Andyjr1515

With the neck timbers having arrived, they have been joined up which means that most of the major structural components are now ready for their respective further stages of work: There are a myriad of small jobs on each, plus a few big and scary ones! The first falls into the small jobs category - fitting the cutaway sides. One is gluing: While the other one is glued and the excess removed. At some stage, the bottom edge will be routed for some maple binding to be fitted. Now that will be scary...

Interesting stuff, @Prostheta

Looks good from here! Excellent result if this is your first build. If, like with the rest of us, the bug has bitten, think just how good the 20th build is going to be!!!!

You should have renamed it "Ash's Acoustic Awe Fest" Very interested how this goes...

Nice jig. Consider the idea stolen

That's a lovely job

I have to pinch myself that this is the second one! What final thickness are you planning for the top? For decent European Spruce, I usually aim for about 3mm, giving a decent compromise between strength and resonance. I'm intrigued with the side braces...are they on the plan? I confess I've never fitted them on any of mine. No great shakes either way - the sides don't affect the sound and they won't weigh much.

Wow! On so many levels...

Yes. The surprising thing is that Tonetech (for non UK, these are one of the major suppliers of these kinds of things in the UK) have moved 100% to Rocklite (Ebanol and Sundari) for binding and it is majorly flawed for this job because of the short fibres. I think that now I know it's not just me, I might contact Rocklite to let them know it's an issue for hand benders. I still own and am happy with the 'first in the world all-Rocklite guitar' so hopefully they'll know it's a friendly comment and not just a bemoaner one...

Lovely job with the binding

There's a photo of what I mean just down from the top of the page 2 here:

I'm away from my desktop photos at the moment so I can't show you what I mean, but one thing you can do at the heel is carve a relief between the bolt insert area and the edges....it's only the edges that actually need to seal against the guitar body. Makes for a lot less sanding and flossing.

Well - there's an adage that 'if it looks right, then it probably is right.' And those top braces look nicely carved. I was interested in your approach in a couple of areas (consider them stolen ) which is different to how most builders go about it and there are a couple of things I would have done differently, though none are likely to make a huge difference. In no particular order: Yes - I'm not much further to where you are with tap tuning. I know what it does, I know what I'm listening for, I can hear it when I get it right, but I'm darned if I know exactly which part of which strut is going to get me the missing harmonic! Don't worry too much about the stiffness. I've just given my dreadnought a mighty push and it is very stiff...and that is balanced, has great projection and a bass tone to die for (pure luck, I promise you) That said, the only top braces that I would normally lock into the lining are the X-braces and front cross brace. The two long offshoots in the main bout would normally thin to nothing before they reach the linings, maximising the flex of the top. But there are so many other things that will affect the top vibration, I don't think that is over-critical I was intrigued that you actually cut through the sides on those braces you lock in. I generally just cut the linings - which is a pain because it is difficult to get all those joins spot on. And then I had a think about it. Assuming that the binding is going to be deeper than the strut ends, this will be routed away anyway. I may well steal use this approach on my next acoustic I generally use spool clamps to fix the top and back - but that's more that my go bar bars aren't really strong enough for that job. Again, this might be stolen Personally, I don't add stiffeners to the sides, although they can't do any harm. The sides are only there to keep the back and top apart 'Wiggle room' for the neck bolt holes - absolutely! On a couple of my builds, I have more like 'room to swing a cat clearance' Neck angle! Yes - critical to get this right and, as I'm sure you know, you cant do it by just measuring it. You basically need the bridge on - or at least in place - and work off the actual geometry of your specific guitar and height of your actual bridge. The ObrienGuitars 'Luthier Tips du Jour' is a great source of info for such matters Great build!

Another stunning finishing job, by the way…

That is so true. I think that it should be raised at the highest levels of academic physics to confirm it is indeed a law of physics . ‘Scott’s Law’ rolls off the tongue nicely…

Can’t wait. It’s going to look splendid

Jaw dropping...however many times you look!

Beautiful!

And so I'll be moving into a 'planning before doing' phase over the next couple of weeks - not least because there are some grandparenting duties looming which means 'moving all your mess out of the way' But there's a lot to get right and it is worth the pondering without the temptation of cutting or gluing something before I'm sure! This is where I'm at with the wings: The ebony is around 6mm thick and will have a subtle top carve, following the same sort of curve as the back, a couple of diamond 'f' holes and some weight relief scoops in the underneath. And some very careful routing for the switches. Switches? Yes - we're going Jaguar guitar switch system, back mounted. "And so I'll be moving into a 'planning before doing' phase over the next couple of weeks"

That's a good question because pretty much no plan or guide tells you! The first two I built, I left them flat, but now I radius them in the dish (it's a relatively small amount of sanding in this position on the dish). And yes - you will be matching the shape of the top with the shape of the bottom of the bridge. I use the 'engineer's blue' method, using blackboard chalk instead of blue. Shout when you come to fixing the bridge - I have a few hints and tips I've learnt along the way that might help.

I get all of the acoustic internal woods from David Dykes Luthier Supplies. If the link works, those components are here. Bear in mind the prices are pre VAT and shipping. Soundboards (luthierssupplies.co.uk)

For playing, although there is always an adjustment period from what you are used to, I think generally more neck angle is easier than less. Based on that many LPs and the like are often around 5 degrees, 5.5 should feel like putting on your favourite old slippers. In cases like this, always ask someone with arthritis ;)

Exactly right. Especially if you fit a hidden sound hole volume/eq which tend to sit over these braces with a clearance notch built in.

Well...I was tempted, I'll admit. But I thought it would help with finding somewhere to put the strap buttons on to do the other side too I also added some kerfed linings to stiffen things up: And so, although there are many tasks to be done before I glue them, it was time to rough-cut the tops. I chalked the optimum (only) position for the tops using my modified mould as a guide: This was the longest/widest piece of ebony I could find - not much leeway in any direction! Now you can probably see why I need a visible through-neck And cut, oversize, sitting on the backs: Clearly, there will be the weight of the through neck length to add, but, with some overage and carvings still to take off, all 4 components - 2 tops and 2 backs - are sitting at 3 1/2lbs total. Not bad

On the one hand, the characteristics of the two woods will be different. However, I'm pretty sure the scooping of the braces when you are tap tuning the top changes the flex much more than that anyway and so I can't see an issue. It will just end up with a little less scooping or a little more - but as there are so many other things that affect the flexibility I'm pretty sure there would be an imperceptible difference.