Purfling is a word that defines material between the binding and the top or back wood on a string instrument. Binding is a word that defines the outer most material surround the top and back wood on a string instrument. The purfling is decorative but the binding actually provides some function. First the binding provides [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Chisels’
Sharpening – Why oh why?
As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to refresh my blades throughout my shop. The hand plane blades took me 2 days and then sharpening the chisels took another day. All of that wasn’t really a problem. The real problem is why can’t I get into the rhythm of sharpening when I sense [...]
Tongue and Groove for Doors
School is well under way for my 2 boys (Xander -12 and Mitchell -10). The beginning of the school year plays havoc with the entire families schedules and that of course means my shop time. I have gotten minutes in my shop since it began about 2 weeks ago. Today, I was able to resume [...]
Guitar 4 – Time for braces
It’s time for braces. In this case, it’s not about straightening teeth but about providing structure and tonal improvement to a guitar top. Bracing a modern steel string guitar top has a couple of key elements. The main is called the x-brace and spans the bottom bought of the guitar (this is where the guitar [...]
Guitar 2 – Shaping the Braces for the Top
Today, I began working on the shaping of the braces for Guitar 2. I am far from an expert on bracing and it’s affect on the guitar’s structure and sound quality. At this point in my luthier or guitar making journey, I am following plans and instructions from people/sources that I believe I can trust. [...]
Braces shaped
Shaping these braces has been frustrating. I’ve had some splits that needed to be glued back and some gaps that needed to be filled. For the gaps, I feel that the next top I have some ideas on how to tackle them and get the joints tighter and not require filling. For the splitting, I [...]
More Bracing Work
After the X-braces that I talked in the previous post, I needed to work on the other braces and get them glued and clamped. I’ve reviewed books and videos and have determined (especially for the x-brace) that some other shaping should be done before I glue it up to get even tighter joints. Also, I [...]
Guitar 4 – Alignment looks good
Today, I took the back with the braces and joined it to the sides. I first had to finish shaping the braces and then create the slots in the kerfing for the braces. All this was exactly the same for guitars 2 and 3. I spent a great deal of time during glue up getting [...]
Keeping Busy on 2 Guitars
Today, I got to unclamp the body of my 3rd guitar. The joint is very flush and I’m happy with that. I’m disappointed with my ability to align the back to the sides. This is where I’m supposed to take the center line of the back and line it up with the center line on [...]
Guitar #3 gets Sides joined to Back
Today, I worked on attaching the sides and back together. The first step is to shape the braces on the back. About 550mm from the edge of the guitar, the braces are pared down to about 2-4mm thickness. Once that is done, you determine where to cut the cross braces and the center brace so [...]
End Wedge
An end wedge or other end decoration is a technique used by guitar makers to place something attractive over the seem between the 2 sides. It is very difficult to get a tight joint between the 2 sides when glued up in the form. I expect that there are Luthier’s/Guitar Maker’s in the world that [...]
Sides are done
The sides are done for both body 3 and body 4 guitars. You can see body 3 which is the orchestra sized body with no cut away and body 4 which is also an orchestra sized body but with a cutaway. The kerfing installed nicely and I did have more glue squeeze out (meaning I [...]
Back on Sides!
I had a crown done on Monday and surprisingly it made working on my guitar challenging. Today (Thursday) is the first day I’ve gotten back into my shop. Today I had several small things to do and thought they would fill up my time. First, I had to trim the ebony accents on the wedge [...]
Headstock Laminations
Part of making a guitar neck can be creating a certain look for the headstock (where the tuner machines are for tuning the guitar). For this guitar neck, I chose to go from the maple of the neck (which is a light colored wood) to a dark wood (ebony on one and mahagony on the [...]
Guitar Building
I mentioned in a past post that I was going to take a class in guitar building through my local Woodcraft store. The guitar kits they use are from US Guitar Kits. The kits are partially assembled. They have the sides bent and the back attached. They have the bracing attached (though in the 2 [...]
