Acoustic Guitar Construction

I ordered a Hock violin makers knife blade and got it today. It was pretty sharp to begin with, but I followed the instructions that came with the blade and sharpened and honed it a bit more using my Scary Sharp setup. Now it slices through mahogany like it was buttah!
I thought about making a wood handle for it, but decided that I liked the feel of a leather wrapped handle better. I play a lot of tennis to keep my butt from getting fatter and I often change the leather grips on my rackets. So I used an old grip and here's the result. A typical tennis racket grip strip is long enough to wrap three layers on the blade handle. And they are usually sticky on the underside, which helps to keep them in place. A bit of yellow plastic electrical tape to nail down the end of the leather and it's ready to cut.
BTW, I bought the blade direct from Ron Hock. I'd rather put all the money in his pocket rather than pay some reseller.

Excellent idea. Plus, Ron is the MAN when it comes to blades.

I hadn't thought of using a carving knife to shape a neck. I've been using the cheese grater thingy.
I'm a knifemaker, I could make my own neck carving knife. So does this design work well for this......I guess it must!

Kevin

Pretty cool!

Kevininca wrote:I hadn't thought of using a carving knife to shape a neck. I've been using the cheese grater thingy.
I'm a knifemaker, I could make my own neck carving knife. So does this design work well for this......I guess it must!
Kevin

I usually use a knife around the heel and the cheese graters along the straight runs of the neck.

Kevin
More on your question. I bought the Hock violin knife because it it reputed to be good at carving the end grain in the heel curves and for slicing off the excess top and back plates, so you can get a router in close for cutting for the binding. And Hock blades for planes are said to be among the best. Good steel and good design, etc.
Next time I make a neck and glue up a top and back, I find out how well it works. I've already used it as a marking knife. Works great for that.

It's probably pretty good at stabbing too!