Back in the good old days of lockdown and live streams I had drawn an acoustic guitar. Two years later I've actually started to build it. Some time ago I cut some slices off a 6 inch square lump of mahogany. I've thicknessed it using a combination of plane, router and sanding block to make the back.
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.
very cool. Looks like a nice back. Are you going to be putting the arm bevel in?
That was my original plan, but I'm keeping my options open, time will tell. I can't remember if Mark did an arm bevel in his lives streams or had just talked about it, still searching for that.
@robin I don't think I seen Mark do an arm bevel. I do remember him talking about it briefly that's it. When I was looking I watched a few videos but I liked the way driftwood guitars did theirs the most. I followed their method on my last build and it went great. They have a playlist on youtube about it. Now that I understand it a little more I think I can modify it to suit the way I build better for my next build.
I don't think I seen Mark do an arm bevel. I do remember him talking about it briefly that's it. When I was looking I watched a few videos but I liked the way driftwood guitars did theirs the most.
Thanks for that, I'll have a look at how it's done.
I've got the same mahogany for the sides and neck. Not got anything for the sound board yet, but I think it will be spruce.
Sounds good @robin. I was just speaking to a young woman yesterday who is building an acoustic guitar completely out of mahogany, including the sound board.
🎸🙂🎶🙏
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
I was just speaking to a young woman yesterday who is building an acoustic guitar completely out of mahogany, including the sound board.
I had thought about making a sound board from mahogany too, as I've got plenty of it. I don't know the ins and outs of sound quality, but decided I'm going to use spruce, even if it's just for the contrast in colour.
I used some of my mahogany offcuts yesterday to make a couple of cam clamps for when I eventually get around to gluing braces on.
I'm going away to the caravan tomorrow for a while, I'm not taking the thin delicate wood with me, so the guitar building will be on hold. I'll maybe manage to build some jigs and molds while I'm there though.
I used some of my mahogany offcuts yesterday to make a couple of cam clamps for when I eventually get around to gluing braces on.
Great piece of ingenuity there @robin. What did you use for the metal struts?
🎸🙂🎶🙏
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
This part time guitar building just doesn't work. I'm making templates to route my side bending mold and totally forgot that I'd changed the radius of the cutaway. So glued bits back into the template and will try again. In my defence, I had a dental abscess, the toxins must have dull my brain.
I couldn't believe how painful it was, but I got a really quick response from NHS24. I phoned them at 10:30 on Easter Monday, 4 hours later the dentist at Lochgilphead hospital had removed tooth, instant relief. Is Lochgilphead you're nearest dentist, I'm sure there's one in Tarbert, although if your at the dental practice at the hospital, then you're in good hands.
@robin That’s pretty good service, I’m glad you got it sorted out that quickly.
Can’t get in at Tarbert, Lochgilphead is the nearest practice we can get treated at right now. The whole dental service is still catching up after the worst of covid, working through the backlog. We will probably be able to get something nearer in a couple of years or so, when things settle down a bit.
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
To be honest, I've not got many of my own left, I've got a mouth full of caps, crowns and bridges. I went through the covid shut down with a front tooth snapped off at the gum, then they pulled it out and waited another six months to fit a bridge, so I think I'll try to hold on to what I've got left. But we don't need teeth to build guitars, well, apart the ones on the saws.