I’ve been sick for a few days so haven’t been to the shop. No worries though, it was just a cold. Today, I started working on Guitar 4′s neck. Starting a neck, you start with a simple blank and then trim off a small piece on one end at about a 15 degree angle. You [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Clamps’
Guitar 4 – Time to Button Up
As I mentioned in the previous post, I remembered a lesson from the previous builds. The lesson was that I need to closely trip the top (or the back) to the actual size of the sides so that clamping has less difficulties. That lesson really paid off for this build. The clamping process went very [...]
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 – Glue Up Disaster
Have you ever experienced going through a project where things seem to be going well but something is nagging at you … and then some disaster happens and you figure out what is nagging at you? Well, today that happened to me. I’m working on getting the top ready for glue up. To do this, [...]
Clamped the Top
Over the weekend, I took the top that I’ve been working on and glued it on. I think that my technique is getting better. I was better at trimming the various braces and the notches in the kerfing to get the top to fit. It was a very tight fit. I’ve signed the inside of [...]
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 [...]
X-braces for the top
When making the top, you need to find the center line (isn’t this a running theme in all the pieces of the body?) and then use your plans to layout the braces. My plans came from LMII (I have both a set of paper plans and a plastic, re-usable template for the orchestra sized body). [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Installing the back braces
Back braces on a steel string guitar are simple and provide structure and strength while shaping them makes them contribute or at least cooperate with the tonal qualities of the back wood (in my case, maple). Back braces are usually in a simple configuration beginning with a thin (1/8″ approx) and slightly wide (3/4″ approx) [...]
Oh My Back!
In working on the back of the guitar, I had 2 tasks to undertake today. First, I needed to install the center brace that goes down the length of the back, directly in the center. This was a fairly simple process. First, I place my radius dish (the one I’ve been using to sand the [...]
Making Spool Clamps for Guitar/Luthier Work
OK, as I get closer to actually making a guitar (need my budget to catch up again), I need to find economical ways to do things. A spool clamp, as you can see from the picture borrowed from Stewart-MacDonald, is about clamping the back OR top on to the sides. While I fully expect to [...]
