Juntunen Guitars Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 I started building a Benedetto style archtop acoustic. This is my first archtop so it will be interesting to see how it comes out. I already ran into one issue with the back woods from LMI not being thick enough but I was able to revise my plans to make it work. Top: Sitka spruce Back and sides: Flamed maple Neck: Maple Fingerboard: Ebony Tailpiece: Ebony Headcap: Ebony I haven't made many decisions yet on hardware. I will probably use some Gotoh tuners but I know the nut will be bone. Here is some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted August 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 For some reason two threads started so I'm going to just keep posting to this one... Mods is there any way to delete the other one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 I just finished a Benedetto style ,myself. Looking forward to your build.I have just started another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 Mods is there any way to delete the other one? Done.In the future just report the thread as a duplicate or just PM me the link to the topic you want deleted.It's better that way because it keeps us from accidentally deleting the one you wanted to keep in case there is some subtle difference in the posting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted August 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 Done.In the future just report the thread as a duplicate or just PM me the link to the topic you want deleted.It's better that way because it keeps us from accidentally deleting the one you wanted to keep in case there is some subtle difference in the posting Thanks, I will remember that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Flattening the bottom of the top with my block plane. Granite plates or wide jointer tables help with this to check for rocking since they are super flat. Using a safety planer to bring down the edge to just above its final thickness. There is about an inch of a flat edge around the top and back and this helps as a reference for the carving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Used the timesaver to bring down the tops thickness. And the fun begins, I've found I really enjoy carving. The plane in the picture is a scrub plane, they have a curved blade and it REALLY hogs out wood quick. I use that, my block plane, finger planes and a special gouge from capeforge. I was new to capeforge so I was happy to see when the gouge came that it was sharp, I actually cut myself unpacking it because I wasn't expecting it to be that sharp and I've been told they go for ages without needing to be sharpened and that they will sharpen them for you for free, best $86 I've spent on a tool for a while. I use a 10" pin guage from woodcraft to check where I'm at with the carve, just pushing it down on the top and matching it to my plans. Edit: I guess I forgot to rotate the picture with the pin guage so sorry for the upside down picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Here's a few pictures of where the top is at. I should mention that I carve across the grain to try and keep the wood from possibly slitting or tearing out. Starting to look good. I like carving, I think it's fun to go from having a block of wood and shaping it into something different and watching it transition from a piece of wood to a finished project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idmicheal Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Looking good man. I'm glad more people are picking up archtops. I love carving too, but for my first two I just had an Ibex finger plane. Needless to say I ended up making myself a Krenov-style scrub plane. Your carve is looking good. I love the last few plane strokes when the curve starts to meld into the planed edges Good job leveling the bottom surface really well. My first couple I just thought "Nah, I'm going to carve all of that out anyway, I don't need to worry about leveling!" Yeah... That caused lots of headaches. Tell me what you think of that Stika. I used that on my first one and have been using European since. I think the European is easier to carve. It seems like the grain isn't quite as stiff. Keep it up and post often! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Looking good man. I'm glad more people are picking up archtops. I love carving too, but for my first two I just had an Ibex finger plane. Needless to say I ended up making myself a Krenov-style scrub plane. Your carve is looking good. I love the last few plane strokes when the curve starts to meld into the planed edges Good job leveling the bottom surface really well. My first couple I just thought "Nah, I'm going to carve all of that out anyway, I don't need to worry about leveling!" Yeah... That caused lots of headaches. Tell me what you think of that Stika. I used that on my first one and have been using European since. I think the European is easier to carve. It seems like the grain isn't quite as stiff. Keep it up and post often! I like working with sitka, I'm not sure of how it will sound on an archtop but I didn't have the money for a european spruce top. I've only built one other acoustic instrument and that had a sitka top, I liked the sound of that better than englmann or adirondak plus it's stiffer and I like the idea of its strength. The leveling was pretty easy with the granite plate, I would just set it on it and find out where the top was rocking the plane down the high ends until it got to the point where it felt like it was getting suctioned down onto the granite. I've used my ibex finger planes mostly, I only used the scrub plane to work down the neck and tail end roughly then I took over with the finger planes. Did you do an X-brace or tone bars for your tops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idmicheal Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 I've done both. Lately I've been using parallel bracing (tone bars) because I've been putting pickups in them, and I like the extra strength they provide when I have to route the top for a pickup. But I have done x-bracing. It was on my first guitar though, and after having gained more experience I know that I carved the top way too thickly on it, so I can't really give a legitimate comparison as to how x-bracing and parallel bracing compare sonically. I'd trust Benedetto's description. Have you decided how you'll brace yours? I've used my ibex finger planes mostly, I only used the scrub plane to work down the neck and tail end roughly then I took over with the finger planes. Do you have some of the smaller finger planes? I only have the largest (47mm body, 18mm blade) and sometimes I have trouble getting in really far down in the waist area and usually do the last littlbe bit with scrapers. I'm thinking of picking up one of the smaller planes though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Jung, I like what you have done.I just started another archtop ,too.I have the same plane you have ,that thing is priceless.A scrapper works really good on the spruce,if you have a stubborn place.Looking good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Hey, I just thought , we have at least three of us archtop builders...we should get a club name.hahaha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idmicheal Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Seriously! And we could make an organized run on GOTM and flood it with archtops I don't know if he still lurks around, but John_Abbett had this thread http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=42672 a while back and he was really generous with answering my questions. It was a really informative thread when I just started. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted September 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 Seriously! And we could make an organized run on GOTM and flood it with archtops Ha sounds like a plan And yes I have decided on my bracing, it's going to be a tone bar and not an X-brace, I also have multipe plane, not just the big one, I have two small ones and a bigger one. I haven't had to much problems with getting in the tighter areas but that's where the gouge comes in handy as well. Dean, I have been using my scrapers now that the top is pretty close to its final arch. I will have more pictures tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idmicheal Posted September 18, 2012 Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 Pictures! Pictures! :overhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted October 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Pictures! Pictures! Sorry for the late update I bought a new toy (78 F250 ) that has been taking up my time. I tried to get photobucket to work today but it's not liking me plus it has been deleting my pictures from the past page so I need to fix that as well. I will try again tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted October 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 Got photobucket to work today so here is some pictures of the last few weeks. Blending the carve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted October 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 Doing the recurve. I cut the recurve to 4mm and left the outside edge at 5mm. I didn't worry about the outer edge being so thick because the top is cut oversized and I will be cutting it back when I bind it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted October 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 Marking out the inside for carving. There are three different depths around the top. The thickest is in the middle and thins out as you work your way out. I did the first drilling a mm thicker than the thickest point all the way across the top then went back and marked everything out again and drilled to a half mm above the final thickness all he way around. This is the tool I used for a depth stop. You can get them from violin tool suppliers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted October 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 More from carving. I used a gouge from cape forge. They are great and come sharp, I actually cut myself taking it out of the packaging because I wasn't expecting it to be so sharp. Smoothing it out. And the joys of carving are blisters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idmicheal Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 Usually when I carve out the inside I'll use a bigger, maybe like 13/32th, and then just whack a lot of material out with a chisel. But the particular piece of wood plays a huge factor in that. I started carving out the inside of the top I'm working on right now with a finger plane and it's such a fine-grained piece that I had to stop myself because I realized I was getting really thin. So I then used the frill press and found that I was right at 1/4", which is where I usually do my tops before I cut out f-holes. But I like your recurve; it's really clean. That is something I tend to struggle with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 But I like your recurve; it's really clean. That is something I tend to struggle with. +1 recurves can be a problem area to get right. Havent done a real archtop in over a year, but the hollow used to drive me nuts. Still , your making nice progress, lookin good so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted October 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 Usually when I carve out the inside I'll use a bigger, maybe like 13/32th, and then just whack a lot of material out with a chisel. But the particular piece of wood plays a huge factor in that. I started carving out the inside of the top I'm working on right now with a finger plane and it's such a fine-grained piece that I had to stop myself because I realized I was getting really thin. So I then used the frill press and found that I was right at 1/4", which is where I usually do my tops before I cut out f-holes. But I like your recurve; it's really clean. That is something I tend to struggle with. This is the first top I've carved out like this and I was told by an archtop and violin builder to use smaller bits when drilling because it avoids tear out and that most people who use bigger bits to hog out wood end up taking more than they want. I'm not sure though since I had never done it. Thanks, the recurve was starting to get to me because the top and bottom half was scrapping cross grain the whole time so it came out really rough at first which dulled my scrappers a lot, once I burnished them again though it started working a lot better. Pauliemc: Thanks I'm starting to fit the tone bars now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted November 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 Sorry for not posting lately, I've been getting busy. I will put up more as soon as I get the pictures off my phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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