It Begins...

[Jehu]

Erstwhile, I have been piecing together the sides. I bent the soaked wood using a length of pipe and a torch, and clamped them into the mold:


Then I glued in the neckblock...

... and tailblock.


Now the fun begins! Installing the kerfed linings and braces was a long-ish process, but clean and easy... and importantly, it gave the ol' carving muscles a rest and allowed some blisters to turn into hard callouses for the next guitar.


After a bit of levelling, she is more or less ready for action.


There is still a bit of cleanup to do; for example, some scorch marks that will sand out (fingers crossed!). Also, here's a pro tip: Make the width of your braces a multiple of your kerf width. Otherwise you end up with parts of your linings that look like they were designed by a British dentist. No offense.

[Phil in London]

looks great!

[Jehu]

Thanks, Phil... Not sure I'd go that far yet, but I appreciate the encouragement!

[PTChristopher2]

Hi Jehu,

Are you able to keep the sides from trying to return to their unbent state between now and when you get the top and back glued on?

Looks terrific.

Chris

[jazzbow]

Make the width of your braces a multiple of your kerf width. Otherwise you end up with parts of your linings that look like they were designed by a British dentist. No offense.

You can spot British dentists, they drive Aston Martins while their patients use public transport!

I like your work and methods, keep it up boyo!

[Jehu]

Hi Jehu,

Are you able to keep the sides from trying to return to their unbent state between now and when you get the top and back glued on?

Looks terrific.

Chris

The sides were actually bent about two months ago (reality isn't quite as linear as this thread might suggest), and those bends don't seem to be going anywhere soon. Nevertheless, I've been keeping the sides in the mold for safety's sake.

I also plan to attach the back with the sides in the mold. I've drilled holes through which I will slip spool clamps. Once the back is on there, I figure the body will be rigid enough to attach the top freehand (again using spool clamps). Does that plan sound reasonable?

[PTChristopher2]

You are better at a perma-bend than I am. I have a set of rosewood sides for a project I was going to finish 5 years ago. If they were not clamped in position, they would be doing their best to return to their natural state - going straight, then buying online tickets back to India when I am asleep.

>>> Once the back is on there, I figure the body will be rigid enough to attach the top freehand (again using spool clamps). Does that plan sound reasonable?

Assuming your sides want to straighten out, the back will keep the back edge of the sides in a plane - so this will ultimately resist the top edge of the waist from spreading out.

But I would not trust this to stay in place for very long. Never hurts to get the whole box assembled before the wood gets ideas of its own.

A couple of years ago there was a Guild Artist Award at the local GC, which is odd enough all by itself. Interestingly, the body was slightly deformed in a way that to me looked like it had sat for some time partly assembled. No harm, just an interesting anomaly.

Really looking forward to hearing your guitar. When it sounds great, the minor quirks (which only you notice anyway) disappear completely.

In my opinion.

Chris

[Jehu]

Thanks, Chris. I knew this wasn't going to be a quick process the first time around, so I've been careful to minimize the time those sides have spent outside of the mold. Once I start closing the box, I will not dawdle.

While you are being generous with your expertise, I may as well ask: With regard to those flaws in the f-hole binding above, if I were to channel the spots out a bit and fill with a dust/CA mixture, would that cause problems down the road with finish adhesion? (I'm planning on trying my hand at french polish.) Or is it likely that my attempted solution would look much worse than the original problem?

Really looking forward to hearing your guitar.

Thanks, me too!

[PTChristopher2]

Hi Jay,

I have never used CA for ABS. I have always used a solvent-type adhesive that melts layers of ABS (or celluloid) together, but also has an adhesive component that will stick the whole mess to wood.

I currently have "IPS Weld-On #16". I have no idea what is available in Nuh-Zillun.

Stewmac sells some sort of IPS acrylic adhesive, but the tube in their pic looks much different than mine.

I know nothing involved is acrylic, but the Weld-On #16 works quite well.

The solvent has the advantage of softening the ABS and allowing the surface slurry to fill small gaps against the wood.

Anyway,...

>>> I were to channel the spots out a bit and fill with a dust/CA mixture, would that cause problems down the road with finish adhesion?

I do not think it will cause finish problems. But I think you may find the visual results to be un-amazing. CA and dust works great for ebony, rosewood, and bone. But the wood on your top reflects light from well below the surface once it is finished, but the dust and goo will not work in the same way. From some angles it can be OK, while[st] from others it will provide a troublesome contrast.

For tricky repairs on maple, and sometimes spruce, I spray an extremely light lacquer tinted with titanium white and whatever brown gives me a color match and a slight opaquing of the wood. This greatly helps the repair to blend into the wood without that deep reflection issue. But this is rather tricky to do with an airbrush, a fine tip, and a very light and gradual blend.

"If I were you,..." usually prefaces a seriously ass-hat suggestion of the seemingly impossible. This will be no exception:

If I were you, I'd cut a sloped channel all around the existing f-hole binding. I mean a wedge of maybe .5mm width at the top and sloping to nothing about 1mm deep. Then fill this with a wedge of black ABS using a solvent adhesive to provide the squishy forgiveness of the softened ABS surface. Leave the top of the wedge sticking out until the whole ting is dry, then clean it all up.

But that is easy to say on the other side of the planet. Still, it would work in my opinion. AND since you have not done the rim binding yet, you can design it so the fatter inner black line on the f-holes will match well.

A question: Do you have a jig to cut the rim binding channel? I use a self-made thing on a Dremel tool, but most use something larger. In any case, tearout on the spruce as you "scoop out" the open end grain is a potentially serious disaster. I suggest practice and a careful approach. You can start plowing around with the tool working great, then suddenly round a curve into end grain and make a remarkable mess.

Then Cath Tizard will come to your house and call you a #u(&wit or something.

All in my opinion - except the Cath Tizard part, she will definitely show up if you goof.

Chris

[Jehu]

Wow, thanks for the detailed response, Chris. Great to know about the light reflection differential with lighter wood, you just saved me some disappointment!

I think your solution sounds reasonable (and something I would never have thought of), but I am hesitant to mess with it to that extent at this point in the game. I might come back and revisit things after I've gained a bit more experience and confidence.

The CA seems to work reasonably well as a plastic-to-wood adhesive, but I think you're right about using something that softens the ABS as it adheres. I believe I can get a hold of some Weld-On locally (I think people use it for boat repairs and so on), so maybe I'll give that a go for the body binding.

A question: Do you have a jig to cut the rim binding channel? I use a self-made thing on a Dremel tool, but most use something larger. In any case, tearout on the spruce as you "scoop out" the open end grain is a potentially serious disaster. I suggest practice and a careful approach. You can start plowing around with the tool working great, then suddenly round a curve into end grain and make a remarkable mess.

My plan is to do it by hand, slowly and carefully. Using a router for that sort of thing terrifies me, quite frankly, and it's not like I have a cab waiting. Some people use a gramil/purfling cutter then clear away the excess with a chisel. I found an old cutting gauge and brought it back to life, and I think it will do the trick.

Your Kiwi pronunciation is uncanny, btw.

[PTChristopher2]

>>> Using a router for that sort of thing terrifies me,

Around 1978 or something I made my first actual small "batch" of guitars - as opposed to a single guitar.

I had a terrible router with a hard kick as it started. Well, when routing the top binding on a chambered solid body, the start kick dislodged my guide, and the router went decidedly inboard of the binding channel.

What a mess.

Fortunately the body was what was loosely called Philippine Mahogany. It looked a bit like Sapele, so the stripped look meant I could splice in a patch that was really invisible.

But yeah, I am scarred for life regarding routers even though that was my only disaster.

Your plan sounds like it will take a while and require considerable care, but that is the fun of it all too.

>>> I believe I can get a hold of some Weld-On locally

There may be more than one type of "Weld-On Brand" goo. I have #16, which is sold as an acrylic solvent-adhesive, but works very well for ABS to wood.

Chris

[Jehu]

Yes, I'm trying to do as much as is practical using hand tools, just for the fun (not convinced that's the appropriate word) and experience of it. There are certainly some things for which, now that I've done them once, I'll probably opt for more efficient methods in the future. Rough carving those plates, for example. I see no need to spend any more hours of my life doing that via a mallet and chisel.

Thanks for the tip on the #16, I'll be sure to look for that one specifically.

[Jehu]

It's tone bar time for that top plate.

From what I've seen and read, I figure cam clamps are the best tool for this job; the only problem is that I had no cam clamps. What I did have, however, is a pine board. So I chopped that bad boy into a bunch of pieces...


... and fashioned them into clamp-like objects, with some cork for the jaws. These aren't the strongest clamps in the world, but they're perfect for what I need 'em for (holding things in place without squeezing out all of my glue).


Next, I roughed in the contour of the arch on my bars, and then used carbon paper rubbings to achieve a good fit. This was easy but time consuming.


After chiseling out the half-lap joint where the braces meet, I put my new-fandangled clamps to work:


I then used Ric McCurdy's method of shaping the braces. Using the point of intersection between brace and the grain lines in the top as a guide, I was able to achieve a roughly even tap response around the circumference of the plate. (Say what?) Then I added a cap for a bit of extra oomph on the joint.



Did I go too thin? I guess I will find out when I string 'er up and the top caves in on me.

What is that ugly white crap, you ask? That is gauze hide-glued to the top to help discourage cracking and splitting around the f holes as the wood continues to age. It's a trick I stole from somebody a while back and filed away in the ol' noggin. It's somebody who knows what they're doing, but whose identity I have now forgotten. Jim Triggs, perhaps?

[PTChristopher2]

Hi Jay,

Love the clamps. Superb.

>>> Did I go too thin? I guess I will find out when I string 'er up and the top caves in on me.

Bracing does two things. It braces (shocking news), but it also carries vibrations across the grain to the far reaches of civilization on your top.

Vibrations move far more efficiently (and faster) along the grain lines vs. across the pithy wood between the lines.

The possible collapse of the top is a function of may things, the bracing being a significant, but far from exclusive factor.

When setting up the neck joint, keep the bridge break angle down as close to 7 degrees as you can if you are concerned.

Never used gauze like that myself. I have cleated repairs with cross grain spruce, and used very light glass cloth for larger area general split-resistance.

What a cool project. I suppose you will alloy your own fretwire billet and make your own strings from old car tire belts?

All in my opinion only.

Chris

[edh]

Looing good!

[Jehu]

What a cool project. I suppose you will alloy your own fretwire billet and make your own strings from old car tire belts?

You laugh, Chris, but I have tossed around the idea of winding my own pickup for it, and maybe even building an amp at some point down the road...

I'm not actually that concerned about the top caving in; it seems pretty solid (although I'm not putting 130lbs of pressure on it with my thumbs). But continuing my trend of playing it safe, I might take your advice and keep the break angle on the low side. I closed the box this week (pics to come once I true up the sides), and from my preliminary knocks it doesn't appear that volume is going to be much of an issue!

With regard to the gauze, it appears that Steve Andersen might be doing something similar but considerably classier:

[PTChristopher2]

Not sure why I used the completely unrelated term "billet" above.

Anyway, I am sure you could make quite good pickups and amps yourself. I guess I would never bother to make my own SS amp, since they are so inexpensive and available in such variety.

But a tube design would be well worth making as a personal one-off in my opinion.

Chris

[ninjasan]

Hi Jehu,

this is a dream thread really !

I enjoy a lot to follow you day after day.

There is not so much comments apart from great points by PTchristopher2,
but be sure a lot of us read both of you extensively!

Thanks for all that !!!

christophe

PS I try to woodworking myself a little, making some bits here & there,
but what I can do to wood with my Stanley 55 cannot be showed in any matter!
So I absolutely understand how much hard work and precision you put in your archtop.

[PTChristopher2]

>>> There is not so much comments

Indeed Jay, we are following and look forward to the posts even if the chatter is limited.

[339 in june]

>>> There is not so much comments

Indeed Jay, we are following and look forward to the posts even if the chatter is limited.

Cannot be better expressed !
Jay, your work amazes me.

[matt.guitarteacher]

My next little project. Wish me luck! (I think that will be the primary ingredient...)

Luck??... not that I can see...

Looks like a great deal of skill and artistry. For whatever reason, I haven't looked in on this thread until today. Great Pictures. Really awesome stuff, Jehu. Thanks for taking us along.

[Jehu]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. Honestly, I would continue to post if nobody was paying attention because I'm having fun documenting the process. But it's nice to hear that others are still along for the ride.

Chris -- As an example, a Twin Reverb costs $2999NZ (~$2508US) here, so there is a bit of extra incentive to make one's own amp! On the other hand, we don't really have Winter. So there's that.

Christophe -- I'm convinced that there really isn't anything magical about woodworking. It's mostly just a willingness to make terrible mistakes and a ready supply of bandages.

[Jehu]

Furthering my tradition of stealing techniques from anyone who crosses my path, I decided to, um, borrow Dan Slaman's method of attaching the plates. This involves using spool clamps threaded through holes drilled in the form. The problem? You guessed it -- no clamps! And I'm sure as hell not going to pay Stewmac prices for these things.

So I got a length of thick dowel, chopped it into small pieces, drilled holes in 'em, and glued cork onto the face.


Then I used hide glue to attach the back...


... and, after removing the sides from the mold, the top.


Finally, all that was left was to trim the excess off of the plates. I used a combination of sharp chisel, spokeshave, and sanding sticks/blocks. This was a bit of a pain, and I don't think I will be quite so conservative with those overhangs in the future. (Either that, or just man up and use powertools. But what fun is that?)

The end result is something that is starting to look recognisable:

[matt.guitarteacher]

Wow! Great pics. Thanks for the update, jehu. I love your custom-made tools BTW.

[jasonc]

Looking good. It's always a good feeling closing the box.