17" Archtop Jazz Guitar finally starting it 5 years late!

[Kevin in California]

Thanks Herman. Yours looks good. That's encouraging.

Worked just an hour today. I refined the top arching a bit and marked off the inside area that will be carved.

I had already laid out the neck on the maple blank so I cut it out and two pieces for "wings" on the headstock to make it wide enough for my design, which is one of the ones supplied on the Benedetto plans.

Tomorrow I think I'll work on jointing the back plate (by hand with a hand plane" and see if I can get them glued up

[Kevin in California]

Made some more shavings hollowing out the top.

Today I jointed and glued the maple back plates.

[John Parchem]

Interesting work. Looks like a lot more craving than you violin plates.

[Kevin in California]

Oh yeah like 3 times the surface area. Not looking forward to carving the maple back.

Today I made a template of an F hole on heavy paper stock. It's made so the edge of the paper aligns with the center line and the bridge placement. Mark one side and flip it over to do the other side.
Then I used a 24 tooth coping saw blade to rough out the holes after drilling starting holes.
I'll finish up using a carving knife and various homemade sanding sticks. Flat, curved and round.
These will be bound with plastic purfling same as will be around the guitar so the edges have to be flat and square.
Easier said than done!

[Jim Ebert]

Kevin, I've been off doing some adventuring and just got caught up on this. Far out man... love your detail in both your construction and posts. As always, thanks for doing this. It gets my juices flowing.
Jim Ebert

[Kevin in California]

Hey Jim
Glad your enjoying it.
I'm trying to cover each step so hope it stays interesting.

Today I finished cutting out and cleaning up the F holes. They are ready for binding. I have laminated ABS strips for this I just need to decided what combo of black and white I want.

Then I cut out the back profile and began the carving. Got about a fourth of the wood removed. Tedious but also satisfying. Sure makes a pile of shavings.

[Kevin in California]

After a bit more carving mostly around the perimeter I took the back to the drill press and using a Safety Planer took the edge down to just over a 1/4" in about 3/4".
Once I get the arching down close to shape I'll Safety plane it down to the final edge thickness of 3/16". From there I'll finalize all the arching. Tedious but relaxing at the same time.