Carved archtop

[Dave Richard]

Rhett, that's a good & true point about the relative pleasures and stresses of hand vs machine work. While I'm confident I could carve the plates without a duplicator, I like the idea of roughing them out by machine, then finishing with hand work and tools(as do my aging hands, forearms, back, etc!).

[Matt Cushman]

I’m not sure where you buy a duplicator these days, but you can make one relatively easily.

That said, we have an old cast iron one at the school which we use in the archtop building class. One plate is hand carved and one duplicated to expose the students to different techniques.
FWIW, using the duplicator is such an unpleasant experience that many students say they would rather hand carve a plate even if they had a machine in their home shops. Hand carving may take several days compared to an hour or so on the machine, but what a stressful and miserable hour!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was a little surprised to learn that the students disliked operating the duplicator so much. My first thought was they must not have good dust collection. Even with dust collection, the effort of passing the router over the plates so many times is considerable.

Good hearing protection and a good foam pad to stand on are a good idea.

The thought of not using the duplicator never crossed my mind. There is plenty of hand carving to do as it is. I am always tweaking the patterns and other things in an effort to reduce the amount of hand carving that is needed. I find it helps to restrict the movement from side to side. To do that, the x axis is locked by clamping with spring clamps and working head to tail or z axis and then moving across x axis in .25" increments. The router makes a smoother cut if the depth of cut stays more consistent as you progress with the carving across the plate. This also helps with dust collection.

[Matt Cushman]

After a brief delay, here are a few photos to get you caught up on some of my progress so far. After the f-holes were bound with an extra thick B/W/B/W fiber binding lay up, I glued the top to my sound ported sides. With the top glued on, I gave the inside a couple of wash coats of shellac.



After the shellac dries I glue the back in place.



After the glue is dry I cut the plates flush to the sides and then cut the body mortise.



Next I will fit one of the necks I have in progress. Then it is time to decorate this build with a bit of inlay and binding.

[neatomic]

nice work matt!..so glad you came back to this thread...

there's pro's and cons regarding shellacing inside...what's your take on why you do it...is it traditionally done on mandolins?

cheers

ps- ever considered carving a wooden port tube??

[Matt Cushman]

nice work matt!..so glad you came back to this thread...

there's pro's and cons regarding shellacing inside...what's your take on why you do it...is it traditionally done on mandolins?

cheers

ps- ever considered carving a wooden port tube??

Thanks neatomic!
I have used shellac on the inside of all my builds. I saw Benedetto do it in his book and I thought great idea. It only takes me a few minutes. I seal the inside of my mandolins but most mandolins are not sealed on the inside. I think the down side is rather slight and the upside is you have some protection from sudden moisture fluctuations and it seals the glue joints against moisture. It also looks a bit better inside the guitar with some finish to seal it.

It might be stronger to use wood veneer to bend a wood port tube to shape.

[neatomic]

thanks..good stuff...also gives you a preview of how beautiful that outside spruce top is going to look!! hah

cheers

[Matt Cushman]

I started a batch of 6 archtop necks a while back. I often build in batches and decorate the headstock and fingerboard on an individual basis.
I thought I would have some fun with this build and cut out some some intricately shaped pieces of extra colorful and well figured M O P shell.

[citizenk74]

Nice work, Matt!

[neatomic]

as always, beautiful workmanship and materials!! well done matt c


cheers


ps- double bound multi ply headstock binding is super nice touch!

[JazzNote]

Matt, a question regarding the soundport which i believe is mainly for the player to hear himself better:
Does it alter the sound of the guitar for an audience who is sitting in front / does it change to the volume of the guitar heard at the audience side?

[Matt Cushman]

Nice work, Matt!

Thanks K !

as always, beautiful workmanship and materials!! well done matt c


cheers


ps- double bound multi ply headstock binding is super nice touch!

Thanks neatomic! I bound the body with an extra thick bind to match. I will post some photos soon.

Matt, a question regarding the soundport which i believe is mainly for the player to hear himself better:
Does it alter the sound of the guitar for an audience who is sitting in front / does it change to the volume of the guitar heard at the audience side?

That is a good question Jazz Note. This build is an experiment which will hopefully provide the answer to your questions. From what I have read, the sound port helps the player hear better without reducing the projection. I can say the box has a very strong tap tone. I can tell from the tap that this is sure to be a loud archtop.

[plasticpigeon]

Very nice!

[Matt Cushman]

Very nice!

Thanks! plasticpigeon.

I thought I had better post a few pics in the white in case anyone was wondering what happened with this build. She has been sitting around waiting for me to get on with the finishing process. I got side tracked with some summer fun!

[deacon Mark]

Matt your work is beautiful! Hollenbeck would string his guitar up and play it for usually 2 weeks before applying any finish. I assume you do this same? In some cases he would wait till the weather was perfect for nitro and the guitar might be strung up for even a month.

[Matt Cushman]

Matt your work is beautiful! Hollenbeck would string his guitar up and play it for usually 2 weeks before applying any finish. I assume you do this same? In some cases he would wait till the weather was perfect for nitro and the guitar might be strung up for even a month.

Thanks Mark! I have strung up unfinished instruments in the past but I haven't been doing that lately. I do some testing using tuning forks to check for any wolf notes before finishing but I don't string them up anymore. I use shellac under hybrid alkyd varnish to finish so the wait time for curing is only 7 days. The varnish is tough as nails and outdoor rated and the best part about it is it does not continue to shrink like nitro does.

[Bluedawg]

Very nice!

[deacon Mark]

So you are not doing nitro finishes? I have to have a discussion with you about that because finishing work is one of my downfalls. I just have not dived into the mix yet. Lots of options and opinions.

[Matt Cushman]

Very nice!

Thanks Bluedawg!

So you are not doing nitro finishes? I have to have a discussion with you about that because finishing work is one of my downfalls. I just have not dived into the mix yet. Lots of options and opinions.

I only used nitro on 1 partscaster back in the 90s. After that I tried a variety of waterborne lacquers that were offered by Stew Mac and LMI. Most of these finishes were similar but would vary slightly in color. I don't remember when I started using the hybrid varnish but it was about 12 years ago. The varnish is very hard so it polishes to a very high luster. Getting good results is a bit labor intensive as it goes on thin and many coats are needed for a good result. I always use shellac under the varnish to provide an extra hard and durable base for the varnish. There is a learning curve with applying the finish but overall it is very forgiving and easily repaired. The main downside is the shellac adds a bit of amber color and so does the varnish but this is only a concern with a natural finish and can make a new guitar look aged, not always a bad thing.

[JazzNote]

Thanks! plasticpigeon.

I thought I had better post a few pics in the white in case anyone was wondering what happened with this build. She has been sitting around waiting for me to get on with the finishing process. I got side tracked with some summer fun!

Matt, thanks for the pics - i can well imagine how nice this guitar will look once it's finished. It looks great all over already now, but i especially like the way the f-holes are designed/placed - and bound. Just perfect! I couldn't imagine them to be more perfect.

[Matt Cushman]

Matt, thanks for the pics - i can well imagine how nice this guitar will look once it's finished. It looks great all over already now, but i especially like the way the f-holes are designed/placed - and bound. Just perfect! I couldn't imagine them to be more perfect.

Thanks Jazz Note!
I take that as high praise coming from you. I know you have great taste when it comes to archtop guitars. I think all the extra binding helps the curves stand out a bit more.

[sgosnell]

It's not possible for anything to be more perfect. Perfection is the end. Things can be more nearly perfect, but once perfection is reached, that's all, folks.

[skykomishone]

Matt, that is truly awesome. Nice work!

[rabbit]

So pretty it hurts.

Was lucky to have a gal like that, once.

Thanks for the memories.

[rlrhett]

We've all been oohing and ahhing over the Campelleone that Vinny is having made, but this is just as stunning. Good work!

[Matt Cushman]

Matt, that is truly awesome. Nice work!

Thanks skykomishone!

So pretty it hurts.

Was lucky to have a gal like that, once.

Thanks for the memories.

I know what you mean. I remember a blonde gal that way!

We've all been oohing and ahhing over the Campelleone that Vinny is having made, but this is just as stunning. Good work!

Thanks rlrhett!



No, I didn't forget this build thread. I had to finish her in my spare time as this was part of a sonic experiment. I could not be happier with the way she sounds both amplified and acoustic. I was a bit surprised that the port had the effect of adding volume from the f holes and very little sound from the port itself. On the electric side of things, the Schatten vol. tone circuit is super quiet. I added string grounding but it isn't really needed.