My first build

[Themadcow]

Alright, another update for today. I didn't get a lot done, but enough to keep me from going crazy.

First here's a pic showing how off center the fretboard was before glue up. I got really luck on this, next time I will run my frets off one squared edge instead of using the template off the centerline

It's fine though, happy days
All cleaned up

Also cut the scarf and glue up the neck for my dad's build

8 clamps, could have squeezed a few more on there
Oh and I thickness planed the body blank down to an 1 1/2". A little bigger than the final dimension, I intend on gluing a 1/2" piece of walnut to the top. I was very excited to see zero glue lines, so jointing on a router seems to be a good way to go.

So that's it for today. My dad's neck is out of clamps but won't be stable enough for cutting till tomorrow. All in all I am very happy with today's progress.

 

[CD1221]

looking good, solid work.

what shape are you going with for the body?

 

[Themadcow]

looking good, solid work.

what shape are you going with for the body?

It's gonna be similar to an rga8, but not a full archtop. I also plan on carving the hell out of the lower heel Cooley style.

 

[Themadcow]

So a little news for today.......

a 14" bandsaw

Now the real work can begin.

I am going to to buy a new blade tomorrow just looking for opinions on size.
I am thinking a 1/4" blade would be the best for cutting bodies. Anyway if anyone has an opinion I would love to hear it.

 

[Themadcow]

Ok, time for an update. The band saw needed a new tire, so I picked one up as well as a 1/2 3tpi resaw blade and a 3/16 10tpi blade for scroll cutting. So besides a jointer I am damn near fully equipped to build a guitar.

Also grabbed a template following bit for the router, meaning easier jointing


Off to windsor plywood again, and I managed to score 3 20" lengths of walnut. They are 2" x 5" x 20", so I needed a plan how to make this work. I decided it would be silly not to try my hand at book-matching, so the new plan for my guitar, as well as the one for my dad, will be a book-matched walnut top with a maple bottom.

Here is one of the chunks of walnut

And here is a book-matched top

And another

And a final one

So the first 2 will be the tops of the guitars. The 3rd set, each piece will be cut down the middle and glue to the outside of the previous 2, giving me 2 15" x 20" body blanks, about 7/8" thick


Here's a couple shots of the glue up

And a shot of the maple blank for one of the guitars

You can't really tell from the picture, but the maple has a nice figure to it, nothing spectacular, but more than nice enough for the back side.

I also had a slight disaster when I was trying to joint the sides of my dad's headstock, let's just say that routers are a great tool that require a steady hand, and you want to make sure you don't try and take too much material at once.
The end result is that my dad's guitar will now have a solid walnut headstock, instead of the laminated pieces running straight through. I think it will look nicer anyway, but I am still pissed about it.

That's all for today, tomorrow I will glue the sides on the walnut blanks, and the next day I will sandwich the walnut and maple together. Most productive day I've had in a while. As always, comments and criticism are appreciated.

 

[BlackMastodon]

Very nice bookmatching on the walnut, might turn out a bit weird if you try to bookmatch with the wings but it could also turn out really well, we'll just have to see. Great work so far, and watch out with those routers. Take notes from Scherzo and make a template for everything jigs are optional though.

 

[Themadcow]

Very nice bookmatching on the walnut, might turn out a bit weird if you try to bookmatch with the wings but it could also turn out really well, we'll just have to see. Great work so far, and watch out with those routers. Take notes from Scherzo and make a template for everything jigs are optional though.

Thank you for that. I hear what your saying about the wings. I am just gonna use the pieces that look the best on the outside of each set, not really trying to match the 2 inside pieces, just compliment them. Not a lot of choices with 5" pieces, but at least I got a nice 10" bookmatch in the middle.

 

[Themadcow]

Small update today, got the second maple blank glued up

And the wings glued onto my bookmatched tops. I'll take better pictures tomorrow of the walnut, but I must say they look really nice.

Tomorrow I will trace the bodies onto the maple blanks and cut them out, then I will glue the walnut tops on...This way I can use my pattern following bit to match the pieces perfectly. Then it's time to route the neck and pickup cavities..that should be an adventure.

If anyone has experience using a router to do an archtop I would love to hear from you. I am planning on using a technique I read about where you route in 1/8" steps up from the side and then use a belt sander to smooth the arch out. If anyone has tried this I would love some feedback before I attempt it. It looks pretty straight forward but I want to make sure I am not missing something.

Here's a vid of what I'm talking about

 

[SirMyghin]

Wow, is that top really the 3/4" thick it looks? Interesting approach to say the least.

 

[Themadcow]

Wow, is that top really the 3/4" thick it looks? Interesting approach to say the least.

Yup, its actually just shy of 7/8", the maple is about 7/8" as well. After glue up and sanding and everything else I would like to end up with a guitar that is 1 11/16" at the thickest point.

I don't know if it's a bad idea or not, but it should look cool as hell.

 

[Themadcow]

So it's been a shitty week and I didn't get anything done on the builds, but this weekend will be a different story. For now here's a couple more pics.

VISA, It's everywhere you want to be!!!

That's about it for today. I need more clamps, or a better way to clamp these bodies....If this turns out good, I'll use it for my dad's as well, but I am gonna find a better way for future builds.

Also if anyone could jump in here, I'd like to know what you all think the minimum length of the neck pocket should be for stability. I know most are in the 3" range, but I am tempted to shorten that length a bit, but not if it compromises stability.

 

[SirMyghin]

Yup, its actually just shy of 7/8", the maple is about 7/8" as well. After glue up and sanding and everything else I would like to end up with a guitar that is 1 11/16" at the thickest point.

I don't know if it's a bad idea or not, but it should look cool as hell.

I like a thick guitar, but just struck me as odd to have the 'top' be so thick. More of a composite body at that point. I warn you that guitar is probably going to weigh about 10 lbs.

 

[Andrew_B]

That's about it for today. I need more clamps, or a better way to clamp these bodies....

Also if anyone could jump in here, I'd like to know what you all think the minimum length of the neck pocket should be for stability. I know most are in the 3" range, but I am tempted to shorten that length a bit, but not if it compromises stability.

i like to rough cut my tops and backs then glue them up, its easier to line the edges with clamps than trying to get even pressure all over a square blank,
and you can also get a clamp or two into the centre of the body easilly if you rough cut

 

[Themadcow]

I like a thick guitar, but just struck me as odd to have the 'top' be so thick. More of a composite body at that point. I warn you that guitar is probably going to weigh about 10 lbs.

Recognize that this is an archtop though, so it's actually losing a lot of material in the carving. Also, most of the guitars I've seen are around 1 3/4" thick, so if anything this should be a little lighter.

 

[Themadcow]

i like to rough cut my tops and backs then glue them up, its easier to line the edges with clamps than trying to get even pressure all over a square blank,
and you can also get a clamp or two into the centre of the body easilly if you rough cut

That's a good idea, I will do that with my dad's body for sure. Everything so far is an experiment to see what works on mine, so I can use that experience to do a better job on my old man's. It's a gift so I want it to kick ass!!!

 

[Themadcow]

Ok guys, time for my Saturday update, and it's a good one. Fired the old band saw up and ended up with this

Here's a shot with the neck sitting on top

I am very happy with that...but wait there's more.

Time to route a neck pocket. There are many ways to accomplish this, this is the one I chose. Not my invention, just something I read on the interweb somewhere, might have been here

Easy way to line up the neck perfectly, without using a laser or eyeballing it, or whatever else people do.

The result...

 

[Themadcow]

So now that the hard part is over with, time to make this bad boy and archtop. I used the method in the video I posted above. So easy, I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to do an archtop

Now I hit it with the belt sander

A decent view of the arch

And finally the seal of approval from my son

It still needs some more sanding. Gonna try a palm sander then finish it up by hand. Still need to do the belly carve and the rusty cooley style carve on the back of the lower horn but I ran out of time today. If anyone is married they will understand why I can't spend every minute of free time I have out in the garage. Tomorrow will be a family day, but I hope to get my old man's prs body rough cut and glued up, we'll see.

 

[scherzo1928]

awesome work man! coming together nicely.

 

[Themadcow]

Thanks for that. By the way, this is gonna sound like a dumb question, but what kind of screws am I supposed to use to bolt the neck on? Specific grade needed, or what? I want a nice clean look, recessed or something, not sure. Any tips??

 

[BlackMastodon]

That is a beautiful arch man! As for screws, you can order some from StewMac if you want, they also have a 12 pack of ferrules that you can get too so that the screws are flush with the body:
STEWMAC.COM : Neck Mounting Ferrules
STEWMAC.COM : Neck Attachment Screw