Daniel R Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 (edited) I am interested in building a archtop like the Phil Collen archtop that Jackson did. Does anyone have any idea of the body thickness of this guitar? Also because of the steep archtop of this guitar I was wondering if I could rough cut the sides of the archtop first with a bandsaws and then create the s shaped curve of the archtop with sanding or carving. I have read different ways of cutting or sanding the top but this may be a reasonable approach. Another question is this guitar will be a neck thru construction with the top hiding the neck thru piece. How thin can I make the neck thru body piece so as not to compromise strength? I am going to make the back wood either alder or mah but the amout of wood there is only going to be 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. I am including a link with some pictures from a guitar being sold on ebay. Any help is appreciated. Here are some pics Archtop pic Thanks Daniel Edited January 10, 2007 by Daniel R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postal Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 *most* guitars are in the neighborhood of 1.75" thick. You can go quite a bit thinner like an SG, or thicker if you want, but shoot for 1.75, and it's hard to go wrond as long as the electronics fit. I have a friend with a PC1, I can measure for you..... but still, plan on 1.75..... The fastest way to shape a top is with a 4" angle grinder with a sanding disk. Try it on a piece of scrap first befause it goes really fast, and is easy to screw up or gouge.... 5 minutes on some scrap so you know what to do makes easy work of it though. Generally a neck thru blank minimum thickness is 1 inch. Then add extra material under the blank where the body is. The only draw back of this is, with a neck angle. the bottom edge of the body, the neck thru section will only be about 1/4".... no biggy for a solid color, or with a drop top where you basically hide the neck section, but a visible neck with 1/4" neckthru at the bottom of the body doesnt look good.... Other wise, you'll need to read up on neck angle and neckthru construction along with neck angle and bridge selection to determine what is the best combination fo you. Note that a 1" neck with a TOM bridge will only leave 1/4" or less neck visible at the bottom of the body, but there are many neck angle bridge combinations....it was just one example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 I got no advice on the thickness problem, unfortunately, but I just wanted to comment on the actual archtop in question. For a custom Phil Collen Jackson one-off autographed charity whatnot, I dunno, but was anyone else expecting... more? I've seen a lot of awesome stuff come out of Jackson's custom shop, but this one is so bland. Give me a piece of maple, and using what VERY little I know of staining techniques, I could probably come up with a better-looking top Yeah, that's it really. The guitar just struck me as blah. Anyways, good luck on the build, Dan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 That particular speciment struck me as "blah", too. But the Phil Collen "archtop" (for lack of a better term!) in plain ol' white, with a Floyd Rose... is a pretty cool axe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Also because of the steep archtop of this guitar I was wondering if I could rough cut the sides of the archtop first with a bandsaws and then create the s shaped curve of the archtop with sanding or carving. I have read different ways of cutting or sanding the top but this may be a reasonable approach That is actuallu not a very complex arc. No re-curve at all. I would use palm and finger planes (mostly because I have them and know how to use them). Cutting a thin slice of a body with a band saw is a high risk operation that I wouldn’t recommend. You can use a router to get rid of most of the wood. I think that there is a tutorial in the forum or on the main page about it. Otherwise Google PRS and router and you might find it. If not get back to me and I’ll describe the method. Another question is this guitar will be a neck thru construction with the top hiding the neck thru piece. How thin can I make the neck thru body piece so as not to compromise strength? As long as you actually glue the neck into the rest of the body this is no issue. A well done glue joint is stronger then the surrounding wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel R Posted January 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 I agree the figured top is just very plain. I don't know why they would use such a boring piece of maple but I guess if it says Jackson it must be good!? Well I thought this project would be a great show piece for a good piece of figured maple. Now I just so happened to run into a piece however the width of the figured maple was only 5.25 inches wide. So I was looking for a project that would be small enough to use this wood. The maple is also 1.75 thick after gluing and surfacing. It has a great figure and would show off well with an extreme archtop. I did email some people and I believe this guitar is 2.25 inches thick at its tallest height so I will be using mah. back .5 inches. One other question, any comments on either a mah laminated neck for this project or a figured maple lamination? And if mah. what type, South American, African etc. Thanks Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geetarded Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Guitars similar to that guitar in the eBay listing started out as a block of wood about 3.75" thick. It's one of the most uniquely constructed guitars I've seen. The arc wraps around your body. Send me your email if you'd like pics of this guitar under construction so you can better understand the shape of this beauty. I didn't think much of this guitar till I saw a sideview of it. The ebay listing doesn't give you a picture to show it's innovative shape which ultimately led to it being discontinued due to high constuction costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Guitars similar to that guitar in the eBay listing started out as a block of wood about 3.75" thick. It's one of the most uniquely constructed guitars I've seen. The arc wraps around your body. Send me your email if you'd like pics of this guitar under construction so you can better understand the shape of this beauty. I didn't think much of this guitar till I saw a sideview of it. The ebay listing doesn't give you a picture to show it's innovative shape which ultimately led to it being discontinued due to high constuction costs. can you upload them to photobucket or something & link to them here? I'm sure that we'd all like to see how it's built Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geetarded Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Credit goes to Brooks of the now defunct Brooks Guitar World website: Maple Lamination Alder Model Prototype Sideview Finished Production Model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel R Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Love those pictures, this gives me a better idea of the wrap around the body than the other pics. Do you have any more with the construction? Any information would help, I just love the idea of the guitar hugging the body. Thanks Daniel drychlik@sbcglobal.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postal Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Oh, you'r talking about the "dome".... I thought the orkigional question was about the "PC1" which is a fairly common shape/thickness. I saw one about a year and a half ago, I agree, it looked like a good 3" thick total when laid flat. Great pics there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel R Posted January 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 After looking at the pics I do not understand the picture labelled maple lamination. It looks like the top is very tall and would tower over the fingerboard. Can you discuss the stradegy to making the archtop? I was thinking about having a glued top fitted over a mah laminated neck. Kind of an upside down U over a square. the back would have added mah sides to increase the height of the guitar. My maple thickness is 1.75 and I will be using a .5 to .75 mah sides. Also any stradegies for creating the hugging contour of the body would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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