Overnight it sounds mostly in tune and it’s not bent forward, but I do wish it was even stiffer and staying backwards a little more. There’s not much room to work with there, it’s not going to get much smaller anymore.
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But, for better or worse, the gonzo part is done, it will be tight, but no apparently fatal mistakes have been made yet. Intonation seems good, thank GAWD. 🥹😀
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Now it’s sort of proper luthiery, shaping that fretboard. Having attempted the gonzo bit twice before, I think I’m stuck with myself as the experienced hand for that, but I wish I had more experience than twice doing the normal part, I see a lot of slow trial end error and broken strings in my immediate future.
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Then frets, then more of both.
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First I have to figure out exactly where to remove wood and where to leave it alone. Do I take it all down evenly or do I only sand the thickest bits, where I left the old fretboard thick? - sorry, my brain is wired through my mouth, I only think out loud. Going to work through this here.
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It’s sort of a conundrum, you take wood off the top, you’re placing your new surface back, from the guitar’s top towards its back - but you’re also weakening that spot, so the strings pull it further forward than before, it may end up being in the same place. I guess the second thing is more evident where it’s thinnest, at the headstock end, the first frets.
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But it’s true of the whole length too. The action looks 3/16” low now, but it doesn’t need a whole 3/16” off, because it will all move forward a bit too, right?
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There are reasons it’s a whole trade. 🧐💜
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If the end bends forward, that’s a quick way to get the required final shape, gets the strings up off the frets, but that’s where I’m ADDING wood, that’s where it’s broken and vulnerable, the last thing I want to do is plan to bend that forward. Ah, I think that settles it, I need to dig out the wood from the third fret up, like that, the rest of the way to the sound hole.
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Lift them strings more gradually.
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Still, it’s tight. I fear I’ll need to cheat, leave it less than new in terms of a nice high saddle and a slack truss rod before it’s done, just an intuition, maybe.
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planning to let it settle for a day or two while I try to think about it more.
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