Thread: Progress...

Is this off Benedetto's book?
Is it accoustic or you gonna put a pickup on it?
Looks as though it is going pretty nice.
To me this is the ultimate project out of wood.

Originally Posted by Malibu

With Christmas holidays, I've been a busy beaver down in the workshop. Lots of work, but there's very little to show for it!
A week spent carving the top-plate out of spruce and this afternoon with a pin router cutting the F-holes.
The sides were bent across a span of a couple of days. I practiced with 20+ pieces of wood (from pine to hardwood to the worst piece of timber I could find) to get the feel of the timber and try to bend without cracks. Happy with my practice bits I moved onto the Queensland maple and managed to get 3 splits in it.
A bit of CA and hopefully there'll be no show after it's all sanded back.
A few hours making the blocks and a couple more hours glueing it all together.
All up, pretty happy with the progress so far. There's still a bit of carving to do, but that's tomorrow's job. It's beer o'clock now!

Nice work on those sides Malibu. Did you bend them on an iron? Wherabouts did the splits occur? If theyre on the inside then its not a big problem.

Thanks guys..
I'm starting to see the draw to guitar making; It's frustrating, but it's a great way to spend some time in the workshop and do something worthwhile (hopefully).
The plans and all the ideas have come from the Benedetto book. A great book, but sometimes it leaves me head scratching a bit because the some of the details are a little less than clear. So far the plans have only been for an acoustic, but lately I've been toying with a few thoughts on adding a pickup. Maybe I'll play with some piezo transducers later on down the track.
I'm not sure about being the ultimate project Ray, but I do know it's a heck of a good time! I can't wait to get it all finished, but I'll be disappointed too. I'll probably start having thoughts about the second one by then
I used a home-made bending iron which was great, but I think I made a mistake in soaking the wood for a while before I started the bends. I think it softened the wood too much. I recon it would have been better to do it dry and spray water on as I bent it.
The splits were 4, not 3, but there's a total of 7 all up... One on the inside cutaway and two I managed to hide between the neck block and the neck and they don't bother me.
There's 2 on the cutaway on the outside and 2 near where the neck attaches on the non-cutaway side. Oh well, if they're noticable, there's not much I can do with it except do better next time.
Anyway, back into it... the glue should have dried by now!

I wouldnt use piezo's on a guitar like that. they sound plastic...
I would go for benedettos or kent armstrongs. the ones that dont screw into the body or maybe charlie christian style.

I'd recon you'll be right about the piezo's Ray... they're a thought wandering around my mind at the moment, but I'm 99% sure this will be purely acoustic. A long way off to that stage, but thanks for the thought

Today's effort:
Finished the sides apart from a little cleaning up and started on the F-holes. Wow, what a job that is!!

How are the rib-stiffeners made? Are they necessary? I woulda thought those ribs are plenty strong enough!

hey have you found a use for that little wooden plane yet? )

The sides without the kerfing was a pretty flimsy affair. I used the stiffeners basicaly because the book says to!
After I got it all done, it's solid as a rock. I'm not sure now that the stiffeners were really necessary and I think the reverse kerfing has done all the strengthening.

The plane was a boon! I carved most of the top using it, going on to my 10mm ones for final finishing. The 20mm plane carved big chunks of wood out compared to the half sized ones. I did most of the (rough) carving in 3 days, so it really sped things up!

The stiffeners are not just for the rigidity of the frame, they also are a pretty quick and easy to make insurance in case the guitar is dropped or falls from the stand.

What amazes me in Luthery is how timber is glued long grain/short grain with complete disregard of wood movement

Originally Posted by JackG

in case the guitar is dropped or falls from the stand.

Don't even think such things!!!

A bit more to fill the day in.
Finished inside top plate and glueing the back to the ribs... Tomorrow a bit of glue cleaning and a look at glueing the top.

What made you decide not to use X bracing??

He thinks he's making a stereo double bass ... )

Originally Posted by old_picker

What made you decide not to use X bracing??

A good question with a pretty lame answer... it was a choice of one or the other, so basically I picked parallel
From what I can gather on the bracing, parallel is stronger on the soundboard and has a louder voice than the X bracing. I'm using Engleman spruce which supposedly suffers a loss when you try and play loud. It's also the 'weakest' structurally of the spruces. I'm thinking the parallel bracing will offset those things.
I don't know if it will all work out in the end, but I'll soon find out I guess!

More again the last couple of days...
The top is on. Took it from the clamping cauls after an overnight dry, held it up and gave it a tap at the bridge point. Was greeted by a nice resounding **booong**! It sounded good to me!
I checked the vibration on the back plate and could feel it as I tapped the top. I also layed it on the back, put my hand above one of the F holes and tapped the plate. Could feel the air pressure/sound coming out of the hole
Routed the binding channel today. I made a dremel router base, but my chuck was playing up on it, so I couldn't trust it. Went to the table router instead and made a guide for it. I think it worked better than the dremel would have in the end.
Also cut and shaped a piece of bone for the tail end of the body and started working on some binding strips

errr... sorry about the focus !