Semihollow fifteen inch

[rocket]

Finished the laundry and now back in n to he shop and into this 15 inch thin line semi in Blackwood and Sheoak.
Cheers

Rod.

[rocket]

Sides and solid linings are bent and laminated and the top is ready to be jointed
Rod.

[WJ Guitars]

Sides and solid linings are bent and laminated and the top is ready to be jointed/quote]

Like the laminated lining design / construction that will ultimately be part of a great guitar body with strength and quality.

Wayne
https://wjguitars.wixsite.com/mysite-1

[blackalex1952]

Looks great, Rod. I notice you have the best plunge router on the market in my opinion, as I use the same. The plunge router base is excellent and opens up lots of other possibilities, is stable too. Great for template routing and more stable for dovetail joints with template followers, which are cheap on eBay China....The cheapest I found when I bought mine was from England or USA, but with the trade war and Aussie dollar at present, probably best price here. Available in AUS as an add on accessory. BTW, Easy to load the pix the right way up if you now how...I think there's a tute on this site somewhere....cheers! Ross

[Lillian]

Hi Rod, this one is coming along nicely. Its looking clean and sharp. Its going to be a beauty when it's done.
I really like your wood choices. I have to say you guys are spoiled for beautiful native woods. Our most figured native woods are walnut and cherry, after that it gets pretty plain. Not that I'm jealous or anything.

Its odd that when you click on the pictures they turn right ways up, but hey it works.

[rocket]

I’ve. Closed the box on this and applied one session of grainfill before the cut the neck pocket and pup cavities.

Cheers

Rod.

[kiwigeo]

Looks great, Rod. I notice you have the best plunge router on the market in my opinion, as I use the same. The plunge router base is excellent and opens up lots of other possibilities, is stable too. Great for template routing and more stable for dovetail joints with template followers, which are cheap on eBay China....The cheapest I found when I bought mine was from England or USA, but with the trade war and Aussie dollar at present, probably best price here. Available in AUS as an add on accessory. BTW, Easy to load the pix the right way up if you now how...I think there's a tute on this site somewhere....cheers! Ross

I can;t see any plunge routers in the photos...are you talking about the Makita laminate trimmer in one of the photos? I've got one but my machine of choice is a Porter cable trimmer with a soft start I bought from LIM many years ago.

[rocket]

Looks great, Rod. I notice you have the best plunge router on the market in my opinion, as I use the same. The plunge router base is excellent and opens up lots of other possibilities, is stable too. Great for template routing and more stable for dovetail joints with template followers, which are cheap on eBay China....The cheapest I found when I bought mine was from England or USA, but with the trade war and Aussie dollar at present, probably best price here. Available in AUS as an add on accessory. BTW, Easy to load the pix the right way up if you now how...I think there's a tute on this site somewhere....cheers! Ross

I can;t see any plunge routers in the photos...are you talking about the Makita laminate trimmer in one of the photos? I've got one but my machine of choice is a Porter cable trimmer with a soft start I bought from LIM many years ago.

The only plunge router i have is about 20 times bigger and more powerful than that pissy little laminate trimmer you're referring too, but this thread is about the build in title not somebody else's tool kit!!!!

Rod.

[blackalex1952]

An exquisite instrument indeed! Re the router/trimmer, my mistake, to clarify, the trimmer has a plunge router base attachment available which is very good. As I said, I got the base from England a few years ago.Cheers Ross

[rocket]

I’m still hopeful of keeping this thread wholly and solely about the titled build, so a couple of pics will show the closed body with binding and roughly shaped pickup mounting rings from the offcuts of a he plates. At this stage it has had two grainfill sessions completed and is ready for some finish but the weather is a bit cold in Melbourne atm so this is going onto the shelf for a couple of months, I can turn my attention to some other things.

Rod.

[TallDad71]

Looks brilliant.

What are you planning to do about the access hatch for installing the pots?

On my last build I was desperate not to interfere with the beautiful grain on the back, despite my best efforts I still wasn't too pleased with the result. The panel was cut out but needed a lot of binding to make up for the cutting tool and finishing.

I was quite pleased however to find a way to avoid the need for plate screws.

Screen Shot 2019-08-23 at 12.21.14.png (708.88 KiB) Viewed 28763 times

[rocket]

So this one is ready for a fit off and setup now, more pics to come.

Cheers Rod.

[rocket]

A couple more pics of the fit off

Rod.

[Dave M]

Rod that heel is interesting. Any chance of another photo or two? Is that a common thing to do on an archtop is is purely your design?

Dave

[rocket]

There it is

Rod

[Joseph Jones]

Nice.

[Mark McLean]

Rod, that looks sensational. Many individual classy touches, like the timber covered pickups and the timber knobs (did you turn those yourself?). I also like the way that you incorporated the “heel” of the neck into the curved body. That is very clever and elegant. Does the laundry look as good as the guitar? You are quite a craftsman.

[rocket]

Thanks Mark, yeah i made the knobs by using a hole saw without the pilot and then turned them on a spindle and put a brass insert inside to take a tap for the grub screw, i wanted to go that way because i thought my original plan of gold knobs would be too garish and too much bling but i think the gold would also go well, it can be an option for any prospective customers i suppose. Although i think I've made a couple of little mistakes i am very happy with the outcome, i've borrowed some ideas from some other builders but overall its basically my design, i don't know of any other thin line semi's with matching arched plates with a 15 inch lower bout and string through design, the 15 inch body saw the need to order a custom made road case to protect this little gem.
As for the laundry,,, yep it turned out ok too but i love building guitars more

[rocket]

Thanks for asking Mark, even though this is a bit off topic here’s some pics of the laundry

Cheers
Rod.

[Bruce McC]

Bloody hell Rod a glass splash back and parquetry floor in a laundry!
That should keep the missus happy and win you a few brownie points.

[rocket]

New case

[Mark McLean]

Looks like the sort of home that it deserves.