Just thought I'd show you where I'm at with my first uke build - would not have got anywhere near this far had I not done Mark's acoustic online course. It's a fun journey of trial and error using John Weissenrieder's book, some hardwood offcuts from a local flooring company and my new drum sander ;)

I've got loads of kindling (as usual for me ) but have learned an absolute ton along the way. I reckon this one may well be usable at last! When I did my geology degree I was told that the best geologists are the ones that have seen the most rocks. I reckon the same experiential journey can be applied to guitar making. The best luthiers are them that have made the most instruments (even if most of them are crap and end up as fuel!) You have to make mistakes to learn what does and doesn't work.

One day I hope to get up to one of Mark's f2f courses but in the meantime I'll keep on keeping on :)

After some research I decided on a Benedetto Archtop for several reasons:

1) plans and templates are easily available

2) very good book describing how to build such a guitar

3) gives me the most with regards to skills I need to develop so I can make some Baroque and Renaiscance stringed instruments.

Got all my wood together: spruce for soundboard and tone bars, maple for backboard, sides and neck (which will be sandwitched maple/mahogony/maple so I can get the most out of the bits of wood I have).  There will be some purfling skills (black/whitw/black maple) as well as mahogony binding with black/white strips.

As I am slowly building up the required hardwire to manufacture this I used the local Men's shed to start the build (they have a lot of woodworking machinery that I can easily use) to start building the neck.  After cutting a board of Maple to the required thickness I marked and cut out the basic shape of the neck.

Starting with the neck......

take your rough sawn Neck Blank.

🙂🎶🎸🙏

I had it stuck down with double sided tape, but the router bit kept knocking it loose. I drilled holes in the corners and nailed it down with cocktail sticks, that was enough to hold it.

 Glued three peices together, wedged it and held it down flat with a sand bag.

Sanded and cut to shape.

Now to just get a couple more jigs built before starting the build. Today I just finished a radius dish for the front ( I already made one for the back) and I want to make an outside mold for the guitar shape to hold the side. Shouldn't be an issue. :)

Here are a couple teaser pics.

I've replied to a post from TV101 but also thought I would do a new post too.

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope last year was good for you all but being so busy with work last year was a downfall for my guitar progress.

But I have a new video hot out of the edit suite. TV101 posted to see where I had gone and to be honest made me feel a bit guilty....in a good way...

I've posted on youtube as a private video, so all you need to do is paste this link into youtube. I have a new phone so it's all in sparking HD. 4k is possible but I really dint think you need to see my mistakes in such detail!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgGfaWViY8c

Let me know your thoughts and as ever any tips or advice gladly taken.

cheers

Steve

Finally, finally COMPLETE!!!

This build has been on my mind for over a year. I have always been interested in woodwork. Built arcade cabinets, units and tools for my workshop. 

I decided I was going to build an OM acoustic for my son. He has been playing for nearly 8 years. I bought stewmac plans and began building all the components from scratch. Originally it was going to eagleman spruce top and olive wood for the back and sides. Now olive wood is great and all but it is a nightmare to bend the sides. In the end, I decided to keep the olive wood back but use french walnut for the sides and also the neck. Expensive project. Haha

After glueing the box, I came across Marks live videos on YouTube. I honestly wish I found this first. As I would have done things differently. I wouldn't have done binding for one. Haha.

Signed up back in September 22 and went through each step/re-watched to make certain complete.

Today I finished the final set up. I have left the action slightly high for the time being. Will most likely go back and lower the saddle and nut a smidge to suit my sons playing. 

It sounds great though, it's got nice sustain and the notes are very clear with no buzz. For a first build, I am super chuffed with the end result. So much better than any mid to high range guitar I have played in the past. Now my son will have an instrument from me and with the right care that should last a long time. Maybe even an heirloom. Come christmas, the guitar will be with its new owner. He better bloody like it.

Will I make another acoustic? Probably not, who knows. Will I make an electric? Damn straight I will.

I'm glad this project has come to an end but looking back at all the stress, mistakes, magivering jigs to fix mistakes. It was really fun and I'm glad I built an acoustic first. undefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefined 

So for the guitar:

Olive wood back, walnut sides and neck, eagleman spruce top. Headstock is olive wood and backstrap is walnut. Fretboard and bridge is ebony

Locking tuners, bone saddle/nut, evo gold frets. Brass rod side dots and brass tube fret inlays. Rich gogold dry transfer. Martin bridge pins and finally for strings I used martin 2.0 phosphor bronze.

Pictures below

Today, I had the time to put together my Binding Jig, I bought from TLC Guitargoods in Holland.

 Base plate, body carriage where easy,installing the jig too. I had some issues lining the holes of my cheap router to the jig, but it all worked out fine in the end.
I put a coat of shellac on both the base plate and body carriage to protect it a little and I hope it will allows the carriage to slide more easily on the base plate.

Tested the body carriage with my Seagull S6
I might have made the carriage a little too big, it should be a tad smaller. But I can always adjust it if needed.
Or build a new carriage for smaller instruments.