Juntunen Guitars Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 With my archtop about halfway done I'm starting a new acoustic build. I've been working on the plans for this for a few months now and finally have them done. I'm working on molds and templates currently and won't be working on the actual build until January 14th or around there. So this build is an 8 string acoustic baritone. Not an 8 string like Taylor's 8 string baritone but an 8 individual string acousic. The neck measurments are off of an Ibanez RG8 but with just a little bit of thickness added to it since I'm not sure how much pull the strings will actually have and just incase I'm reinforcing the neck not only with a stewmac hotrod truss rod but also two 3/16" steel rods on each side of it. The brace pattern for the back is a double X-brace along with the top. The top pattern was originally similar to a martin style pattern but I modified it slightly and then just decided to change it entirelly so it is now based off of a picture I saw in a book on tap tuning, can't remember the name now but I will post it later. Specs: Back and sides: Claro Walnut Top: Western Red Cedar Braces: Sitka Spruce Neck: Mahogany Fingerboard: Snakewood Bridge: Snakewood Binding: Snakewood Other parts are gotoh tuners, jumbo frets, bone nut and saddle, ebony end pin and ebony bridge pins. For an inlay I am thinking of doing some wooden sugar maple leaves down the fingerboard but haven't decided on that for sure yet. I will put up pictures when photobucket finishes uploading. I've been having a ton of issues with them ever since they switched to their new layout has anyone else had any problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Here's a screenshot of the 8 string on the left compared to a martin dreadnought. Working on the 3D image of the neck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Cutting out MDF for bending molds. CNC cutting out the bending mold shape. CNC cutting the rest of the templates out of plexiglass. I forgot to mention I have access to a CNC for this build, not sure how much I will use it because I think of them as cheating but time will tell if I use it much or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 I forgot to mention I have access to a CNC for this build, not sure how much I will use it because I think of them as cheating but time will tell if I use it much or not. My first thought was exactly that "that is cheating" but thats just because I am jealous of all you guys with access to CNCs. If I had one myself I would use it all the time... Go ahead, use it and enjoy it as much as possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Interesting build. How are you thinking of tuning it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff St. Germaine Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 I'll be following this one as well. I'm just starting 3 archtop builds and I've been following your archtop build as well. I'm sure this one will be every bit as good. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 My first thought was exactly that "that is cheating" but thats just because I am jealous of all you guys with access to CNCs. If I had one myself I would use it all the time... Go ahead, use it and enjoy it as much as possible I don't really care for them honestly. With the amount of time it takes to just make the 3D files for the CNC I could make 1 or 2 of the parts normally. If I owned this CNC it migh tbe different because I could just keep going with making the same thing over and over but for a one time use I'm not sure how much I will use it. They are fun though. Interesting build. How are you thinking of tuning it? Same way as the Taylor baritone but with an extra low and exra high string. I'll be following this one as well. I'm just starting 3 archtop builds and I've been following your archtop build as well. I'm sure this one will be every bit as good. Thanks for sharing! Thanks and 3 archtop builds at once is a lot, put a link to your build threads if you have them posted here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 I see CNC as a method of doing things which would be either impractical or inefficient to do by hand. The CNC we have could cut four guitars at once one at a time on the bed size, but it would be better put to use making parts for bending machine moulds, routing templates, jigs and other things of that sort. The jigs where pucks are used to create a specific shape at either end is a prime candidate for cutting the pucks on CNC from Delrin or other similar material. Not cheating. Just another tool, albeit one that requires a separation of involvement from the actual production into two phases. Desk work is just as important as getting a sawdust shower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 I see CNC as a method of doing things which would be either impractical or inefficient to do by hand. The CNC we have could cut four guitars at once one at a time on the bed size, but it would be better put to use making parts for bending machine moulds, routing templates, jigs and other things of that sort. The jigs where pucks are used to create a specific shape at either end is a prime candidate for cutting the pucks on CNC from Delrin or other similar material. Not cheating. Just another tool, albeit one that requires a separation of involvement from the actual production into two phases. Desk work is just as important as getting a sawdust shower. Agreed, I can see their use in a production setting but for builders like most of us I think they can be a little over the top. I definatelly like using this one for making templates though since that's one thing I hate doing. The templates that were cut out of that plexiglass sheet were top templates, different side templates, bridge, headstock and a few other small parts for 3 guitars and it only took about 1 hour to draw in CAD, program it and then cut them out with the CNC. My thing against them is companies like Taylor that have machines do pretty much the whole thing and then charge thousands of dollars for an instrument, the only time I'd ever spend more than a couple hundred on a guitar is if it was built by someone by hand where they spent the time to make it worth that. I just like doing things by hand because to me that's quality, not a machine doing super accurate precise work for you. Now that being said I will be using the CNC for the fingerboard and possibly the bridge. I've thought about using it for radiusing the braces but we will see. I'd like to use it and get the experience while I have the chance. Rant done, it's been a long day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 I partially disagree about Taylors. I think they are great but I wish the bracing and important work on voicing was done by hand. I might be wrong on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 I partially disagree about Taylors. I think they are great but I wish the bracing and important work on voicing was done by hand. I might be wrong on this. Don't get me wrong I really like Taylors and would love to have one, just not for the price they charge for a nice one. I have a GS mini that I've been working on fixing and was surprised with some of the things they do, on the GS mini they route a channel along the top edge insde the body, it's like a recurve on the inside and they don't shape their braces, just scallop them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 I started the actual build of this guitar this week and got quite a bit done in the last two days on it. I started with the back. It has a 17" lower bout so I was having trouble finding back and side wood that fit and still had material to take away so I decided to go with a 3 piece back with a maple center strip. After a while of jointing the plates which involved me getting a several inch long cut on my arm. For glueing the back up I just use a simple jig and use two angled wedges as clamping pressure. Here's the back out of the jig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Here's the top which ended up being a nice set of western red cedar I found. Working on the neck. I'm using african mahogany and a flamed oak piece. I did get this glued up but forgot to take a picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Got all the braces cut out, I was going to do a laminated X-brace with mahogany and spruce but changed my mind when I chaged the top X-brace design toa double X-brace. Here's a nice jig for radiusing braces. It's just a block of wood that fits in the slot on the edge sander then a jig you clamp the braces into that has a radiused bottom. Setting up the X-brace locations on the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff St. Germaine Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I really like the 3 piece back. Where is the flamed oak going? I really like the look of flamed oak. I have a fretless bass I've built with a 3-tone burst over flamed oak and it's really an outstanding looking wood. Just different enough from flamed maple to look interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I really like the 3 piece back. Where is the flamed oak going? I really like the look of flamed oak. I have a fretless bass I've built with a 3-tone burst over flamed oak and it's really an outstanding looking wood. Just different enough from flamed maple to look interesting. It will be the center laminate on the neck. Last time I used flamed oak my hand met my table saw blade so I'm being extra careful this time around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I bet you're not using fences, eh? What about riving knives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 I bet you're not using fences, eh? What about riving knives? I was using a fence and push stick, the blade sent the piece straight up at me like if I had stepped on a rake like you see on TV so my reflex was to grab it and the blade pulled, along with my fingers, to the blade. I didn't lose anything just a bad gouge and chunk missing from my left index finger which naturally is my most used finger for guitar playing ... go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Did it get trapped between the fence and the blade? The fence should be drawn backwards so it is parallel with the front cutting edge of the blade if so. This reminds me....I have a big board of Sapele which I am halfway through cutting for a pair of Flying Vs which closed up around the riving knife and kicked back a few weeks back. Better get back to that. Meanwhile, back in baritone acousticland! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Did it get trapped between the fence and the blade? The fence should be drawn backwards so it is parallel with the front cutting edge of the blade if so. This reminds me....I have a big board of Sapele which I am halfway through cutting for a pair of Flying Vs which closed up around the riving knife and kicked back a few weeks back. Better get back to that. Meanwhile, back in baritone acousticland! :-D No it fell in the gap between the blade and the fence, for some reason my table saw has a large gap there compared to most table saws. Usually I fit a piece of plywood in there and just raise the blade up so there is no gap but for some reason I didn't have one made for this saw and it doesn't help that what I was cutting was borderline to small for a tablesaw but I didn't have access to a bandsaw at the time. Anyways here's more on the build. I got the back braces glued in last week. This week I'll be shaping them along with getting the top braces in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 I also got the neck blank squared up and cut out. The headstock I originally came up with for this build seemed a bit too big so I was looking at the Taylor 8 string and noticed their tuners were closer so I went back and redesigned it. Here is the size of the original compared to my 6 string headstock. The one on the right is the revised headstock. I also got the sides cut out and thicknessed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 I doubt you will need that much space between the tuners. It makes the headstock feel a little ungainly. Realistically you only need to add on perhaps 10-15mm on the length, and most of that can be caught from bunching up tuners a little. It looks a little too paddle-ish if you see what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 I doubt you will need that much space between the tuners. It makes the headstock feel a little ungainly. Realistically you only need to add on perhaps 10-15mm on the length, and most of that can be caught from bunching up tuners a little. It looks a little too paddle-ish if you see what I mean. The original or the revision? The original I could have probably paddled a canoe with. The revision has the tuners spaced like the Taylor 8 string does. The thing with this build though is that no matter what I do the headstock will be wide and look wide because it isn't an 8 string with the center two strings as courses, it's 8 individual strings, the nut is 55mm if I remember right and the last fret is somewhere around 80mm. I'd rather have a more normal but slightly wide headstock vs a proportionate to a 6 string one that I could paddle a canoe with... on the bright side if I went that route I wouldn't need to pack paddles on a canoe trip, dual purpose instrument Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Yes. Revised looks nicer. Best use of space without cramping or leaving big open areas for no reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Yes. Revised looks nicer. Best use of space without cramping or leaving big open areas for no reason. Yeah. I'm a little nervous about neck dive though. I will get a feel for it this week once I get the headstock cut out and everything but with the truss rod and neck reinforcments it's going to be iffy. Not to mention the snakewood fingerboard isn't really the lightest wood I've worked with either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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