it will work the same. To mount the bridge, you measure from the nut, to the 12th fret, and then you double that number, and thats how far from the nut, the bridge should be. Now I speak about this, as if I knew what I was doing. Though I am very nervous that I may not have gotten it precisely correct, which would mean the sound would be effected. The distance a string has from the nut to the bridge, determines the pitch of the notes you play. When pressure is applied to a guitar string, it bends the string to make that pitch. This is why the bridge nut is angled, the thinner strings need less pressure to change the pitch, therefore with a short distance from nut to bridge the resistance is a bit stronger. Thus the correct pitch is created. Anyways, I measured out my bridge, and put glue on the bridge. Then I used 2 c-clamps with some cherry wood scraps to help spread the pressure evenly. When I mounted the 12 strings bridge I found that it was a tough process, and In the end the bridge is not as secure as I wish it was on the 12 string. So this time, I said it has to be perfect. Now I just removed the clamps and it is perfectly flush! I surprised myself on that front, now lets pray that its in the correct spot. The only way to find out if its in the correct spot is to finish the guitar and DRILL HOLES IN THE SOUNDBOARD! This means if the bridge is not perfect, there will be 6 holes that are not in the proper spot, and could greatly effect the sound of the instrument after remounted the bridge. If the bridge is improperly mounted, I will use a classical guitar bridge so I do not have to add another 6 holes. Anyways, I should find out in 2 days if the placement is correct. Stay tuned, I am in the process of mounting the neck right now and will be putting the first coat of tung oil on in the next 24 hours.

Now matter how many times I measured, I got nervous that this was not correct.

This helped the bridge mount evenly, which was a large goal, but those cherry scraps covered the bridge completely. The glue and pressure from the c-clamp caused the bridge to slide around until the pressure was fully applied. Its really hard to make sure the bridge is properly aligned and horizontal when you cant see it! 

Heres the final clamp set up on the bridge. It came out great. 

Heres measuring the 12th fret. Sitting at roughly 12.5" thus making the bridge 25" from the nut. Though this step is confusing, because after measuring out my martin, it appears the martin has its bridge just a tad more than double the distance. So I am not completely nervous since it seems like each guitar does it differently, as long as its very close, I think it should be fine.

The stain has landed.

I stained the sides and back of the guitar. The back, came out awful, it looks like the stain didnt take the way I wanted, so today I sanded and repainted. After sanding and repainting, I am not 100% satisfied, but I know too much tinkering can cause the wood to change in a way that could either enhance the final product or ruin it. Check back soon. I will have a more updated status on the guitar, and I plan to review the Road Runner 7 Guitar Instrument Stand that I acquired over the weekend. 

This is the final paint job on the back, its not what i want but its better than what i had. If I mess with it much more, it will probably only go downhill, especially considering its 2 shades darker than the sides already.
Here is the front next to the sides. I did not stain the front of it, I would like to keep the natural look. I think it looks pretty good.
Here you can see the detail on the sides even though its wet, I hope to achieve a gloss like this with Formbys High gloss tung oil. I had used low gloss on all the other instruments and hopefully the high gloss will really pull through and give it a certain luster. You can see I taped the sides with gaffers tape. Blue painters tape never pulled through on the binding for me. It always bleed through. The gaffers tape did a little better, unfortunately after the unsatisfactory paint job you can see below, I had to sand and repaint. Of course before I was sure of my paint job I had to take the tape off and couldnt wait to put the tape back on before my next coat. 
Here you can see how bad the back came out. Anywhere that had even just a bit too much stain, turned black. Though it was beyond my correction, it seems that the mahogany took the stain hard. After my second coat the grains absorbed it quite too much again, and I still got black spots. I guess no matter how you invision your dream, the wood you have to make it truly is the factor that will effect the final product. 

This is another angle on the first coat after the gaff tape has been removed. 

Beginning

I did a little more research for my next guitar project. After the last one, I realized I need to take my time and be very careful to do it right. I begin staining and polishing it this weekend. My guess is saturday the 30th, I will have a completed guitar. I still have lots of pictures to take/post of the banjo and 12 string. You will get all the info that none of you are waiting to see shortly. 

I am an awesome dumb ass.

In anticipation for my unemployment after my current job, I lined up another project for myself. I ordered myself a Martin D-41 body shaped half built acoustic guitar kit. After my experience with the 12 string from the same buyer. I decided I wanted to give it another shot, do a better job. A more precise and perfect job. The 12 string came out good, but I know I can do better. And this time, it will be a 6 string, so it is more playable, and my intentions are to do a great job but leave it out in the living room for everyone to play and see. I think I am going to do the bombay mahogany stain on the sides, back, neck, and head. I am not sure what variation of natural stain, with be on the front, but I think it will be great no matter what i do. I cannot wait. Like the 12 string, this guitar is a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, and rosewood bridge and fingerboard with a maple neck. Here are the ebay pictures, I should have an estimated finished product in about a month. I also need to add pictures of the other instruments I have made. Anyways, this just proves, I have a problem with not buying instruments. 

Is it me or is it really funny that...

on costco's website, you can buy a guitar hero game controller guitar for $84.99. Yet for $5 more at $89.99 you can purchase a silvertone SD standard acoustic guitar. Though the guitar is not like a gem of a guitar, its not a plastic controller with buttons and its a real instrument. Though I think guitar hero is a good idea to make money (which is why anyone would create that game) I think its a waste of life. Not in a jerk way, I just find that someone who takes that hard of an obsession onto a fake guitar game, to buy an $85 fake guitar, is a waste. Hell, I find guitar hero harder than playing the guitar. Maybe its just cause I am accustomed to the real guitar. To any effect, if you own more guitar hero controllers than you do guitars, i think your worthless because instruments aren't that hard to learn. If one spent as much time playing the real guitar as these douche bags to playing guitar hero, they would actually probably be pretty alright at playing a real instrument. America, its full of people who are wastes of life. Im about to go buy that $89 guitar and bring it every party i go to that has guitar hero, and explain why those guitar hero goons should devote their time to a mechanism that takes practice and persistance and passion to enjoy. One more thing, I was googling guitar hangers to hang my guitars on the wall and I came across this guy who posted on some guitar forum asking where he could buy the hangers to hang his and his girlfriends guitar hero controllers on the wall. Are you serious? I never wanted to use this blog to hate on people, but this guitar hero thing is just taking people into a real of laziness and stupidity thats truly depressing. 

I suppose I should just make a post to make a post.

Its been some time since Ive posted. I still have no new banjo pictures. Its been a wild few weeks of moving, and changing strings on instruments and unpacking. Theres not much new in the instrument world. I have a half finished lap steel, thats starting to look more and more like an unfinished project, that may never reach completion. The body needs paint, and the the electronics need to be wired. Some might say its more of a pain in the ass consider I dont even own an amp to play it on. The odds of me selling $100 worth of electronics are slim. It might be worth a shot though, considering all of the factors. That $100 would go nicely towards building a 6 string guitar. Though my fascination has landed in classical guitar. Listening to classical guitar intrigues ones mind. The beauty and complexity of the sound makes it simply fascinating. Though I have found in recent weeks, I cannot help but play extremely simple chords in various tunings adding hammers and pulls while varying the tempo from a slow finger pick to the fastest I can finger pick and leading it into a strum. These "ballads" that i keep playing completely satisfy me. Everytime i pick up the guitar, I change a chord a little bit, and come up with something new. Eventually I will write it down and work on creating a finished piece exploring the open tuning with varied tempos. I acknowledge my lack of knowledge in the guitar, but knowing that I know so little, helps everything I do mean that much more. Being able to sit and explore the fretboard for a short while can really help expand your knowledge of sound and chords. Though you dont know what its called, you know it exists. With that being said, I will continue exploring the neck of the guitar as well as various fingerpicking styles, and I will begin dabbling into classical guitar as the months explore forward.