Acoustic Guitar Construction

Making of the catawayblock. Made from 1"x1" mahogany. The inside curve is concave. I sanded it on the cutawayside itself.
The outside has about the 9,5"radius of my fender sandingblock. Not all that complicated, but all need to be smooth and straight.



Glueing the block with epoxy to the side, because the fitting of a curved surface is harder to make than a flat one. Epoxy fills the (minor) gaps.



Now the tricky part. I cut the cutawayside oversized. But when ready it has to fit inside the mold and should line up snug to the neckblock and cutawayblock. So fitting/cutting to size must be done by the eye and on top of the mold. So go slow! I did it a few cuts and two times of a little extra bending/straightning. Inside and outside the mold. Till all falls into place.



Then the side was first glued with epoxy to the neckblock. Some leather pieces filled up the concave surface.



After that it turns out that the cutawayside was just a hair too long to fit into the mold. A tiny cut off and voilá: the part to the cutawayblock falls just in place with a very small tension up to the block. No clamps needed! Wow.
Again some glue between it, and all comes together

Herman this is a great thing to follow, thanks for posting as you build this one. I'm going to have to try the screws into the neck block as I know I get some misalignment here. I also need to check my mold as it may not be flat and perpendicular in this area.

Keep the pics coming.

Kevin

This is a great log -- thank you for sharing!

I agree it is great to see this cutaway come together.

As you noted Walnut bends nicely, just as easy as Rosewood. Tone wise I cannot hear a difference between Walnut and Honduran Mahogany -- I think BW is underrated and often over looked. Matter of fact my current favorite guitar a Lowden "O" made of Walnut with a Cedar top.

I loved working with walnut, an OM with redwood top that sounded lovely.
I have another beautiful set waiting in the wings to become another OM for ME!

Kevin

We recently scored a pretty large "Curly" Black Walnut billet I hope to get some time to cut some sets this week.