Acoustic Guitar Construction

Okey-dokey - I have now used the radiused pegboard set at the correct height at the armpit area, made sure everything was lined up right, and traced the outline onto the sides with a heavy marker.

So now in theory - stop me if I'm wrong!!!! - if I trim to that heavy line, a similarly braced back of granadillo should fit just right.

Or not??? What do you think?

Your pegboard will have a radius at the rear and at the front, due to the arched braces, but longitudinally it will be flat as a fart and I can't atm, see your doming being very accurate or spherical in the least - please prove me wrong :)

Dave Bagwill wrote:Okey-dokey - I have now used the radiused pegboard set at the correct height at the armpit area, made sure everything was lined up right, and traced the outline onto the sides with a heavy marker.

So now in theory - stop me if I'm wrong!!!! - if I trim to that heavy line, a similarly braced back of granadillo should fit just right.

Or not??? What do you think?

You're making a guitar with a cylindrical back? A la Howard Klepper, rather than the more traditional radiused affair?

You're probably right Bob. My simplistic thinking was that, using the exact outline of the braced back as a guide to rim trimming, well, the back would fit perfectly, and have the correct arching at the back, the middle, and the front, and Bob's your uncle. Hmm that was awkward, since your name is Bob - I meant a different Bob's your uncle.

Bob - all I'm trying to do is make the body thinner by 3/4" at the armpit, and keep the other rim as is - yes this is reducing the body volume a bit, that's okay and what I want. It's a 5" deep body and is not comfortable for sitting. So just a standard 15' radius back

I can't see why it won't work

Well it's kind of a bass-ackwards approach, but it does have the merit of using a faux back that is accurate to the actual back, as the means of tracing the rim outline. Ergo, when the rim is trimmed and kerfed, the back that was used to define its shape should fit well.

As to the longitudinal curve, of the back, which normally we bend a little, lengthwise, when gluing down the back - I don't know how to picture that using this method. I think that is where the confusion comes from.

Ken, Bob - any ideas?