Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Thank you Martin I think, that is the only one on the web showing that Tricky process!

its hard enough to add binding to archtop instrument.. how can I carve a binding channel on the upper horn
I looked everywhere I can find information about it, do you have any tricks that u want to share/pics...
HOW DO YOU DO THAT?
Thanks

I see...now.. I have to weight my options and see what's the way I want to go... I need to deside about the binding and everthing ahead of time... I can't thank you enough

The CS 356 is a smaller version of the ES and is made by hollowing out a solid blank as you have done. But the sides are only about 6mm thick so you could go ahead as you have done but remove more wood and it will be lighter. Is this an acoustic bass or will it have pickups? Nice work on the top. D...

By reducing the thickness of the sides It will loose some weight, but I think is going to be a heavy weight fellow, there is anything that u could think about shaving some weig of this bass?

So looks clear nos to me I got two option for my project: 1.keep carving my middle form until is about 6cm tick. 2. Using a more traditional aproach and bend the sides and kerf top and bottom. With a 2mm to 1.8mm sides. Laminates de sides is above my skills I appreciate everyone's imput I could not ...

hi when I built my es-335 I laminated 4 X 1.5mm thick pieces for each side. So that's 6mm thick. I used QLD Maple and was very easy to bend at 1.5mm. Pretty sure I read or sighted somewhere that Gibson use that method to give a 1/4 inch thickness (approx 6.35mm). I also glued in kerfed linings top ...

hi when I built my es-335 I laminated 4 X 1.5mm thick pieces for each side. So that's 6mm thick. I used QLD Maple and was very easy to bend at 1.5mm. Pretty sure I read or sighted somewhere that Gibson use that method to give a 1/4 inch thickness (approx 6.35mm). I also glued in kerfed linings top ...

The CS 356 is a smaller version of the ES and is made by hollowing out a solid blank as you have done. But the sides are only about 6mm thick so you could go ahead as you have done but remove more wood and it will be lighter. Is this an acoustic bass or will it have pickups? Nice work on the top. D...

I've done a couple of cutaways with that type of horn. The sides I had at 2.2mm and only took the area of the horn down to 1.7 on mine, as per Bob Benedetto's recommendation in "Building an Archtop Guitar". On ukuleles I bend all my sides at 1.7 to 1.8mm as the bends are close to being that tight o...

Allen wrote:To get that bend around the horns you are most likely going to need to go down to around 1.8mm.

Thanks for your answer. Silly question do the thickness have to be regular through the whole sides... what I meant is can be like 2mm tapering to 1.8 towards the horns... Just curiosity...

Hi is being a long time since my last post... My question: I am working on a Semi-Hollow bass guitar, i am to make the sides from bended soft-maple, just like a traditional Gibson es-335 construction... I got 2 pieces for the sides of soft maple 1/8" thick (3.17mm) I think this is too thick to succe...

. The back.... I love mahogany , it's so easy to work with, too bad it's so expensive! Thanks to u guys no mistakes so far....

You could try and build the area back up with several layers of thin veneer. I always carve the insides of the top and back first. After the wedges have been book matched, I sand the outside flat, down close to the final height. The flat area makes it easier to hold the top while carving the inside...

JJ model wrote:Thanks John.
Here's another piece from Australia native wood.

Hi JJ, Dont laugh at me but what is that beautiful detail in the lower bound... how u do that???

Some good progress this Saturday http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt93/rgarcia26/2012-01-21_16-57-29_457.jpg http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt93/rgarcia26/2012-01-21_16-57-02_653.jpg But I ran into a little trouble...I carved too close to the Edge of the top (can u see the pencil marks).... it...

Thanks for the welcome Graham. I remember that there was some mention in the thread as to whether bracing the top was necessary or not. My first thoughts were to forego bracing entirely due to the low string tension. After considering that you want the top to vibrate up and down like an air pump, I...

Ruben, Don't get too stressed by having your curves exactly following the curtate cycloid curves. Do them so the peak of the arch is under your bridge. A simple way to draft is on a piece of heavy card (I'm a non-CAD person) and here is a pic of the tools I use to do these. A flexible ruler is very...

Hello All, As my name has been mentioned in this thread, I thought I would join in the fun. Many of you I know from other ukulele forums, Allen is certainly familiar, and I had the pleasure of meeting Graham at the 2008 GAL convention in Tacoma. I bought "The Mandolin Project" there which I highly ...

So using Cycloid Applet I generate 4 curves:
One Longitudinal
One the upper, waist and lower bound
My only concern is that I don’t know if the longitudinal Curve should be symmetrical for this time of build...
Cheers

Allen wrote:No worries Ruben. English is a second language to many Kiwis I've met.

Did you see Peter Coombe's Radiata Pine Mandolin?

There's some inspiration for you.

Thank you
It really can by done…. 

PS that guitar bracing its out of this planed!!!

As fas as I know there have been made guitar tops and archie tops from virtually every kind of pine available. Without ever having done such a thing I'd say go ahead! Ps I have to apologize for my writing, I bet I am hard to understand what I am saying; the truth is that I am not US native [...] Do...

Here is a diagram of how I make arching templates. 1. Draw a half body outline 2. Draw in a longitudinal arch 3. Draw in the transverse arches (as many as you want) using the longitudinal arch as the starting height for each one 4. Use the transverse arches to work out contour lines for the initial...

Ps I have to apologize for my writing, I bed I am hard to understand what I am saying; the truth is that I am not US native I in fact from Latin America Venenzuela if you want to know… English is my second language