Acoustic Guitar Project - Complete

[Philly]

Hi Folks
Thought it was about time I got stuck into making a guitar (what with all the lovely guitars being made on this forum!) So I have started building an acoustic.

I am putting step-by-step photo's on my website here.... So - what am I building? It is a Weissenborn style Hawaiian lap steel guitar. Its unique feature is its hollow neck - the guitar body runs right to the headstock. Also, the guitar is played sitting down, with it flat on your lap, top facing up. There won't be any frets (just fretmarkers) as it is played with a slide.
Fans of Ben Harpers music will be familiar with this guitar - you can see him playing one in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb0F2dYKTOM
Cheers
Philly

 

[Slim]

Fantastic Phil.

I'm really looking forward to this. How well does the hollow neck resist the string tension? I'm sure the sycamore will look stunning.

Waiting with baited breath!

 

[Philly]

Simon
There are loads of original guitars surviving so I assume the neck will be strong enough. The strings are 6-8mm off the neck so a low action is not an issue :lol:
Most of the figure on the top will be hidden once the fingerboard goes on. Still, should be a nice guitar. And if it goes well maybe I'll try another one in figured Koa?
Cheers
Philly

 

[bob_c]

Fantastic Phil.

I'm really looking forward to this. How well does the hollow neck resist the string tension? I'm sure the sycamore will look stunning.

Waiting with baited breath!

Thats alot of bracing ,i suppose that will be needed to counteract the pull of the neck if its hollow.

 

[Philly]

Bob
Yes, there's no truss rod, either.
Cheers
Philly

 

[tnimble]

Nice project Philly, very much like the rosetta and how the soundboard is made up.

 

[mr]

Have you finished that tele yet
:twisted:

Cheers Mike

 

[Philly]

Mike
Yes! Tele is complete - I'll take some photo's tomorrow :roll:
Cheers
Philly

 

[Philly]

As there are other lovely guitar threads going on I've been inspired to stop making planes and get on with the guitar. Well, for a few minutes... :wink:
I had a go at hot bending the side for the guitar. Sadly, it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped - the pipe I used was too tight a radius and gave "corrugations" instead of smooth curves. Being too tight to buy some suitable pipe I made a former out of scrap and laminated the sides in my vacuum press.

Six layers of veneer (figured Anigre) gave the thickness needed for the sides - they came out really well. I bandsawed the sides to shape after they had cured and I'm preparing kerfed linings to glue the sides to the top.
More pics soon...
Philly [/img]

 

[Ironballs]

Very, very nice. 3 guitars on the go and guess who's going to be last. Ah rubbish :wink:

 

[Pete Howlett]

I got 15 ukuleles on the go...

 

[Pete Howlett]

To an earlier question - I built 30 of these back in the 90's and the hollow neck, if built with 6mm side cheek reinforcements (as on the originals) makes for a stronger neck than you can imagine. Given that the bass string is usually .075" and the top .017", these stand up very well...in fact, it's a stronger mechanical construction that a standard guitar.

 

[ByronBlack]

Loving the veneer vacuum thingy action - this should be a cool project, definitely post the tele-pics, thats one next on my project list

 

[OPJ]

I'm impressed that you can leave something in your workshop untouched for six months without damaging it - if I try and leave one thing to get on with another, it usually ends up in pieces on the floor in minutes!

Keep the progress coming, Phil! Can't get enough of these guitar-builds right now, I'm gonna have to have a go myself, one day. :wink:

 

[Philly]

Thanks for the info, Pete!
BB - Tele pics today - promise
Olly - Yes, I'm amazed the thing hasn't been smashed during the months of storage. Kinda spurred me into finishing it while it is in good condition :lol:
cheers
Philly

 

[Philly]

A few more pics....

Shaped the sides, glued in the tail block and started adding the kerfed linings.
Cheers
Philly

 

[ByronBlack]

Philly, how are the sides attached to hold the top and bottom?

 

[Philly]

BB
They are glued, which, when you think about it, doesn't seem strong enough. The joint between the edge of the sides and the underside of the top doesn't give much glue surface and you have all sorts of crossgrain issues.
Hence the linings. These are little "glue blocks" that vastly increase the gluing surface area. When you think most guitars are bound (i.e. the corner area is routed away!) the guitar would fall apart without these glue blocks.
Hope this makes sense?
Philly

 

[ByronBlack]

BB
They are glued, which, when you think about it, doesn't seem strong enough. The joint between the edge of the sides and the underside of the top doesn't give much glue surface and you have all sorts of crossgrain issues.
Hence the linings. These are little "glue blocks" that vastly increase the gluing surface area. When you think most guitars are bound (i.e. the corner area is routed away!) the guitar would fall apart without these glue blocks.
Hope this makes sense?
Philly

Aye, makes perfect sense (I can see the kerfed linings in the last picture...)

Will you be binding this one? Also, can you play a lap-steel guitar?

 

[Pete Howlett]

Watch this video for the Gizmo I use to do kerfed linings...

and how about this for a recent build: