Acoustic Guitar Construction

Today I cut up some MDF and laminated 3 pieces of 3/4" to cut a mold from. I actually did cut out the mold at the end of the day. I'll take a pic of that in the morning.

Then I used my shooting board and #6 size Millers Falls plane to joint the spruce edge top plates for fitting and gluing. If the fit is good minimal clamping is needed when gluing. I clamped one plate in the bench vise, applied Titebond to both edge surfaces. Then slid them together and applied slight clamping pressure via tied cords. I could have just stacked the two plates with glue and no clamps as I've been doing with the violin construction but since the boards are much longer I figured I'd clamp to be sure the joint is tight.

That was all today. I'll work on the mold more tomorrow and finish it up the start working with the top plate.

Herman. I don't play the violin but I'm making those now. I wanted to learn some jazz but have been intrigued with the archtop. Come on now you know it's going to be fun.

Peter. What airplane are you building?
I've not done that but my Father did almost 40 years ago. He built a 4 place low wing Wheeler Express. Took him 8 years of full time building. Flew it for about 10 years then decided he was too old to fly and he sold it.

Kevin, it's a Bearhawk. I got sidetracked into building a kitplane (Glastar) with friends and when that got done some middle ear misbehavior began showing up. So the Bearhawk is stillborn.

The mold is almost done. I used MDF because that's what I had on hand. It is heavy but easy to smooth out the interior for the sides. Ive used it for my classical guitar mold too snd it held up great for two builds. I will give it a coat of varnish.

I ran the joined top plates a few passes in the thickness sander and then used the mold to trace the body outline.
At this stage the mold is more accurate than the template

I got a little work done today

Cut out the top profile on the bandsaw and started making arching templates from patterns supplied in the Bob Benedento book.

After rough carving the top and bringing the edge down to around 3/8" I will take the top to the drill press and using a Stewmac safety planer I'll take the edge down to 3/16" going in about 7/8" from the edge....all the way around.

That 7/8" area will accommodate a carved "recurve" which will give the final carved top more flexibility around the perimeter.

Let the carving begin!
I made a big pile of shavings and got about half way on carving the outside arch. Still a bit of work to do. Hope to have it close to done tomorrow.

After a few hours....yes hours.....I have a closely finished carved outside on the top plate.
WHEW!

Not sure I want to carve anymore for a couple days so I may joint and glue the back plate.
Then I might cut out the neck blank. I have a solid curly maple blank that is 2.5" wide. I'll have to glue wings onto the headstock that will be cut from the same blank to bring it to the almost 4" wide area needed for the design. Never done this before.
There will be of course a front veneer and also a back veneer that will cover any glue joints or mismatched grain.

Good looking ,Kevin. Don't worry about the headstock wings.
Only make sure the glue line is not too close to the edge of the head. Otherwise you could see the seam on the side of the head. See how that looks on one of mine:
Herman