Acoustic Guitar Construction

I'm just getting started on my fourth guitar. The first was totally from a kit from StewMac. It came out too tight for me. I'm sneaking in from time to time and shaving the X braces to try loosening it up. The second was for my daughter and came from KMG. The neck got all wonky as far as mating with the top because of a misunderstanding on profiling the top. I will scrap that body some time and keep the neck. It has special meaning to me. The third was for my son, and it really sounds nice. Everything came from a Martin kit that a married couple sold to me so cheaply that it wasn't funny. They had no time to build a guitar. I got the top from Tony Costa, a Bearclaw Lutz Spruce that turned out nicely.

This one is Honduran Mahogany that I got from RC Tonewoods sometime back, and an Engelmann top just in from LMI. I'm using a number of pre-shaped parts on this, but otherwise it's not kit built per se. I got a tower binding machine from John Parchem, and am so ready to try it out. Much appreciated, John. And I finally bought a bending machine for my first stab at bending sides.

Here's one of the sides as it sits on the plan sheet from StewMac. It looks like it's out of whack with the plan because I moved it to the left and forgot to put it back. It fits!



And here's the obligatory shot of one of the sides in the bender. I don't think I've seen a build yet without that shot. Oh, let me tell you. Bending sides in one of these is a snap. I'll leave that word in :). I had the easiest time. Previously, I bought 4 pieces of sides from LMI to practice bending with. I used water on the first 3, two with paper around them, one without. All 3 came out pretty rippled and wavy. After consultation with Tony, I did the fourth one dry with no paper, and lower temp. It came out with a bit of waviness, but nothing that sanding wouldn't cure. And the 2 Honduran Hog sides came out pretty good. Tony you're a genius. Don't try to deny it.



Here are the 2 sides in one of my forms. The form in the first picture is from KMG.





Here's a picture of the back set - not yet joined or profiled.



And finally the top. I'm having a time getting a picture that shows how white this top is. there's a ton of silking as well. Since the top is .015" thick, it needs to be thinned down pretty good. I'm going to try my hand at using a plane for this after I practice on some old pine. I'll start out sanding a little to see if the reverse side of this top looks better. It's giving a hint that it might be pretty good itself.



I bought some pre-shaped bracing from LMI and two radius gauges. One at 15' and the other at 28'.
The two braces for the lower bout on the back are 1/4" tall by 3/4" wide. I'm not used to back braces being flat and wide. I think most of the time those two braces are tall and wide.
When putting the 28' gauge to the side of one of those braces, it looks like I'll end up with ends that are pretty much feathered to nothing. Does anyone else find that a bit odd? I have a 1"x2"x23" piece of spruce bracing material and I could make two braces that are more normal.
Does anyone have opinions on which way to go?

I've learned a number of things on the first 3 builds.
1. Do not rush. It's easy to get excited about a part being ready, but giving in to it can be dangerous.
2. Don't say "oh, I'll fix that when it's time to finish". Fix it now. You either won't remember or it will be too late.
3. Prepare the body for a successful finish. Even on the 3rd one, I thought I'd done a good prep job. But closer inspection showed me how wrong I could be.
4. Treat the top, back, sides, neck, fretboard, etc., with care. I'd do something on the neck, then set it over on the other side of the table and then knock it into something else. I'd put the top on top of a chest, and knock it sideways into somethine else. Turn over the body, get grit or something into the top and there'd be a gash down on the lower bout. Don't even get me talking about the finishing process. Somogyi keeps a paper cover on his tops except when he absolutely has to take the cover off, or when it's all done.

My new year's resolution in June is to avoid all those bad practices and make this thing something to be happy with and proud of.
Thanks for looking,
Bob

In the past couple of days, I've glued in the neck and tail block.



Put in all the kerfing. I used reverse kerfing just because I like the way it looks. Also, it might be a bit stronger than regular kerfing.



And this afternoon I joined the two back pieces after "candling" them. Both my wife and I looked at the two pieces from opposite sides, and then I flipped them around and we did it again. The joint should be good. The back is sitting on a granite piece that I got for its flatness. I then used a Clamp'n Tool Guide that I bought many years ago for the right edge. I set a short piece of wood where the two edges of the back touch and rested them on that. I then positioned another straight piece of wood at the left edge and clamped it in place. After gluing both edges, I let them try to mate, and slid the piece out of the middle so that the two back pieces went down flush with the granite. I then clamped a level over the seam. Wax paper was used to keep the glue from getting anywhere but the back.



I'm going to let the back sit like that all night and start working on it tomorrow to get ready to brace it up.

It is looking good Bob.

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin.

Last Friday, I went to Steve Kinnaird's shop with another forumite who was passing thru. Got to see some of the good work Steve and Ryan do there. I took my top and back there to show them, and Ryan and I used the thickness sanding machine they have to get the top down to really close to final thickness. Then we got to play one of Steve's guitars. Man, that thing fit my lap so well, played so well, and looked so well - Well, it did!

Over the weekend, I braced the back and profiled the braces. I put tape on either side of each brace as I glued it. At first I used some old blue tape we have here. I think it's painter's tape. It didn't come up very well (it stuck to the board and glue too much), so I switched to some of the tape I use for binding. That worked really well. Very little cleanup.



After seeing all the squeeze out from that brace, I went with less on the next one.

Here's the back after profiling the braces.



The two top segments being joined. This was before thicknessing.



And here it is after thicknessing and cutting the waste from the board.



I'm going to try Sycamore for the binding. I got 4 pieces from RC Tonewoods & Sons, and it looks really good. Very brittle though. Of course, it's dimensioned down to perfect size for me and will be handled very carefully. I also got a couple of pieces of Sycamore for using on the rear of the headstock and for the tail wedge.

Ebony will be the front of the headstock and also used as binding for an ebony fretboard. There'll be a thin strip of white between the fb and binding. I'm hoping with gold EVO frets that it will really look nice.

After work tomorrow and thru the 4th of July weekend, I'll be designing the rosette. I still don't have a firm picture in my mind of what it will be.
Thanks for looking.
Bob

Thanks for sharing, Bob - looks like nice work.

Thanks, Dave.
I do have a couple of questions for anyone looking.
If I want to glue purfling on the binding before I bend it, what glue should I use? If CA, can anyone help with how you put it on? I'm thinking huge mess there. If it's like Titebond, will it stay together while it's getting very hot in the bender?

That's looking good Bob. i"m building one now out of Honduran and Sitka (J-45 style). And it has the low back braces as well. This will be my fourth with those and I like the sound I get a lot. Can't say it sounds better, just sounds good. So don't worry about those.