Sapele body and neck, ebony fretboard, yew and resin top. Went with a 17 inch scale because electric strings are readily available.

It was a laugh building it! Still got to lower the nut, tweak the bridge etc but so far it's pretty cool lol

Feel free to watch the final vid for a laugh 🤣 

https://youtu.be/fhRtgc75f5U?si=XEQjby6hjjdWy1AP

Mainly because of time issues , too many things to do and new stuff to discover.

My second year in lute building class has finished and I am in the midst of building my first lute.

It will be a 7 course Renaissance lute with 11 ribs

Starting off with building a mold ..

First the baseplate from plywood

Then we add the vertical support panels , for each rib a facet, so it forms a round shape finally, notice that the top of each rib forms a straight lines , but they are angled , according to the outline of the baseplate

Then I add support blocks from mdf between each of the vertical support panels.

 These too, follow the angle of the baseplate curve/angle

I coated the whole mold with varnish, to prevent glue sticking to the mold when making the ribs.

Next I made the back plate and neck heel block from a square block of basswood. The facets from the molds are brought over to this heelblock and , using a chisel tapers down to the tip of the mold.The back is a simple strip of spruce, shaped and then bent to comform to the curve of the back of the mold. the strip of spruce is just made flexible by wrapping it in a moist piece of paper towel for about 20 minutes.

Afterwards, we can bend it into the light curve of the back of the mold

 For the ribs, I cut the first rib from 1.4 mm thick strips of pearwood.( planed down from approx 3 mm ) and place it on the mold.

I use a violin or guitar side bending iron to bend the the rib comform to the shape of the mold.

Next , I form  the strips of veneer that will act as a spacer between each rib and also bend these into shape using heat ( with a mini iron )

Then I made the second 2 ribs, delicately trying to comform the shape of the new rib to the previous one and the shape of the mold.

Since this will be different for each of the ribs, this is a job that needs quite some time to be executed perfectly.

I only use a blockplane to shave off the high spots until the whole rib fits perfectly to the previous one, without trying to force them to meet up.

Once the ribs match , I apply the veneer on the new rib.

The glue we use for this is hot hide glue BTW.

To clamp both ribs ( and the veneer too  ) I use normal masking tape.

The standard masking tape has a good elasticity  I can use to my advantage. After applying glue, I tape both ribs together, but I stretch the tape and then stick it to both ribs. Once the tape sticks to both ribs, I release and the tape relaxes back, and by doing so, pulls both ribs even tighter.

Once one the first 2 ribs are glued, I rinse and repeat the procedure on the other side of the first rib. Once these first 3 ribs are joined it gets a little easier to do the next ribs, well.. sort of.. it still is pretty hard to do for a first time.

Then I remove the shell from the mold and add paper strips on the inside of the shell or bowl. These strips go over the seams of the ribs in order to strengthen the glueline and mask any possible gaps that still might have occured .

Then I start on flattening the top edge of the bowl, very carefully with a light blockplane. The shell is very vulerable still and utmost attention must be given in order not to create tearout and cracks.

This process is finished by lightly sanding the top to make it absolutely flat.

I invested in a drum sander last year and it's life changing! The best fun you can have with your clothes on although I have been known to have done some thicknessing wearing nothing but a GM.co.uk apron and a smile 😉 but that's probably for another thread........

So my plan is to make a classical guitar but I wanted to practice the techniques without costing a fortune as they are similar in many respects as I understand it. 

I'm quite chuffed with the result (and as usual I made a lot of kindling wood but for less money than normal) but I couldn't have done it at all

without all the wisdom I've gained from Mr B on his online courses. 

Well mates,
as most of you may well remember, i had surgery on my playing hand in January…a much needed surgery – my hand was aching all the time. Again,
I’m a drummer, who plays the guitar, so i figured as long as I can wrap a stick or a pick to my hand with Duck tape, I’ll be ok and come out ahead in the long run. Well, the surgery went well and I’m in the process of healing. So, I was at a standstill with my electric guitar build and wanted to stay busy – just before and after the surgery, so I took a detour and bought a cheap guitar and modified it into a Resonator – Fun project. Turned out better than i had hoped…Also, one of my sons has a Fender Resonator I’ve played in the past , and He has moved away to an entirely different state so I couldn’t borrow his guitar every time i wished…and buying a new one was not nearly enough of a challenge – now that I’ve come onboard the GuitarMaking train, lol…so, I’m going to place some pix and a few video inks fer ya’ll to see…hopefully, I can soon resume my guitar build – I’m about to put in the frets. So, this is all hamade,,don’t expect too much, however..it is what we do, isn;t it…playing music. see: You tube  "Matthew B Scott ResonatorFinished_note for Michael.

< Poco7

Starting off with making the template/mold

Sanding the cherry sides to thickness ( 1.3 mm )

Marking out the maple neck, after we set the reference side, which will become the top face of the neck.
For this we had to handplane, use scrapers and a high precision straight edge to make sure we had an absolute flat and smooth surface.
We also needed to do the same for the other 3

sides, and make sure they where square to eachother.

Rough cut the neck on the bandsaw, then carve with a carving knife.
Refining the thickness and straightening the back of the neck

Shaping the neck by creating facets. We had to copy the exact shape of the top and end of the neck, which was indicated on the plan.
drawing lines to meet up the facets enables to find the correct locations where the lines should start. simply connecting those lines gives us the correct lines over the length of the neck.

With a chisel, we sliced the exact facets at the beginning and end of the neck, on both sides.
With a spokeshave and a scraper, we just removed the wood in between those two chiseled out areas.
At all times we needed to make sure we kept a straight cut across the neck to ensure straightness ( double checked with straight edge ).
We also shaped the heel block with a blockplane and a marking gauge.
The final shape of the heel is carved with a carving knife and a scraper. Aside from a little bit of touch up, we havent been using any sandpaper at all at this point. The planes and scrapers give a better result then sandpaper ever will. ( But you really need them sharp and well setup! )

The headstock was originally made separately and wedged in with the neck. Since this requires quite some skill to do properly, we are simplifying this, by making a false joint.
Squared with a pairing chisel first, making sure all lines stay crisp and clean, then using sanding blocks to round over the triangle, conforming to the neck shape.

Finally, the headstock shape is created, first, by sawing a vertical line in the lowest points of the curves with a small , fine sawblade.
Then, using a very sharp chisel, bevel down, we cut from the highest point to the lowest point. Slicing away a thin shaving over and over again, until we reach the lines.

Preparing and leveling the sides top edge, bending the sides into shape. Finally leveling with a sanding board, very gently as these sides are so thin, they can easily crack.

These sides are only 1.3mm thick and they will not have kerfed linings, but the back and sides will be glued directly, with only that 1,3mm of gluing surface.

Attaching the neck to the body. First we need to prepare the heelblock, cut away the waste with a handsaw and already rough shape the curve of the body into the heel. The shaping is done, using a holding jig , and a spindle sander.

In between guitar projects, I also have a plan to build an electric ukelele.
Currently working out the plan, based on a electricherald plan for a Gibson Melody maker.
I need to double check the dimensions but for now just getting an idea of how it might look.
It will be a Concerto ukelele ( 15" scale length )
For now, I am considering making this a neck trough for no particular reason.

I do wonder if I need to make a trussrod for this, I dont think I do, but perhaps others have another opinion?
Any advice on this little journey is greatly appreciated!