17 inch carved archtop build about to begin

[Francis]

Had a break for a while - back to binding the f-holes:


Composed of 5 x 0.3mm layers of B&W veneers (B-W-B-W-B)

[rocket]

Looks good, nice job on the F hole bindings!!

Rod.

[Francis]

Had a break from this build while finishing a small parlour but started today gluing on the front linings.



The front linings are laminated tulipwood as three layers. Each pre-bent. The laminations were bonded together first and once cleaned up and a radius applied to the inside edge they were glued to the sides.

[kiwigeo]

Making good progress there Francis and all looking good!

[Francis]

Thanks Martin, Now closed the box. I'm replacing my binding router arrangement at the moment before taking the box any further. I'm using a system of different diameter bearing guides to control the depth of cut for the rebates. Previously I have used a set of brass rings but they've proved to be too heavy and their kinetic energy when coming into contact with the workpiece has caused some marking. So I'm making a set of lighter ali ones with a brake so there is no pent-up energy when they contact the workpiece. The brake being a lolly-pop stick resting on the bearing - very hi tech
Just see the brass bearing guide in this image

Flush trimmed body

[routout]

That 's staring to look very nice ,something about a full figure is there not

[Francis]

Thanks - I hope you mean the guitar body not my expanding waist line....

[kiwigeo]

That 's staring to look very nice ,something about a full figure is there not

Not when you're married to a health professional like I am

[routout]

I don't believe I have one of those health females ,The archies I always liked the L5 ,I did once read that Benedetto was fitting a dovetailed neck in an arch top it got stuck without being seated and he just smashed the neck off ,no other way out.

[Francis]

Bindings and purflings are now fitted and I've started the clean-up process...

[Francis]

Started trial fitting the neck yesterday to confirm alignments before starting the profiling work:

[routout]

Chistmas carols on it then so close

[Francis]

Working on neck parts today, initial shaping of the neck, head facings added and machinhead trial fit. Started on the fretboard and milled a 16 inch radius to it. Next will be marking out fret positions and slot cutting...





TBC.

[Francis]

Final neck shaping before bonding to the body:

[kiwigeo]

Nice looking volute there Francis...reminds me of a baroque guitar headstock.

[Francis]

Thanks Martin,

Few more progress images:





Waiting for a few components now: Benedetto S6 floating pick-up, pick guard mounted vol/tone controls jack socket etc... Hoping then to try it out in it's raw state before applying a finish.

Hope you like.

[Francis]

Finally got some strings on this one - finish is bare wood at the moment. Workshop is too cold for me to sparay finish at the moment so I might look to get this professionally done...
Hope you like

[lamanoditrento]

Very, very nice!

[PHANTOM]

Nice work mate that is great

[blackalex1952]

Is that Carbon Fibre in the neck? If so, is the CF shaped to follow the neck angle?

[Francis]

Is that Carbon Fibre in the neck? If so, is the CF shaped to follow the neck angle?

The line you see at the back of the neck is paduak, the image earlier showing the neck minus fretboard reveals a CF bar each side of the truss rod 8.5 x 4 mm cross section. These bars continue straight into the headstock and back into the neck extension. They do not follow the head break angle but give some extra strength to the head/neck transition as they continue past the truss rod access slot. Hope that makes sense?

[kiwigeo]

Is that Carbon Fibre in the neck? If so, is the CF shaped to follow the neck angle?

The line you see at the back of the neck is paduak, the image earlier showing the neck minus fretboard reveals a CF bar each side of the truss rod 8.5 x 4 mm cross section. These bars continue straight into the headstock and back into the neck extension. They do not follow the head break angle but give some extra strength to the head/neck transition as they continue past the truss rod access slot. Hope that makes sense?

The carbon fibre rods run into the headstock and the ends of the rods are trimmed flush with the face of the headstock. It's usual to do it this way as it provides extra strength to the neck shaft/headstock scarf joint.

[rocket]

Very nice job there Francis, I'm pretty sure if I was to pay for a professional lacquer job to be done on one of my instruments that I considered good enough it would probably be half the cost of the total!! In other words in affordable, be interesting to see !!
Maybe hire a booth and spray your own?

Cheers.

Rod.

[Francis]

Thought about that Rod, but it's not just a single coat and the drying/hardening times involved plus the quantities of catalysed lacquer that would sit around until the next build was ready....

The price difference will not be that great.