First Guitar build

[amilford]

Hi all.

I've been lurking on this forum off and on for years. So now finally a post of a project. Hope it is of some interest.
From this:

to this

in just under a year - off and on.

But I almost made two. Since there were so many new techniques for me and things to work out, jigs to make etc. I practiced on a rough one made of ply and scrap pine before using the technique on the "real thing". Some intermediate photos to follow.

 

[CMax]

That looks to be a lovely job. Well done, mate. I've built a few electrics in the past but haven't dared tackle an acoustic yet. They seem far more complex for my comparative skill level.

 

[amilford]

So first thing - make a jig to hold the body during construction, out with some mdf

four identical parts off the drum sander (home made for this job!)

note the nod to H&S with the dust extractor nozzle!
Then we assemble the jig:

glued up, resting on some newspaper so it doesn't stick to the mdf board under it!

 

[amilford]

First thing to tackle: bending the sides. Put together a steam box powered by wallpaper stripper:

Had loads of attempts to steam and bend some scarp pine planed and sanded down to about 4mm. Lots of broken bits of wood resulted. So after more research seemed like an iron was needed. Too expensive to buy. Tried a heated hair straightener - not hot enough. So came up with this very rough bending iron:

Lots of tin foil to stop setting fire to the wood holder!

So finally to get it to bend I put it in steam box for about half an hour, then using "bending iron" and liberal dousing of the wood with more water I finally got the pine versions to bend, this one in another jig - the negative of the main jig made earlier. Found it easier to pull the wood into shape on this jig.

 

[amilford]

So once the sides are bent they go in the jig and the end blocks are glued in.
This is the "practice" one from pine. Don't seem to have any pics of the final one at this stage.

all the cross members of mdf are temporary clamps to hold the sides in place.

 

[amilford]

Here is another jig in the making - for marking the taper on the sides for the back. The guitar is thinner at the neck end. This jig allows me to mark the taper on the sides.

 

[amilford]

After the front is glued up from two book match bits of sitka spruce, on the back of it there are loads of struts to glue:

and here they are after shaping

The front and back are fixed to the sides using kerfing. Here it is being glued in for the back on the "practice" item. Thanks Mrs M. for the loan of the pegs.

and finally for this bit, the inside view of the front fixed to the sides:

and from the other side:

 

[amilford]

So the back too has some strutting, but a bit simpler:

then we add some struts to the sides:

then we glue on the back, no getting inside now!

with the clamps off, ready to trim with guided router bit:

 

[amilford]

The neck is made from a plank of hardwood, with the ends built up in layers to reduce the amount of waste wood:

the some carving and shaping later (I knew I'd find a use for the spokeshaves I bought many years ago!)

On the practice one I shaped it before cutting the tapered dovetail at the end to fit it to the body. Not a good idea as it was then really awkward to clamp it to cut the dovetail as there was no straight sides to clamp.
So with the real one, I cut the tapered dovetail first, here it is with the taper cut using a jig and dovetail bit with guide bush in router.

and this is the jig:

pencil lines to help align the centre of the neck with the centre of the jig

To cut the corresponding part of the joint in the body needed another jig and the same router bit and guide bush:

leaving a hole thus:

(again this is on the practice unit).
I then carefully pared away material with a chisel until the joint fitted nicely. Almost there:

this nicely shows the benefit of the practice part - lots of lines on the top where I was figuring out the size of the tapered dovetail to cut! The practice one only has ply for the top and bottom.

So for the real unit, a trench is also needed in the neck for the truss rod:

here is the neck being fitted to the body on the final unit. Pity about the breakout on the top of the dovetail joint, but fortunately it all gets covered with the fingerboard.

 

[amilford]

So to the fingerboard.
The book I was working from gave distances between the fret slots to 0.01mm resolution! Really? That accurate. I have trouble seeing to 0.5mm now!
So:

Digital vernier for measuring distance. Magnifier to see the position. Wood block to push saw against to get a straight cut in the right place.
Then we glue it to the neck (now fixed to the guitar body)

and then the neck veneer:

really annoyed with myself here as I thought it was clamped enough but when I came back the next day the edges had curled! Fortunately the tite-bond glue can be released with some heat. So had to buy a bit more veneer as this bit was hopelessly distorted after application of heat to get it off the neck. Gladly the neck survived - I didn't fancy having to cut all those fret slots again!
This time I made sure:

 

[amilford]

So now, all those fret slots need some frets:

they then need cutting and filing to length

getting really close now!
Last 'major' part to add was the saddle, had to improvise a bit here to clamp it. Fortunately I had not drilled the pin holes completed so could screw into the body with some temporary screws through the pin holes.

then here it is, masked off ready for many coats of varnish - was allowed to bring it into the kitchen for varnishing so relatively dust free!

So how does it play?
I don't know as I can't play guitar!
I have managed to tune it using a guitar tuning app, and it sounds like a guitar to me.
It was fun making, some new techniques learnt, some mistakes made along the way but that is all part of the fun.

For the last year my granddaughter who is very musical (piano and cello so far) has been eagerly watching the progress so I think I know where it will end up.....

 

[profchris]

A few thoughts for if you ever make another one (or for anyone else embarking on this adventure).

1. Leave a small air gap at the end of your dovetail joint - this helps if the neck ever has to be removed. And only glue the cheeks of the dovetail, nowhere else.

2. Your sides look really thick - 2mm or less would make bending a lot easier!

3. I'd carve down your bracing a lot more, to get more (and more complex) sounds from the top.

These are all things I failed to do in my first few instrument builds

Nice neat work though, well done, and I hope your granddaughter plays the hell out of it!

 

[John Brown]

Nice thread. Thanks. I still have hopes of making an acoustic before I snuff it. Will bookmark this thread!

 

[Orraloon]

amilford I am impressed. You just jumped in the deep end and did it. Great job.
I have been messing around at Cigar box guitars for a few years and have done a couple of electrics but the bending has kept me away from an acoustic guitar so far. Nearest I got was this dulcimer.

Being lazy the bending is just done cold as the shape of the end blocks hold the shape and no holding form required.
Anyhow you have done a tremendous first crack at instrument making and I also liked the jigs you did. Feeling like I will have to lift my game now.
Regards
John

 

[amilford]

A few thoughts for if you ever make another one (or for anyone else embarking on this adventure).

1. Leave a small air gap at the end of your dovetail joint - this helps if the neck ever has to be removed. And only glue the cheeks of the dovetail, nowhere else.

2. Your sides look really thick - 2mm or less would make bending a lot easier!

3. I'd carve down your bracing a lot more, to get more (and more complex) sounds from the top.

These are all things I failed to do in my first few instrument builds

Nice neat work though, well done, and I hope your granddaughter plays the hell out of it!

Thanks for the feedback - always good to have.

I think all my parts are a bit thick - back, sides and front. I get nervous about strength when making wood so thin and also have trouble keeping the thickness even.

I watched loads of you-tube videos about carving the front bracing and tuning the front but to be honest, with my ear, I couldn't really hear the difference! Even listening to the videos I couldn't tell what had changed when they carved it further.

 

[Kittyhawk]

amilford, a beautiful piece of work of which you can feel justly very proud.

 

[Jester129]

Not normally interested in this kind of thing, but found your thread REALLY interesting and well put together (the thread, not the guitar - digging a hole here - the guitar was well put together as well!), thoroughly enjoyed the read. I'd never attempt this luthier stuff, but you did a great job, well done! Thank you

 

[niall Y]

Nice one, - that looks pretty good for a first attempt. I particularly like your improvised bending iron. There is a photo somewhere on Graeme Mccormack's Antiquated Strings site, where he is using a cast iron saucepan and a blowlamp. I just love this 'can do' approach - a case of needs must when the devil drives.

 

[CMax]

Great thread. Thanks for sharing your progress photos and thoughts. I'll likely come back to this in the future when I tackle an acoustic.

 

[profchris]

A pic of the soundboard bracing from the guitar I made for my brother. It's small bodied, so I'd go a fraction bigger on your guitar size.

For others thinking of building, most of the strength is in the height of the braces. Make them thin, to reduce their weight, as all added weight reduces the volume of sound the instrument can make.