In this section we will follow the construction of a carved top and back archtop cutaway from beginning to end with a short discussion at each critical point. These are the processes and techniques that I've developed over time and which work best for me and my style of building.
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The sides are thicknessed and bent by hand on the heated bending iron to conform to the shape of the body mold. The sides are then clamped in place and held overnight to dry. After the sides have cooled the neck block and heel block are glued in place, linings and side braces are glued in place with spring clamps, and the lining tops sanded true with a long sanding stick.
With the sides completed it is now possible to transfer the guitar's outline to the inner gluing surfaces of the top and back plates. Now it's time to begin carving the back. The bulk of the waste wood is removed with a mallet and wide chisel. An angle grinder fitted with a coarse sanding disc refines the contours further. Finally, the round bottomed hand plane brings the back's shape very close to its final profile.
While the outer surface of the back will remain somewhat rough for the time being, the inner surface is brought to its final level of smoothness. An oval shaped scraper fairs out any irregularities in the wood's surface followed by 80 grit, 120 grit, and 220 grit sanding paper on an orbital sander. The back will be left slightly thicker than its final thickness at this point with the knowledge that critical fine tuning of it's flexibility and resonance will occur once the sound chamber is complete. The back can now be glued to the sides and left overnight to dry.
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Now I turn my attention to the top. Like the back it is carved and shaped with the chisel, grinder, hand plane, and sanding paper. All contours of the top and back are judged solely by sight and feel. At no time will I ever use arching templates or thickness calipers to determine the best shape or thickness of a top or back. This is what a custom guitar is all about. If a luthier relies on predetermined specifications they will never fully optimize or understand their materials
With the top contours finished on both the inside and outside I can now cut the sound holes. This guitar will feature traditional bound f-holes. Plastic binding is easily bent to shape with a heat gun. Plastic cement and filament tape hold everything in place while some white binding pieces melted in acetone are brushed on to blend the joints together for a seamless appearance.
Next I need to determine the placement and thickness of each brace. Most often I use a skewed X-brace which gives me the fullest possible acoustic bass response. The placement and thickness of each brace is determined by the characteristics of the tonewoods I'm using and my goals for sound and tone. A purely electric instrument will often receive parallel braces to reduce the likelihood of feedback from an amplifier.
The task of fitting the braces to the top is extremely critical. I'll often spend an entire day fitting the braces to one top. When properly fitted a 0.001" feeler gauge will not slide under the braces at any point along their length. After each brace has been fitted, their intersecting joint is cut and they are glued and clamped to the top.
With the braces glued in place I now plane and shape them to the desired height and profile. As I work I continually tap the top and notice how its resonance changes as material is removed from the braces. The braces are finished when I feel the top's tone and sustain are appropriate for my goals for this particular instrument. The top is then signed and dated and glued to the sides.
Now the sound chamber is complete. Next, I sand the sides flat with a sanding block and cut the edges to receive the bindings. This guitar will have ebony outer bindings with six layers of black and white fine lines.
Like the sides, the wooden bindings are bent on the heated bending iron to conform to the shape of the guitar. Filament tape secures the bindings to the guitar while the yellow glue dries. The next day the bindings are scraped flush with the body.
At this stage I continue to refine the responsiveness of the back. When I tap on the guitar's top, I can hear the overall sound quality of the instrument. By carefully removing wood along the perimeter of the back I can increase its richness, sustain, and bass response. As wood is removed the back becomes more flexible allowing the guitar to reproduce lower frequencies more easily. It is important to know when to stop carving. If too much material is removed the guitar will become dark sounding and unfocused. I use thumb pressure and experience as my main tools for evaluating the flexibility of the back.
When the sound chamber has the appropriate resonance and responsiveness I fair out any irregularities in the surfaces and sand it to 120 grit. After the neck is attached I will revisit the back and tune it further if needed.
Now it's time to focus on the neck. First, the profile of the neck is traced onto either a solid or laminated block of wood. Next, the fingerboard and headstock faces are planed flat and square. The truss rod groove is cut and the recess for the adjusting nut is carved. The truss rod is inserted into the neck with a small wooden capping above it and the fingerboard extension is glued in place. The fingerboard is now selected and cut to the desired scale length with a special table saw fixture. Over the years I've had requests for a wide variety of scale lengths. I feel that this is also an important service to offer every customer. The difference in feel and playability between various scale lengths is noticeable.
The mother of pearl inlay is cut by hand for the headstock and fingerboard. This guitar will have traditional split-block inlays in the fingerboard.
After the inlay work is finished, the fingerboard surface is radiused and trued in preparation for fret work. Each fret is hammered in by hand and glued in place. A slight bevel is added to the fret ends and a special triangle shaped file rounds off the sharp edges. At this point I can shape the neck shaft and insert the side dots into the neck binding.
Next I engrave the headstock inlay by hand. It's now time to fit the neck to the body. This is a very critical stage. Prior to this I had determined the desired neck/body angle, bridge height, and cut the neck dovetail accordingly. I want this guitar to have a 1" to 1.125" tall bridge. The coupling of the neck to the body is extremely important. The neck dovetail must fit the body perfectly in order for the instrument to function optimally. Any loss in coupling and disasters such as a weak sound, dead notes, and wolf tones, could result.
The completed guitar is sanded to 220 grit and is ready for the finishing room. After a vinyl sealer is applied a clear base coat is sprayed onto the guitar. This guitar now receives a coat of amber / honey color followed by several clear coats.
While the finish is curing, I'll make the bridge, pickguard and tailpiece. The bridge base is fitted mostly by hand with a file with the remaining "fine" fitting done with the aid of a violin makers bridge fitting tool and an oval scraper. The finished bridge base should make complete contact along its entire footprint. This coupling of the bridge to the top is crucial. Any gaps will rob the guitar of tone and volume. Unfortunately, most factory made guitars have ill fitting bridge bases. Additionally, the gap between the saddle and the base should be kept to a minimum.
The next step is to wet sand the guitar and buff the finish to a high luster. The process of finishing is something that a luthier will usually refine over time to improve the overall quality and the quickness of application and polishing. I have developed a system where the last coat of clear lacquer sprayed is so smooth that I can easily wet sand any imperfections with 1500 grit wet/dry paper. The scratches left by this grit are quickly buffed out leaving a perfect surface finish. After the guitar is polished, the pickup is then carefully fitted to the pickguard and the tailpiece is made and attached to the guitar.
