My Current guitar project.

[Mike Davis]

I just took a stroll through your other guitar WIP. Very impressive! No other way to say it. The quality of your guitars/knives truly shows that you love what you do. You sir, are a true craftsman. I will get some pictures of that wood and email them to you today. I think you will like them. Keep up the astounding work!

 

[Phillip Patton]

I just took a stroll through your other guitar WIP. Very impressive! No other way to say it. The quality of your guitars/knives truly shows that you love what you do. You sir, are a true craftsman. I will get some pictures of that wood and email them to you today. I think you will like them. Keep up the astounding work!

Well, thank you for saying so. I try.
Looking forward to the pics!

 

[Phillip Patton]

Well, I haven't gotten a lot done on the guitar, but here's some progress:

After bending the sides, the inside is sanded clean, then "kerfing" is glued to the edge that will be glued to the soundboard:

Then it's glued on:

I've also installed the marker dots on the fret board at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th frets:

 

[Carl_First_Timer]

Looks like you need more clamps.

Keep the pics coming. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Yesterday I got the sides glued to the top:

And today I trimmed the sides down to the same level as the head and tail blocks. I used a chisel to remove most of the material, and used a sanding board to refine it.

Next the kerfing is glued to the rim:

Also got the back plates joined, and thicknessed:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Got all the kerfing glued on:

...and trimmed down flush with the sides with a chisel:

...then refined with the sanding board:

Now there's two important things to do which are easy to forget at this stage; making the cauls for clamping the bridge and fingerboard extension, and drilling the holes for the neck bolts. The holes go through the neck block, but because the sides go all the way around, they are invisible from the outside.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now back is set on the rim with the center seam aligned as closely as possible to the center line of the top, and the outline traced onto it:

Then it's cut out:

Now the cross-grain re-enforcing strip is glued over the centerline:

While that's curing, I arch the back braces. I'm using spruce, though mahogany works well too.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now the strip needs to be excavated for the braces:

Two of them glued in:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Last night I got all the braces glued on:

Showing the arch:

This morning I carved the braces. First, scallop the ends:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Then carve them into a more or less triangular cross section:

Cleaned up with sandpaper:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now the back is set on the rims, again keeping the centerlines lined up, and the braces are marked for trimming to length, and the sides are marked for inletting the braces:

I used to use a razor saw and chisels to do the inletting, but the router with a small bit is so much better:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Trimming the braces. The outer line is the outside of the rim, the inner one is the inside of the rim, and is where the cut will actually be:

Trimming the crossgrain strip to length:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Once the back fits snugly, the outline is traced onto it:

And it's cut out:

A final shot of the inside, after a final vacuuming:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now glue is applied to the rim:

And the head and tail blocks are clamped down:

Then a looong rubber strip is used to apply pressure to the rest of the edge:

And while the glue is curing, here's a picture I took of the moon last night

 

[Infi-del]

Now glue is applied to the rim:

Nice build. Are you not worried about the bridge plate with the grain running side to side. Doesn't that increase the risk that the string tension will crack the bridge plate? Martin ran into that problem years ago if memory serves me.

 

[timcsaw]

MAN this is great stuff Phillip. I'm loving watching the process, and you explain it soooo well with all the pictures... it's just 'cool'!!!

Thanks for doing this for us!

 

[amcardon]

Seriously, I love seeing your updates and it makes me want to build a guitar so bad every time! When I was a teenager if you asked me "what do you want to be when you grow up" I would have answered luthier... Now I just need to start saving up so I can buy the 40,000 clamps it takes

BTW - how hard was it to make the forms for the body? Maybe I'm totally wrong but that seems to be one of the more technical aspects of it to allow everything to come together properly... Ah! My wife would KILL me if I started a new project/hobby but this really makes me want to try!

Thanks again, brother, I really love your WIPs and that you do them so quickly and update them so often. I'm a big fan of WIPs but sometimes it's hard when they span months to years.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Nice build. Are you not worried about the bridge plate with the grain running side to side. Doesn't that increase the risk that the string tension will crack the bridge plate? Martin ran into that problem years ago if memory serves me.

I guess I'm not too worried, though it probably is something to pay attention to in the future. The strings on this one are going to be at an angle to match the saddle, so it should be ok. Thanks for pointing it out though.

 

[Phillip Patton]

MAN this is great stuff Phillip. I'm loving watching the process, and you explain it soooo well with all the pictures... it's just 'cool'!!!

Thanks for doing this for us!

You're welcome! Posting pics is half the fun.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Seriously, I love seeing your updates and it makes me want to build a guitar so bad every time! When I was a teenager if you asked me "what do you want to be when you grow up" I would have answered luthier... Now I just need to start saving up so I can buy the 40,000 clamps it takes

BTW - how hard was it to make the forms for the body? Maybe I'm totally wrong but that seems to be one of the more technical aspects of it to allow everything to come together properly... Ah! My wife would KILL me if I started a new project/hobby but this really makes me want to try!

Thanks again, brother, I really love your WIPs and that you do them so quickly and update them so often. I'm a big fan of WIPs but sometimes it's hard when they span months to years.

The forms aren't hard to make. They take less than a day, and are well worth it. The one I used for this build needs some modifying though. I need to shape the ends to compensate for spring back; there was quite a bit on these sides.

I kind of have "tunnel vision" sometimes. When I'm working on a project, I don't like interruptions. Even for meals, and I like to eat.