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I learned somthing this year and wanted to share what I learned. Most of you have seen PearlZilla and commented about it. What I learned on this one is about joining and prepping a top. I used adirondack spruce but have used this methof on Sitka also with the best results.
    When I was at Dave Nichols school He taught me a method of joining a top and back that worked so well I have to share. We all used jointers routers planes ETC. Adi is a little feathery as compared to other spruces and has a tendency to lift and tear. We jointed the outside and ran the top plates through a table saw taking just enough to get a good line.
   After that we placed sand paper to the top of the saw and used the rip fence as just that and literally sanded the edge to true. (100 grit) The beauty was sometime you have to tweak the edge to get a good joint. With this method that is easy. The joints come out perfect and it doens;t take alot of time.
the 2nd part is once the top is glued and sanded we wet sanded the top to remove the feathers and shot 2 light coats of sealer. This made the surface a little harder and less apt for the dings and light scratches we all encounter from time to time. It also supported the edges of the spruce when cutting the rosette leaving me with perfect rings to set the rosettes into.
   Once the top was braced and glued to the body we took off the sealer and did all the finish sanding. the results were great and I have been doing things this way ever since. The sealer coat really helps the top from most problems when building.
hope you liked this tip. let me know how you do it. I also want to post my clamping jig. A onehanded operation and made for about next to nothing. Send 99.99 in a self addressed address to LOL. Post pix soon.
john

Hey Outlaw,
Great tips. I experienced that problem with an addy top myself. Nothing worse than trying to glue little pieces of wood back onto a top. Ick. Thanks!

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ya, thanks so much John,
I always wondered if it was ok to lightly seal the top before working on a rosette. I like to inlay into a top as well and I guess this seal coat would help.
Would you seal all your top woods at that stage?

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

John...I like any method that gives me an excuse not to buy heavy equipment! I've used a similar method for jointing with a plane followed by a few light passes over a shooting board (sandpaper adhered to the flat edge of a long bubble level) and it works.

One question I had about wet sanding an unfinished top. This intuitively sounds taboo to me. Do you do this with naphtha or something other than water?...or do you use water? Please elaborate before I do something stupid...again.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

HI JJ

The method I use for wet sanding is to wipe over with a damp cloth, allow to dry then sand smooth again. The purpose for wetting the wood is to raise the grain, this can be an important step as well if your finish is water based, ie. KTM9 or other acrylics. as the water in the finish will bring up the grain and make your finish potentially rough, depends on your sealing process of course.

I think thats what John meant, not as in wet sanding you would perform to a finished surface.RussellR38582.8286689815

Thanks, Russell. That makes perfect sense.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Russel is right. To speed things up you can use a blow dryer. After all the final finish is only as good as the prep
john

I seal all my tops after the initial wetting. This does wonders as far as keeping contaminates out of the wood . Then once the box is complete I strip sand it and wipe down with
1 Naptha
2 Alchoholc
3 Mineral spirits
4 Acetone
This gets all the bad stuff off the wood and I can seal and fill and seal and spray Etc
john

Bravo, John. That`s my plan of action now. My first top didn`t make it through routin for the rosette.

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Very good tip John.I hate it when you get those little strips of spruce coming off the top. This should fix it! Thanks again!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Be careful on pulling tape off the top. Allways try and pull it with the grain.