Comment

Comment by Rand Moore on August 26, 2011 at 8:27pm

You are welcome to follow what's going on here, Michael.

I am currently in a "Back to Basics" mode because my wood supplier B&Q is not re-ordering the type of wood I have used on most of the builds documented here. I need to locate another source for good building material, but I suspect they won't want to sell it unless it's a boat load full. I want to buy just enough for 2 or 3 jobs at a time, which is why I liked buying it thru B&Q. Fortunately, I have material enough for 3 more neck & headstock assemblies and several cigar boxes I brought from the States, so that should keep me busy for a while. I am also eagerly awaiting the arrival of Fall weather.

-Rand.

Comment by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on August 26, 2011 at 12:37am

Hi guys and gals. I'm not planning on building my own box's but the stuff you are doing could be incorporated into some ready made cigar box's to make them better. I'm gonna watch and learn.

Comment by Gadsden Guitars on July 29, 2011 at 6:58am

Yep, i agree. There's a lot of info out there, soon i hope to build a Benedetto style archtop jazz guitar.

Comment by Mark Bliss on July 29, 2011 at 6:19am

I wasnt advocating or promoting the thought that you (Or anyone here) needs a go-bar deck, just explaining what it is, how it works. Then if you ever do find the need for such a solution, you will know it.

It really isnt meant for joining "book ended" soundboards or backs, and the method you describe is a perfectly good solution for that. Though I have never found the need to hammer the pieces down, just apply a caul and some weight and let it set up.

Heres a typical moment when you realize you could use a go-bar deck. After joining and thicknessing a nice big sound board for a  large instrument you mark out the outline of the sides and braces. The finished top is designed to be a mild convex shape, so you buy or build a concave base to build it on. You place some sandpaper into the concave base and shape the braces to match the end shape. Now you place your board on the concave base and lay out your braces and suddenly realize you need a way to apply even pressure over several long peices spanning the top in various directions..... See, now you could really use a go-bar deck.

The dove-tail neck joint can be made with a few simple marking tools, small back saw and a good sharp chisel or two. The trick isnt the tools but the careful and repeated "shave and try" finish that results in not only a perfect tight joint, but a perfectly aligned neck with the desired neck set angle too.

The link you sent is good, you might also want to study the tip archives at frets.com. Theres a huge amount of instructive information there, not only for instrument construction but how to home-build various tools and jigs too.

Another recommendation would be the "How to build an acoustic guitar" book by Kinkeade. It has plans and step by step instruction on basic guitar lutherie with a lot of low-buck and home-made solutions that might help anyone trying to expand their building skills.

All I can think of right now......

Mark

Comment by Gadsden Guitars on July 29, 2011 at 5:53am

Hey Rand, thanks for the kind words. Let me see if I can answer at least most of your questions. The "corner bracing" in the first photo are actually not braces, but merely 3/32nd's in. craft plywood, and the upper and lower braces are cut in a way so they "die" into the plywood corners. Keep in mind the top and bottom edges do not make contact with the top or back, and are merely put there to soften the inside corners for all the good vibrations bouncing around in there when played. Don't know if it actually helps, it was a suggestion made to me by a bass player that i work with, so I thought I'd try it.

In the background of the third photo the back is already matched up and glued, i was just glueing down the thin "joint strip" that reinforces the bookmatched joint. You'll see it if you look inside most acoustic guitars. The braces going perpendicular are just laid on there before i shaped them out. The go-bar system is just something i seen in a little photo in the Stew Mac catalog and made it based off of what i could see. A lot of the building techniques i've incorporated are from just studying pictures and figuring it out. The Dreadnaught bracing placement is also an example of looking at a teeny tiny little picture in the Stew Mac catalog and copying it.

As far as the reinforcing of the dovetail neck joint, I'm gonna have to hold on to  that little secret, sorry, but it is a little bit of an experimental thing and I have not put it to the test for a six stringer, so I wouldn't want you or someone else trying it and having disasterous results.

I tell ya what though, i think the reason for the Three String Confessional being so loud has more to do with the pinless bridge system and how it works to pull up the soundboard as the bridge is being mashed down, resulting in two opposing forces creating extreme tension.

Taking my building to the next level is just a result of my nature. I'm a self taught custom cabinet builder/designer that had a great run of success but that ship has pretty much left the harbour. I had two years of civil engineering instruction in the early nineties that has helped as well, and I've been building and working in all aspects of construction since I was 18. My attention to detail is a result of spending many, many rainy days in Washington State building models and drawing to pass the time when I was a little kid while my dad built hot rods in the garage. He's a welder by trade and I'm still kickin' myself in the arse for not getting into welding and metal work.

Hope that helps and be sure to share what you come up with.

Comment by Rand Moore on July 29, 2011 at 4:29am

Here's the proper name for the link I was just talking about: "Jonathan Sevy's guitar resources - A pictorial voyage through the construction of a guitar".

Comment by Rand Moore on July 29, 2011 at 4:17am

Hi All,

Eric's guitar also employs a neck dove tail joint. I guess he had special tools to make this, or perhaps he made it by hand. Here is a link to an off-CBN web site that describes in detail how to make a neck dove tail joint in a real acoustic guitar. I just discovered the site and they appear to have a lot of other guitar building secrets, so excuse me while I go get some education... (Wow that guy has a fortune tied up in wood working/luthier tools!)

-Rand.

Comment by Rand Moore on July 29, 2011 at 3:56am

Hi Mark.

So it's a "go-bar deck". Well, since I don't use hide glue, I guess I can live w/o this fancy tool. Sounds like you probably got one in your garage.

The way I would go about gluing two thin boards together is to get out a straight edge, hammer a row of small nails about 1.5" apart into my wood work surface, then measure the width ot the two boards to be glued together and hammer in another row of nails. Then put a strip of cut plastic grocery bag or wax paper down the middle where the glue seam will be and tape it down. Then put two half length strips of wood over this glue seam area which I will pull out when I'm ready to clamp. Then place the two boards to be glued together in one at a time such that one edge touches one row of nails and the other edge is propped up and almost touches the second board's mating edge. This affair looks a bit like a tent with the two mating edges to be glued together just touching and opened at an angle good for gluing. Apply the glue, smooth it out and then when ready to clamp, carefully pull the two half length strips of wood out, leaving the two board in the same tent position. Then press down on the center of the wood tent pushing both boards downward. Tap with a hammer and block of scrap wood to force the boards together if they haven't gone together well. Wipe the excess glue, place another length of cut plastic grocery bag (or wax paper) on top of the glue seam, place a long wide board on top of the covered glue joint and either clamp it down (if you have long enough clamps) or add a lot of weight to the long wide board on top to apply pressure to the joint. This method works well for me, but then I usually join fairly narrow boards, like the trim wood I used to form the sides of my mountain dulcimer. Hope I described this method okay. Sometime i should do a photo essay or video on the topic.

 

P.S. Like the artwork on Eric's guitar too, especially the metal working. Love that tail piece. Wish there was a discussion group about metal working on CBN where knowledgeable metal workers would divulge their secrets.

 

-Rand.

Comment by Mark Bliss on July 28, 2011 at 6:14pm

I had to be brief, sorry.

The go-bar deck clamping system is useful for quick set up when working with hot hide glue which sets up quickly, and for clamping over large areas where the number of deep throated clamps simply isnt practical.

You can also fit parts shaped over a concave or shaped surface. 

Comment by Mark Bliss on July 28, 2011 at 10:44am

Rand,

thats called a "go-bar deck". It is a common luthiers tool for clamping braces and building tops, where many deep clamps simply dont fit.

The top is a simple flat "ceiling". Heres a better look and more information.

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=Clamps+%...

Hope that clears it up somewhat.

Very nice build by the way. I would like to know more about the artwork and so on.

Mark

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