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Center Bridg Center BridgeBraceOn 660mmLin eForSca le Length. Length.
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21 21.7 .7 27 27/3 /32" 2"
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OptionalIndependent OptionalIndependent SideBrac es e s -ReferToLatteral -ReferToLatteral Section ForMore Info. SpreadEvenly SpreadEvenly Around The Around The Si des des Of TheGuitar. TheGuitar. R eferTo SectionForTheEx act onForTheEx act Profile. Profile. Usually Between6and8 AreUsed. These AreShaped AreShaped Similar ToABrac Similar ToABrac eOut Of TheSame TheSame MaterialAs MaterialAs TheTopBraces. Th eTopBraces. Put InPlaceJ ust ust Prior ToGlueingTheBa n gTheBa ck PlateT oTheSides. o TheSides.
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Back Bloc k orButt Block. Ve rticalGrain CedarOrSpruceMinimum20Grains/ ceMinimum20Grains/ In. Some Luthiers ShaveThis ShaveTh is Block or o r AngleIt Awa y FromTh eTopAs This Block OftenGives OftenGives AGuitar A"Hump A"Hump " InTheTopA ndCanC auseCracking. ndCanC auseCracking.
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Note: Braci ngShown n gShown HereIs The Actual Placement Actual Placement Of The Bracing OnTheIn teriorSide Of TheTop
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Materia Materials ls
: Assemblethepr Assemblethepr opermaterials opermaterials bef oreyoubeginyour o reyoube ginyour project. If youdon't haveyourtonewood haveyourtonewood already, thereare severalgre severalgre at suppliers includi ngLMI includi ngLMI (Luthier's (Luthier's Merchantile )which has has awide rang eof e of topandback topandback andsidew oodavaila oodavaila ble. If this is yourf irst yourf irst guitar, youmay guitar, youmay want tot ry ry wood that is abit less ex pensivefo ryour first try, suc has mahogany mahogany forbacks and sides and sides or walnut, or walnut, which is about about 50to 33%of thecost of theRosewoods theRosewoods etc. If youw ant a nt aneasy aneasybuildguitarfory ourfirst o urfirst try, gowiththeHonduros gowiththeHonduros M ahogany. ahogany. It works easily, sands sands nicely, andfinis hes quite easily too. You don't don't haveto dealwith exotic resins resins inthe woodlikeyoudo withRosewood, Cocobolooandsome Cocobolooandsome of thetheother exotic thetheother exotic woods. woods. Whenyouorder Whenyouorder w o o d makesureyouorder makesureyouorder woodthat w oodthat is at least 1" over sizedinea over sizedineachdirecti chdirectionso o nso youcan eliminatesplits etc. 2" is even betterandquiteof e of tenaccom tenaccom odatedwithtonew ood. dwithtonew ood. Mak e surethetopsandbacks surethetops andbacks arebookmatched forgrainp arebookmatched forgrainpattern. attern.
Tips Tips and and Techniques Techniques::
Method Method s: s:
Method Method s s - Continued Continued :
Method Method s - Continued Contin ued :
Always Always makesureyourtools makesureyourtoolsarerazor arerazor sharpand not dull. Buy ull. Buy good sharpeningstones good sharpeningstones or shar peninggri nders peninggri nders suchas the Tormek sharpener. sharpener. It is also important toknock off theburronyour theburronyour chisels andother handtools.
Start b y sanding yourtop yourtop plate, back back plateandsides plateandsides torought hickness hickness ( within1mm within1mm of final thickness). thickness). Carefully g luethe centerjoints of the back and sides and sides together. Whengluing Whengluing theback, youw illwant youw illwant to insert yourdecorativecente yourdecorativecente rstripat thesame time. This This shouldbe pre-assembled pre-assembled if youhavemultiple colors.
Nowy oushould oushould assemblethe guit arneck. a rneck. I recommedCuban Cedarbec auseit Cedarbec auseit is light and strong. C ut u ttheHeadscarf joint theHeadscarf joint witha bandsawfirst.Pr eparethis eparethis joint soit is perfec tly perfec tly tight. N ext, ext, cut the blank tosizeandcapture tosizeandcapture any blocks blocks youcan youcan t o g l u e t o t he h eel/foot eel/foot assembly. assembly. Nowcut the neck blank right downthecentera downthecenterandflipthegrainso ndflipthegrainso it is opposedandworkin opposedandworkinga gainst eac hother. h other.Slipa 6mm stripof E bony bony betweenthe halves andprepareallpiec an dprepareallpiece s inasimilarmanne inasim ilarmannerto the plate the plate
Nowf it i t thetopt othesides.Trimthe Trimthe t o p t o f i exactly t insidethe insideform . Dropthesides ontop ontop andgluethesidest o t h e t o p withindividualbloc ks. These shouldbe about 1/ 2to3/4" / 2to3/4" l ong dependingof dependingof thecontour thecontour they encounteran encounteran dshouldbeonly set s et intoplaceby intoplaceby handandnot handandnot clampedas this ad ds ad ds undue stress tothe guitar topplate guitar topplate . Thelinefromthe neck tothetipshould tothetipshould bep erfectly levelandevenoryo levelandevenoryo u w i l l b e introuble. Check, d oubleche ck andtriple check that that the neck centerlinealigns centerlinealigns with thetopcenterlinebeforeglui i neb eforeglui ng. ng. Get everything perfect perfect at this point.
If youusestati onary onary tool s, s , makesuretheblades makesuretheblades ony ourbandsaw, ourbandsaw, tablesaw, tablesaw, joint eretc. e retc.arealso very sharpand youdonot youdonot havetoforcewood havetoforcewood throughth throughth emachines. If givena givena choice, always use car bide-tippedblades bide-tippedblades . Someof thesehardwoods aretough tocut without agoodcarbide agoodcarbide blade. Setup of powertools is e xtremely im portant too- followincluded directionor obtain goodboo ks on properset upof properset upof bandsaws, tablesaws tablesaws etc. Youcan't believewhat belie vewhat a differencethis wil lmake. l make. Youcanneverha Youcanneverhaveenough veenough jigs, templates te mplates etc. etc. inguitar-making . If youplanto youplanto continuebeyondthis n uebeyondthis guitarand makesev eralothers, templates templates andjig s areamust more makingy ourwork gy ourwork alot easi er. er.
Neck blanks canbeCu blanks canbeCubanCedar. banCedar. This is avery is avery lig htweight htweight but very strongwoo strongwood. Fretboards shouldb eclear Ebony, sol idandyou i dandyou willhavetobuy 2 of 2 of themto allowyouto add theEbony add theEbony reinforcing tothecen reinforcing tothecenterof terof theneck.
If youarestarting fromscra g fromscratch, buildingguitar s, buildingguitar s, makesureyoumakeexce makesureyoumakeexcellent llent quali ty ty forms for yourguitar. yourguitar. Bothinsi deandoutsideforms d eandou tsideforms forthe body assembly. assembly. Look at LMI 's 's sidebending sideben ding machine. machine. It works great andyouc anpumpout a npumpout alot of of bent sid es e s ina short time.
Most suppliers suppliers willh avebracewoodav ailable, w hichis hichis split fromto logsothereisn't logsothe reisn't any runout in in thew ood-look o od-look forthis i ntheliterature. n theliterature.
Put Put together thetemplates together thetemplates we haveshow nhereat haveshow nhereat abareminimum. abareminimum. Y oushouldhav o ushouldhavea templatet o templatet o trace yourbasic trace yourbasic guitarboddy guitarboddy shap e, yourtop andback bracelocations, bracelocations, Y ourneck ourneck andfoot profile andfoot profile andtheh eadstock layout, showningallthe showninga llthe drillinglocations drillinglocations forthe tuningma chinerollers ands tring slots. Alsoit comes inhandy inhandy tohave back b racecurvaturetemplates, racecurvaturetemplates, bracesca llopingpatterns, fret fret slot locationtem plates and bridgetemplates. and bridgetemplates.
You willalsoneedadd itionalwoo dadd itionalwoo d t o m a k e u p t he purflingaro p urflingaro undhe edges and youwill youwill n eed mapleorsomeot mapleorsomeot hertypeof h ertypeof whitew oodif oodif you want whitestrippingaccents whitestrippingaccents at yourpurflings. For the darkwooduseRosewoo wooduseRosewoodv eneer. eneer. W edidnot e didnot get intot hedetails hedetails of howpurflingis put put onthis guitaras onthis guitaras that is mo reof aconstruction aconstruction issue andnot a guitarplay issue. Any A ny numberof numberof guitarconstructionbook guitarconstructionbook s swillguideyouin the propertechniques propertechniques of of installingpurfling, installin gpurfling, whereit shouldbe andhowtolaminateit andhowtolaminateit andbendit. andbendit. Buy goodfret stoc k withat l east 18%silver content. content. Stew ardMacDonald ardMacDonald has has agood assortment agood assortment of fret wireas wireas does does LMI. R ossettes ossettes arebest arebest purchased already purchased already madeunless madeunless youare determinedtocompletetha determinedtocompletethat difficult operation. Many of of thesu pply housedcarry agreat assortment assortment of prefabricatedros prefabricatedros settes. Buy goodtuningmachin goodtunin gmachin es.Makesurethey h avegoodplatingonthem avegoodplatingonthem andthemetalis andthem etalisaheavy gauge. Buttons Buttons canbe pear l, l, pearloid orebony pearloid orebonyonmany goodquality goodquality machineheads . Interiorb o rb lockingforthebut t ngforthebut t blocks canbeeitherSpruce ca nbeeitherSpruceorCedar orCedar orevenMahoga o revenMahogan y orCuba n Cedar. Just makesure it is freefromknots freefromknots andis striaght s triaght grained. Optainthis Optainthis at at specialty lumber yards orinstrument orinstrument suppl y shops.
Ther earea e area lot of great littletools andgadgets littletools andgadgets avail ableforG avail ableforGuitarLuth uitarLutherie-Her e a r e a f ew: ew: ThumbP lanes -Available fromLuthi ersupply houses - they areprimarilary areprimarilary usedfor violins. usedfor violins. S pindleSan der-This is atabletopstatio atabletopstatio nary tool. DremelRouter DremelRouter withroller bearing bushings bearing bushings -or othersmallhand-heldm l ha nd-heldm ini-routher. N oteStewm o teStewmac has alot of ada pters ada pters availab availablefortheDremelsuchas lefortheDrem elsuchas purflingrouters, purflingrouters, bits bits etc. Fret cuttingjig - this is av ailablefrom ailablefrom Stewmac Stewmac also. Giveyouprecis Giveyoupreciseco ntrolover fret sawing. Makeajigtogluey ourbracin Makeajigtogluey ourbracin g. This consists of o f 2plywoodplates 2plywoodplateswithdowelsupports withdowelsupports at each corner. corner. Thebraces are gluedus ingbent dowels that that spanbetweenthetwoplat spanbetweenthetwoplat es. M akesure yourshop a kesure yourshop is held anavery held anavery constant humidity l evelallyearlong. e velallyearlong. Nevervary morethan morethan 5% between4 5and55%. This w illminimiz ecracking, illminimiz ecracking, shrinkageandgi shrinka geandgi veoverall veoverall durability to to guitars youplan guitars youplan t osellorgift. o sellorgift. Someof theothergreat theothergreat littletools I lovear e: e: Japanese Saws that cut bothways Lots of theGermanCam theGermanCamClamp Clamps- both6" and8" 1" SpringClamps -Awhole SpringClamps -Awhole 2#coffeecanfullof 2#coffeecanfullof these Ag reat Ag reat set of instrument instrument maker 's 's chisels in1mm 2 mm4mm m m4mm and6mmsizes Fret fi le, le, dovetailsaws, f ret ret enddressingtool, enddressingtool, fret roc keretc. k eretc. seemy seemy fret repairseries repairseries for detailon theseandalot moretools moretools Look at www.ultimate-g www.ultimate-g uitar-online.com/w uitar-online.com/w oodworking-hand-tools.html oodworking-hand-tools.html forhandto forhandtools ols requiredand: www.ultimate-guitar-online www.ultimate-guitar-online.com/woodworking .com/woodworking -power-tools.htmlfor -power-tools.htmlfor stationary stationary tools recommended. recommended. Abov eallelsemakesur eeveryth eeveryth ingfits togetherperfectly togetherperfectly beforegluing beforegluing. Do not f orceanyth orceanyth ingas
Toprep arethejoints, arethejoints, sandcarefully withsand papergluedt oa perfectly st raight raight edge. I liket ouse liket ouse ad hesivebackedsan hesivebackedsan dpaperin rolls andstick it to thesideof thesideo f a24" metallevel . Trimthe sandpaper carefully. carefully. Use12 0grit 0 grit paperandd onot o not use alot of force. Theplates Thep lates are joinedmost are joinedmost easily witha easily witha c am-actionjig am-actionjig while usingapieceof usingap ieceof woodonthe woodonthe t o p t o k eepthings eepthings inalignm ent. Of courseuse courseuse waxedpaperw waxedpaperw hereveryou hereveryou risk havingyou rwoodstuck tothe jigtothe jig- orco at thejigwithwax. Onceglued(If Onceglued(Ifyouuse Rosewood, Rosewood, oroneof theot herexotic woods herexotic woods mentioned here, mentioned here, besuretoget besuretoget allof theresinou theresinoutt of thewoodwith acetoneb eforeyouglueany thing. Trac eyourtopandbac e yourtopandbac k on the the w o o d - u s e a w h tepencilf i ordark ordark wood. Then runthet opand opand back throug h a w i d e stationary s tationary belt sander-or sander-or usescrapers usescrapers andhandsand andhandsand ingmethods. ingmethods. Bec arefulwith arefulwith theuseof acetone also. U serubber serubber gloves andaresp erator. Youmay al soneedto s oneedto usea resperator forexotic resperator forexotic w ooddust ooddust as man y peopleh aveallergic reactio ns tothe sandingdust (includingmyse (inclu dingmyse lf). WhenI started out started out makingguitars, makingguitars, I couldn't couldn't affordall theexpensive affordall theexpensive stationary sta tionary sanders sanders etc,, that makes makes thework sosimplenow. sosimplenow. I usedtoget usedtoget onesid eof e of thepl atecompletely flat, thenI flat, thenI wouldchuck u pa small bit small bitinthedrillpress inthedrillpres s andset i t tostopat thedesiredthickn thedesiredthickn ess of my plate. I w ouldthendril o uldthendrilldimp les overt heentiresurfa h eentiresurfaceof ceo f theunfinishedsid theunfinishedsideandsim ply eandsim ply s anduntilal lof l of thedents thedents weregone-pretty weregone-pretty slick! Afteryo uhaveyourthickness uhaveyo urthickness compl etedonthetop e tedonthetop plates. trace theguitar contourand carefully carefully cut the outlineout. Make thecut lineat lineat least 1/8" outsidetheline outsidetheline togiveyousome give. Get yoursides yoursides bent, bent, e itherwithabend ingjigoro i ngjigoro na bendingiron.Y oucanal o ucanal soboilthesides s oboilthesidesan d clamp themtoanoutsid eformfor afewdays eformfor afewdays toaweek. toaweek. Besuretooverbendab Besuretooverbendab it toallow for toallow for springbac k. Whilethesides Whilethesides arecuring , rout thec hann h annelfortheross etteandi nsert nsert andglue that. that. I usea d remel routerwith asteelstudstickin asteelstudstickingupthroughthecen gupthrou ghthecenterof terof thesoundhold(theso hold(thesoundhole undhole is not cut out at this point. Oncethe rossette is installed, rout out out thesoundhol thesoundholewiththerou e withtherou tertoo. Nowis thetimetoinsta thetimetoinstallallof llallof yourbracing ontheto ng ontheto pand pand back. As I mentioned mentioned II useadoweljig. I planon d etailingthesejigs etailingthesejigs inanupcomingbook inanupcomingbook onguit arconstru a rconstruction, but donot haveplans haveplans on thejigat this point. this point. It w orks orks fast andreall y secures secures thebracingevenly anduniform. andunifo rm.
R60.9 213/32"
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joints -or if youh aveastat ionary ionary drumsander, drumsande r, just run allthe pieces throughthat. throughthat. P reparethe otherhalf otherhalf of thescarf joint soy ouwillhav o uwillhav ea goodjoint fort heheadst ock heheadst ock trim.
Gluetheheel/foot luethehe el/foot block onthe neck -al lthewhilechecki l thewhilecheckin gwithyourneck gwithyou rneck template. Oncethene Oncetheneck ck has dryed, doa finalsan dingonastationar y belt sand erfortheheadsto e rfortheheadstock anddouble-check anddouble-check the thickness of thehead. Nowg luetheheadstock l uethehe adstock trimand purflingan dset asidetodry. Next rough-cut rough-cut theheel and foot/endb and foot/endblock lock shapeof the neck onthebandsaw, onthebandsaw, keepingthings keepin gthings t rue rue andplumb. R ememberto ememberto always cut abi t outsidet helines h elinestoallowforslight toallowforslight err or. or. Nowrough cut theheadaftertracingwith theheadaftertracingwith yourhead stock yourhead stock template. Sandthesid Sandthesid es e s tofinalshapeandsizean tofinalshapeandsizeanddrill ddrill youmachin eheadrol lerholes eheadrol lerholes of eachsi deof d eof thehead. thehead. Youcan now drillyour now drillyour holes forthe string slots - beingcareful not to get any d rillrunout rillrunout ortearout. ortearout. Nowcut Nowcut theremainerof t heslot out out with eithera rou rou t er o r a j i gsaw. gsaw. Cut outside thelineandfinishtheslots thelineandfinishtheslots w ithsandin ithsandin gstick. Cut your stringram your stringram ps inthe stringgro oves with aroundraspandf inishwith aroundraspandf inishwith sandpaperwrappe d arounga arounga dowel. Thisc a n b e a d owelsection owelsection about 8" 8" longw ithaslot i thaslot cut inthe end, right downthe centero f thedowelforabout thedowelforabout 1/2the dowellen gth. Insert thesandpaperin thesandpaperin theslot andwraparound andwraparound the dowel. N ext ext rough-shapetheneck rough-shapetheneck wi tha4-way t ha4-way rasp, usingthero usingtheroughcut ughcut blade. Get theneck t owithin o within about 1/16" 1/16" of f inalthickness inalthickness and width. Now cut Now cut intheguitarsideslots intheguitarsideslots i nthesides n thesides of theneck. theneck. Do t his his very carefully andmakes andmakesureyouhavegoo ureyouhavegoodjoints. djoints. I l iketousedovetai i ketousedovetail saws l saws fort his his operation and g--os--l--o and g--os--l--o --w. Thick thefittingoftenw thefittingoftenw ithyourguita i thyourguitarsides clamped rsides clamped intheinsideform. intheinsideform. Oncethenec Oncethenec k fits inthesides precisely, precisely, t rimthe rimthe butt joint of thesides andgluethebutt thesides andgluethebutt block b lock on thebottomofthe sides. Makesuretocarefull Makesuretocarefull y fit thebu tt block theot cont ourof o urof the sides and makesuret heblock heblock is vertical grain. Oncethe Oncethe butt block is is inplace, finalfitandgluetheneck. andglueth eneck. It i s essentialthat thesidecha thesidechannels nnels inthe neck andthesid es aretrimedto matcheach otherexactly. Check thelatt eralandv e ralandv erticalpositioning erticalpositioning of thenec k as this is extreme ly important important at this time. Thefoot andtopof andtopof the block may may needsome needsome additional trimmingw additional trimmingw hentheback henthebackand toparefit and toparefit . You alsowant tomakesure tomakesurethat that thesides are perfectly are perfectly plumbintheformb plumbintheformb y y usingst retcherclamps. usingst retcherclamps.
Nowi sthe timetoinstall allof l allof yourbracingonthetop you rbracingonthetop andback . As I mentionedI useadow eljig. e ljig. I planon d etailingthesejigs etailingthesejigs i nanupco i nanupco mingbook onguita rconstruc tion, rconstruc tion, but donot haveplans haveplans on on the jigat the jigat this point. It works fast andreally secures secures thebraci ngevenly anduniform. ngevenly anduniform. It alsogives alsogives you yo u alot of of fingerspacetoallowgluing fingerspacetoallowgluing allof a llof thebraces thebracesinasingleo perationw inasingleo perationw ithout ithout alot of clam ps to work around. around.
Withthesid es rough-c ut ut tocontour, glue inthelini ngtoreceivetheb ack plate. This iningcan l be eitherk erfedlini rk erfedliningorsolid pre-bent pre-bent lining. Gluewith w oodenclo oodenclo thespins withrubberbands withrubberbands wrappedo nthemto strengthentheir tensionorus tensionoruseminispringclam eminispringclam ps. Make sureyouhaveeven sureyouhaveeven gluesqueezeout gluesqueezeout andcleanit andcleanit upas upas youdidonthebr aces. aces. I lik etoelevatethelini e toelevatethelini ngslightly above ngslightly above thesides whilegluin g(about 1/16" inc h). h). This w illallo i llallowyouto easi ly sanddowntheliningonly sanddo wntheliningonlyto to com pletely levelthet op. op.
Typically thebra ces areonly areonly roughed-out for theirfinal for theirfinal shapingis doneaf terthey doneaf terthey ar eglued. eglued. After theglue theglue is mostly dr y, remove theplateandget allof allof theg luesqueeze luesqueeze out of f f f thebraci ngandplate with asharpsmallchise l. Theglueshouldbedry Theglu eshouldbedry enoughtono en oughtonott beliquidbut not fully adheredtothe adhe redtothe wood.
Now fit Now fit theback tothe sides and neck and neck withthe side following thecontou following thecontourof theinsidefor the insidefor m. m. Since thebraces thebraces forthe back areslightly arched(ab arched(ab out 1/8to1/4" )carefully )carefully mark mark thetrimmarks for t h e sid es. es. This willvary w ithevery w ithevery aspect of theguitarbeauset theguitarbeauset heinherent heinherent nature of it's sha pe. Do NOT g luetheback luetheba ck onat this time. time. Thetopmust Thetopmustbesecuredto thesides first.
N o w youcangluetheback oucanglu etheback plateto thesides by using3/4" elas tic upholstery uphols tery tape, rubberbands rubberbands or s pindleclamps. Get evenpressure, evenpressure, but DO NOT FORCE anything-no stress hereeither. hereeither. Next is t hetimeto h etimeto trimtheplates, rout purfling groovearound purfling groovearound the edgeof theguitarandfit theguitarandfit the pur fling. fling. Withgroove c leanedou leanedou t, nicetight fit and everything and everything cut cut tolength, glue o n t h e purfling. purfling. Roughsan dthesides, dtheside s, back andtop plates plates androundtheedgeof androundtheedgeof thepurfling thepurfling .. Next sandthefingerboa sandthefingerboardt othicknes rdt othicknes s, cut tocorrect wid thandfinalsandtheedges t handfin alsandtheedges onastationary onastationary belt sander. C ut u t thefret thefret grooves andlocatethefret andlocatethefret boardontheneck. b oardontheneck. Lightly Lightly clampit cla mpit anddrill2 smallholes smallholes downthrough thefret grooveat grooveat thebody andnut a ndnut end s of thefretboard. Placesma ll locatornails intheholes intheholes anddouble check che ck thefing erboardlocationb erboardlocationb eforegluin g. Doublecheck all all thelatt eralandverticallocations c allo cations wi tha t ha precisestraight edge. Gluethefret Gluethefretboardin place. boardin place. Fi
