Sound board
- Cut side braces 9mm wide from leftover spruce from top (using band saw)
- Cut to length to fit between kerfing at waist and hips
- Thin sliver of glue onto brace then clamp in place with a block either side of body
- Leave to dry for an hour
- Then sand top again using radius dish to level off
- Mark brace positions as per the back, cut out with handsaw and remove keffin to 3mm depth with knife
Neck
- Plane one side with No. 6 plane so square and heel block is flush with neck
- Mark shape with template onto heel
- Cut shape with bandsaw
- Mark centre of neck and place into dovetail jig
- Centre on line on jig with neck line and end
- Clamp in place (adjust angle of base so flush with block)
- Remove from jig and cut bulk of wood off in band saw then replace in jig ready for routing dovetail
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More body work
- Use edge trimmer in router to take excess of back while in mould. Trim to match the side
- Check rotation direction of router and follow that direction round the back in mould (e.g. anti-clockwise)
- Split mould to remove back and sides
- Tidy up any excess with chisel or sanding and insert back into mould with back down ready to do front
- Front the same as back – trim with block plane to get neck and base roughly the right height then sand with radius disc till you can see even deposits of wood dust round complete perimeter of body
- Glue in kerfing as per front and hold in with pegs
Neck
- Plane neck block flat, use template to locate position on neck then glue and clamp in place with 2 ‘G’ clamps
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Back fitting
- Align back on sides so that centre lines up and in position
- Taped back to sides with masking tape
- Mark brace positions on kerfing with sharp pencil
- Mark side location on braces with mini (10mm long) sharp pencil (broke off clutch pencil so used that)
- Cut sides in marked location with hand saw and chisel & sharp knife to cut off kerfing to 3mm deep
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Back preparation
- Removed sides from mould (had to use big chisel to get sides out of mould)
- Put blocks and dowels into holes in mould to raise the back sides above top of mould
- Use large chisel to take off material to top and bottom from waist, keeping the height at the waist
- Use block plane to taper down till sanding dish fits on with a rock at the hips
- Plane hips till block nearly flush
- Sand in clockwise direction until even layer of dust is produced round the circumference of the sides
Kerfing
- Fit the kerfing dry and cut to size – slide into bends on sides to avoid breaking the kerfing
- Glue and hold down with pegs (with rubber bands fitted for extra pressure)
Neck
- Planed neck and head together to get flush fit
- Glued neck and head together with blocks either side and 2 “G” clamps
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Fitting neck and end blocks
- Plane blocks so that bottom is flush with bottom of jig
- Had to plane chamfers into sides of the neck block
- Had to plane down the contact edges so they are flush with the top and bottom of the sides
- Glued blocks into place and held with “G” clamps
Neck
- Started on the neck. Thickeness to 18mm then cut to jig dimensions on band saw ready to glue (did another crap cut on the bandsaw)
- Using scarf joint method instead of laminating (is stronger but not necessarily easier)
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Moulding Sides
- Removed 2nd Side from bender (was a bit charred due to being heated too long)
- Same process as 1st side to put into mould:
- Remove 1st side
- Cut roughly to size with some overlap
- Set centre line and mark with square
- Cut using block and Tenon/dovetail saw
- Place both sides into jig and tighten up block
- Had to block plane edges to fit flush
Front braces
- Cut thin flat braces for front from left over top and bottom materials (not enough for bridge brace so had to modify the shape to suit available materials)
- Glued front braces, bridge and sound hole braces and placed into go-bar jig to dry
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Second side bend
- Same as first side (couple of notes below)
- Make sure the waist block on bender is centred correctly to drop into the slot
- Push down on top as you pull over the blocks – push with left hand while pulling block with right
- MAKE SURE YOU DON”T LEAVE IT TOO LONG with the heater on – it burns the wood!!!
First side into guitar mould
- Put first side into the guitar jig/mould
- Put in first then tighten up the spreader
- Cut off excess on ends if spreader won’t fit
- Tighten spreader and mark sides to centres and cut to centre line
Cross brace curves
- Carve curves into the cross brace using a chisel
- Use thumb planes to taper sides to a point at the top
- Sand down sided and tops
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Side Bending
- Thickness sides to 2.5mm
- Cut to 115mm wide
- Turn on the heating pad to warm up
- Mark top and bottom and front with white engineers pen
- Wet side and wrap in alfoil
- Mark the waist position on the alfoil and insert into bender with bottom to bottom of jig
- Put springs on clamps and side blocks after inserting wood
- Heat for 15 minutes – screw down waist till tight then back off 2 turns
- Pull over spring blocks to bend sides – may need to pull back and repeat
- Turn off heater after 15 minutes and leave for a week to set bends
Top braces
- Plane top braces to 15mm high
- Cut leftover spruce from top to cover top of join in X-braces – 50mm long and as wide as brace
- Glue and hold down with masking tape
Main brace hole for truss rod adjustment
- Find centre of top main brace on front, mark 7.75mm up from botom and drill 9.5mm hole(for access to truss rod nut)
- Chamfer other braces for top so centre is 3mm wide, remember not to go beyond the bottom width
- Cut small 45 degree angles on ends of small braces to provide slotting into the cross braces
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Notch front X-brace
- Use sliding bevel to set angles of cuts
- Use scribe to measure 7.5mm from top and bottom of ‘A’ and ‘B’ braces
- Notch for smaller braces into bottom of X-braces
- Mark either side & cut with dovetail saw at 45 degrees then chisel out with 6mm chisel
- Glue join of x-brace
- Glue x-brace to front hold down with go-bars
- Use wood slivers to get excess glue out of smaller brace cut-outs
Back
- With block plane chamfer off braces to a slope
- Sand with 150 till tops are round
- Clean off excess glue on back by sanding
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Attaching back braces
- Use block plane to round off back reinforcing strip, sand to get good finish
- Cut slots in back reinforcing strip using template to mark distances
- Saw through slightly and then use 6mm chisel to cut out
- Plane tops of back braces to an angle so that the top is 4mm wide, but the bottom retains its original width
- Glue the back braces in between the cut slots and use the go-bars to hold in till dry
- 2nd from bottom brace goes in first then check it is square with the reinforcing strip
- Put in the last 3 braces, measuring the distance between left and right sides with the first strip to ensure parallel
Front work
- Thicknessed the sound board to 2.5mm on the sander so that inlay is flush with top
- Cut sound hole using circle cutting jig.
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