New f-hole flattop

[Dave Bagwill]

Made and radiused the endblock; cut the rim where I want the cutout to be; took the cutoff piece and positioned it where I liked and marked it; glued the rim to the endblock and cut out the endwedge slot at the same time.
Yes I dodged a bullet by almost making a 'leftie' by mistake but caught it in time, right after I took these pictures. Geeeeez.

[Kevin in California]

Okay Dave I've seen that on his site before for the brace contouring. Interesting way to do it for sure, glad it works for you.
So it looks like you are doing a Florentine cutaway? Is your neck block situated so the fretboard will be flush with the side as it comes over the top? On the only cutaway I've done thus far I found this process to be nerve racking as I wanted this area to be spot on. It came out okay, but I'm a little afraid to try it again.
I also see you have pre drilled your neck bolt holes, is the mortise also precut? I use to do this and I'm considering going back to it as I have found routing the mortise after the box is sealed up with the jig I have a bit daunting to say the least. As long as the mortise is pretty close to the center, I see no reason not to pre cut it, then all one has to remove is the side material and that is a cinch!
I will enjoy watching this progress.

Kevin

[Dave Bagwill]

Hi Tim - the neckblock is one I just found that I thought I had lost from a Ken Cierp kit from a few years ago.

Sort of Florentine, yeah - I'm trying to get as close as I care to, to a photograph I have of a gypsy guitar. I could probably make that very sharp bend using the laminates but seriously, I don't need the stress, plus I'm one of those that really dig the Florentine.

The cutaway will meet the neck, a tricky bit of business to be sure.

[Dave Bagwill]

My string spacing at the bridge will be 2 3/8", so the block had to be trimmed so that, from the center of the mortise to the edge of the block was:

2 3/8 = 2 6/16 / 2 = 1 3/16". So I did that.

Then since I want the joint where the cutaway meets the front rim to be invisible, I angled the block to allow the cutaway piece to extend slightly past the block, so when all is trimmed the heel of the neck will hide the seam. If I take the time to be accurate it will work fine; if not, at worst, a tiny tiny bit of joint will show.

Then I glued a piece of laminated sides cut-off to the front of the block. Since I use my building form also as a laminating form, I don't make the sides extra long, so there is not enough side to wrap around the entire front of the block.

Next I'll form a wedge to fit between the block and the cutaway curve for gluing purposes, and make a small block to join the cutaway to the rest of the rim. Pretty easy.

[Dave Bagwill]

So, the rim is glued up, ready for kerfing tomorrow.

[dave d]

I want to do a cutaway someday, so this is very interesting and informative to watch.
I like your fancy clamps! :) Another idea for me to borrow. You can never have too many clamps.

[ken cierp]

Yes -- very cool clamps!

One of the problems with a (bent) cutaway is the tendency for the rim to spring back and deform itself, here's some thoughts to help keep things aligned

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=94

I was hoping you were going to show us how to bend the Selmer cutaway with your laminated method -- darn!