Guitar Building Overview:
If you have an interest in building a guitar, this article will give you a very broad overview of the processes compulsory to make your own fine instrument.
The Search for Wood Sources:
Tonewood is the term that is used to define woods used for lutherie. Softwoods are generally used for top plates. Commonly used woods used are Spruce and Cedar, and sometimes hardwoods such as Koa and Mahogany are used as well.
Hardwoods are used almost exclusively to construct the instrument sides and backs. The family of hardwood species forms the tone and intensity of the guitar to a certain degree. Walnut, Mahogany and Maple hardwoods will give your instrument a warmer tone. For brighter tone and more intensity for your instrument, investigate such hardwoods as Ebony, Rosewood and Koa.
Another method you can use to shape the tone is by varying the thickness of the top plate. Thinner plates (tops and backs), commonly create louder instruments.
Another place where tonewood is used is for the bracing of the tops plates, to structurally support the thin woods. Usually, the top braces are constructed from the same wood family as the top plate. Again the way the bracing is designed can shape the tone and volume of the instrument.
Accessory Tools and Jigs:
Jigs and Forms will give the luthier the framework to maintain the precision that is necessary in the building trade. Additionally they will allow consistency from one instrument to another, with greater ease and save vast amounts of time. Consider making these jigs, form,s and specialized tools:
Inside Forms Work board Heated Side Bender Plate Joiner Go Board Gluing Jig Fret Slot Cutting Jig.
Woodworking Tools Required:
Prior to staring building tasks, purchase a fundamental set of hand tools. Good quality tools cannot be emphasized enough here as they cut better, hold an edge better, and are much safer to work with.
Japanese Pull Saws Wood Chisel Set Low Angle Brass Block Plane Violin Finger Planes Fret Saws Dovetail Saw Plastic Tipped Hammer Orbital Sander Hand Scrapers Dremel Moto Tool and Attachments
Recommended Stationary Tools for Lutherie:
If you are serious about this endeavor, investigate obtaining a few stationary tools to save a tremendous amount of time. Some basic tools to consider are:
6" x 48" Stationary Belt Sander 12" Band Saw Drill Press
Workshop or Work Area:
Space is required for glue-up operations, assembly and general workbench space. Since you are implementing extensive work, you need superior lighting. It is always desirable to have natural lighting streaming into your workshop as well.
The Purchase of Great Plans:
To guarantee success of your guitar making endeavors, purchase a good set of guitar plans. Your plans will need to be full scale.
Neck Assembly:
Cut the neck blank to size, and glue halves together. First sand the neck blank square. Cut the scarf joint for the headpiece. Reverse the headpiece, sand the joint and glue the headpiece on the neck. Next, you will need to rout a channel down the center of the neck for the truss rod and install the truss rod. Stack the heel blocks on the neck and glue in place. After the heel blocks are dry, shape the heel, the neck and the headpiece. After cutting the headpiece veneer, glue in position. Detail the neck dovetail joint, or mortise and tenon joint to precisely fit into the head block.
Precisely cut the appropriate openings for the tuning machines. Cut fretboard to shape and thickness and cut fret channels.
The Sides, Back and Top:
The top, back and side woods need to be planed down to the proper thickness. If you plane the plates to a thickness of 1/8" for acoustics and 3/32" for classical guitars, that is a good starting point. To thin the plates you can use several choices or techniques. You can use a planer, scraper, sander, belt sander, a drum sander or a hand held jack plane.
Next, in order to glue the top and back halves together, use a plate joining jig. Rough shape the bracing for the back and top. Glue into place with the go-board gluing jig. Let braces dry and then final shape the bracing and finish sand them. Cut the rosette channels in the guitar top. Glue the rosette into place and cut out the sound-hole. Glue in the reinforcing for the sound-hole.
Heat up the side bender and bend the sides. You should keep the side in the bender for a couple of days. Next place them in the inside mold and trim to length. Install head and tail block into place. Make the kerfing on the band saw and glue kerfing around outside edges of guitar sides. Fit the guitar back and top to the sides while in the inside form. Cut bracing into the kerfings.
Using 1" elastic upholstery tape, glue the top to the top of the kerfing on the sides. Glue the back to the kerfing and sides in a similar manner. Take the Dremel router with the binding cutter attachment and set it to the proper depth and width for your bindings and purfling. Cut the channel for the peg head binding as well.
Making The Bindings:
You can fabricate your purfling and binding trim or you can choose to purchase them. Pre-bend wood bindings on the Heated Side Bender. After a day, glue them into the binding channels with 1" elastic upholstery tape.
How to Fit the Neck:
Align the neck carefully and then glue in place to the guitar body and head-block. Do not glue a bolt-on neck. Glue fretboard onto neck and top plate. If using a bolt on neck, do not glue to top. Finish shaping neck and heel. Tap the frets into the fret channels and dress the frets.
Finishing Operations:
Prior to finishing operations, sand the entire guitar with 120 and 220 grit sandpaper. It may be compulsory to cleanup the rosette, purfling and bindings with a hand scraper. Apply masking tape on the top plate over the bridge footprint.
Several sprayed coats of vinyl sealer will be needed over all surfaces. When the sealer is dry, sand flush and apply toned paste wood sealer and let that dry. Cleanup the wood filler and apply the nitrocellulose lacquer coats. It will take anywhere between 6 and 10 coats of lacquer for a premium finish. Sand the finish flush between every 2 coats.
Next you will need patience and let the instrument stand for at least one week. Do a final sanding with silicone carbide paper and buff to a mirror finish.
Final Fit and Finish:
Glue the bridge to the top plate and use the saddle channel routing jig to cut in the saddle slot. Install nut and saddle. Assemble the tuning machines on the peg head. String up the instrument with either light or medium light strings and test the action and fretting. Make any adjustments as required. Your Guitar Building will now be complete.
In this article I will present to you a very broad overview of the steps necessary for guitar building.
The Search for Wood Sources:
Tonewood is the term that is used to define woods used for lutherie. Softwoods are generally used for top plates. Commonly used woods used are Spruce and Cedar, and sometimes hardwoods such as Koa and Mahogany are used as well.
Backs and sides are constructed of hardwoods. Hardwood species that is used in the instrument backs and sides plays a meaningful role in the tone and intensity characteristics an instrument will possess. Some of the hardwoods create a warmer tone such as Walnut, Mahogany and Maple. If you are after brighter tone and more intensity, such woods as Rosewood, Ebony, and Koa would be a better alternative.
Another tip you can use to define your tone, balance, and volume is to vary the thickness of the top wood. It is commonly known that a thinner wood used for tops and backs will develop an instrument with greater intensity.
Another location where tonewood is used is for the bracing of the top plates, to structurally support the thin woods. Most often you will notice that the bracing and top wood are constructed from the same species of wood. The top bracing gives the builder another avenue with which to shape the tone and intensity.
Accessory Tools and Jigs:
Jigs and Forms will give the luthier the framework to maintain the precision that is necessary in the building trade. Additionally they will allow consistency from one instrument to another, with greater ease and save vast amounts of time. Consider making these jigs, form,s and specialized tools:
Work board Plate Joiner Jig Fret Slot Cutting Jig Inside Form Heated Side Bender Go-Board Gluing Jig.
Beneficial Hand Tools:
In order to start your building tasks you will need a fundamental set of hand tools. When purchasing hand tools, purchase the best quality tools you can afford as they hold and edge better, are easier to sharpen, cut better, and are safer to use.
Japanese Pull Saws Wood Chisel Set Low Angle Brass Block Plane Violin Finger Planes Fret Saws Dovetail Saw Plastic Tipped Hammer Orbital Sander Hand Scrapers Dremel Moto Tool and Attachments
Recommended Stationary Tools:
If you are serious about this endeavor, investigate obtaining a few stationary tools to save a tremendous amount of time. Some basic tools to consider are:
6" x 48" Stationary Belt Sander 12" Band Saw Drill Press
The Workshop Setup:
Not only do you need space for glue-up operations, and assembly, you need some extra workbench space. Adequate work lights are additionally needed as this is very comprehensive work. Also, if it is available, you ought to strive to bet natural lighting into the work area.
The Purchase of Quality Plans:
To guarantee success of your guitar making endeavors, purchase a good set of guitar plans. Your plans will need to be full scale.
Neck Assembly:
Cut the neck blank to size, and glue halves together. First sand the neck blank square. Cut the scarf joint for the headpiece. Reverse the headpiece, sand the joint and glue the headpiece on the neck. Next, you will need to rout a channel down the center of the neck for the truss rod and install the truss rod. Stack the heel blocks on the neck and glue in place. After the heel blocks are dry, shape the heel, the neck and the headpiece. After cutting the headpiece veneer, glue in position. Detail the neck dovetail joint, or mortise and tenon joint to precisely fit into the head block.
Precisely cut the appropriate openings for the tuning machines. Cut fretboard to shape and thickness and cut fret channels.
The Back, Sides and Top:
Prior to gluing and bending you need to cut the sides, back and top plates to appropriate thickness. General guidelines indicated 1/8" thickness for steel string guitars and 3/32" thickness for nylon string guitars. To thin the guitar backs, sides and top, you can use a wide variety of techniques from hand held jack planes, stationary planer, stationary belt sander, hand held scrapers and drum sanders.
Next, in order to glue the top and back halves together, use a plate joining jig. Rough shape the bracing for the back and top. Glue into place with the go-board gluing jig. Let braces dry and then final shape the bracing and finish sand them. Cut the rosette channels in the guitar top. Glue the rosette into place and cut out the sound-hole. Glue in the reinforcing for the sound-hole.
Fire up the heated side bender and bend the sides. Keep the sides in the bender for a few days. Remove and place in the inside mold. Trim the ends with a Japanese Pull Saw. Install head and tail block into place. Make the kerfing on the band saw and glue kerfing around outside edges of sides. Fit the top and back to the sides with the sides mounted in the form. Mark out brace locations and cut into the kerfings.
Glue the top to the sides by using 1" elastic upholstery tape. Glue back in the same manner. Take the Dremel router with the binding cutter attachment and set it to the appropriate depth and width for your bindings and purfling. Cut the channel for the peghead binding as well.
The Bindings and Purfling:
You can fabricate your purfling and binding trim or you can choose to purchase them. First you will need to pre-bend wood bindings on the heated side bender. Next glue them into position with 1" elastic tape.
Fit the Neck:
Align the neck carefully and then glue in place to the guitar body and head-block. Do not glue a bolt-on neck. Glue fretboard onto neck and top plate. If using a bolt on neck, do not glue to top. Finish shaping neck and heel. Tap the frets into the fret channels and dress the frets.
Finishing the Instrument:
Finish sand all wood parts of the instrument with 120 and 220 grit sandpaper. It may be required to cleanup the rosette, purfling and bindings with a hand scraper. Apply masking tape on the guitar top on for the bridge footprint.
Spray several vinyl sealer coats on guitar. When the vinyl sealer is dry, sand flush. Next apply a toned paste wood filler and let it dry. Clean up and spray the finish coats of lacquer. Depending on the viscosity of the lacquer it may take from 6 to 10 coats of lacquer with sanding between each 2 coats.
You now need to let the lacquer coats dry for at least a week or more. Sand the finish coats one last time with silicone carbide sandpaper and buff to a mirror finish with a buffing wheel.
Final Detail Items:
Glue the bridge to the top plate and use the saddle channel routing jig to cut in the saddle slot. Install nut and saddle. Assemble the tuning machines on the peg head. String up the instrument with either light or medium light strings and test the action and fretting. Make any adjustments as required. Your Guitar Building will now be complete.
The Search for Wood Sources:
Tonewood is the term that is used to define woods used for lutherie. Softwoods are generally used for top plates. Commonly used woods used are Spruce and Cedar, and sometimes hardwoods such as Koa and Mahogany are used as well.
Hardwoods are used almost exclusively to construct the instrument sides and backs. The family of hardwood species forms the tone and intensity of the guitar to a certain degree. Walnut, Mahogany and Maple hardwoods will give your instrument a warmer tone. For brighter tone and more intensity for your instrument, investigate such hardwoods as Ebony, Rosewood and Koa.
Another method you can use to shape the tone is by varying the thickness of the top plate. Thinner plates (tops and backs), commonly create louder instruments.
Another place where tonewood is used is for the bracing of the tops plates, to structurally support the thin woods. Usually, the top braces are constructed from the same wood family as the top plate. Again the way the bracing is designed can shape the tone and volume of the instrument.
Accessory Tools and Jigs:
Jigs and Forms will give the luthier the framework to maintain the precision that is necessary in the building trade. Additionally they will allow consistency from one instrument to another, with greater ease and save vast amounts of time. Consider making these jigs, form,s and specialized tools:
Inside Forms Work board Heated Side Bender Plate Joiner Go Board Gluing Jig Fret Slot Cutting Jig.
Woodworking Tools Required:
Prior to staring building tasks, purchase a fundamental set of hand tools. Good quality tools cannot be emphasized enough here as they cut better, hold an edge better, and are much safer to work with.
Japanese Pull Saws Wood Chisel Set Low Angle Brass Block Plane Violin Finger Planes Fret Saws Dovetail Saw Plastic Tipped Hammer Orbital Sander Hand Scrapers Dremel Moto Tool and Attachments
Recommended Stationary Tools for Lutherie:
If you are serious about this endeavor, investigate obtaining a few stationary tools to save a tremendous amount of time. Some basic tools to consider are:
6" x 48" Stationary Belt Sander 12" Band Saw Drill Press
Workshop or Work Area:
Space is required for glue-up operations, assembly and general workbench space. Since you are implementing extensive work, you need superior lighting. It is always desirable to have natural lighting streaming into your workshop as well.
The Purchase of Great Plans:
To guarantee success of your guitar making endeavors, purchase a good set of guitar plans. Your plans will need to be full scale.
Neck Assembly:
Cut the neck blank to size, and glue halves together. First sand the neck blank square. Cut the scarf joint for the headpiece. Reverse the headpiece, sand the joint and glue the headpiece on the neck. Next, you will need to rout a channel down the center of the neck for the truss rod and install the truss rod. Stack the heel blocks on the neck and glue in place. After the heel blocks are dry, shape the heel, the neck and the headpiece. After cutting the headpiece veneer, glue in position. Detail the neck dovetail joint, or mortise and tenon joint to precisely fit into the head block.
Precisely cut the appropriate openings for the tuning machines. Cut fretboard to shape and thickness and cut fret channels.
The Sides, Back and Top:
The top, back and side woods need to be planed down to the proper thickness. If you plane the plates to a thickness of 1/8" for acoustics and 3/32" for classical guitars, that is a good starting point. To thin the plates you can use several choices or techniques. You can use a planer, scraper, sander, belt sander, a drum sander or a hand held jack plane.
Next, in order to glue the top and back halves together, use a plate joining jig. Rough shape the bracing for the back and top. Glue into place with the go-board gluing jig. Let braces dry and then final shape the bracing and finish sand them. Cut the rosette channels in the guitar top. Glue the rosette into place and cut out the sound-hole. Glue in the reinforcing for the sound-hole.
Heat up the side bender and bend the sides. You should keep the side in the bender for a couple of days. Next place them in the inside mold and trim to length. Install head and tail block into place. Make the kerfing on the band saw and glue kerfing around outside edges of guitar sides. Fit the guitar back and top to the sides while in the inside form. Cut bracing into the kerfings.
Using 1" elastic upholstery tape, glue the top to the top of the kerfing on the sides. Glue the back to the kerfing and sides in a similar manner. Take the Dremel router with the binding cutter attachment and set it to the proper depth and width for your bindings and purfling. Cut the channel for the peg head binding as well.
Making The Bindings:
You can fabricate your purfling and binding trim or you can choose to purchase them. Pre-bend wood bindings on the Heated Side Bender. After a day, glue them into the binding channels with 1" elastic upholstery tape.
How to Fit the Neck:
Align the neck carefully and then glue in place to the guitar body and head-block. Do not glue a bolt-on neck. Glue fretboard onto neck and top plate. If using a bolt on neck, do not glue to top. Finish shaping neck and heel. Tap the frets into the fret channels and dress the frets.
Finishing Operations:
Prior to finishing operations, sand the entire guitar with 120 and 220 grit sandpaper. It may be compulsory to cleanup the rosette, purfling and bindings with a hand scraper. Apply masking tape on the top plate over the bridge footprint.
Several sprayed coats of vinyl sealer will be needed over all surfaces. When the sealer is dry, sand flush and apply toned paste wood sealer and let that dry. Cleanup the wood filler and apply the nitrocellulose lacquer coats. It will take anywhere between 6 and 10 coats of lacquer for a premium finish. Sand the finish flush between every 2 coats.
Next you will need patience and let the instrument stand for at least one week. Do a final sanding with silicone carbide paper and buff to a mirror finish.
Final Fit and Finish:
Glue the bridge to the top plate and use the saddle channel routing jig to cut in the saddle slot. Install nut and saddle. Assemble the tuning machines on the peg head. String up the instrument with either light or medium light strings and test the action and fretting. Make any adjustments as required. Your Guitar Building will now be complete.
In this article I will present to you a very broad overview of the steps necessary for guitar building.
The Search for Wood Sources:
Tonewood is the term that is used to define woods used for lutherie. Softwoods are generally used for top plates. Commonly used woods used are Spruce and Cedar, and sometimes hardwoods such as Koa and Mahogany are used as well.
Backs and sides are constructed of hardwoods. Hardwood species that is used in the instrument backs and sides plays a meaningful role in the tone and intensity characteristics an instrument will possess. Some of the hardwoods create a warmer tone such as Walnut, Mahogany and Maple. If you are after brighter tone and more intensity, such woods as Rosewood, Ebony, and Koa would be a better alternative.
Another tip you can use to define your tone, balance, and volume is to vary the thickness of the top wood. It is commonly known that a thinner wood used for tops and backs will develop an instrument with greater intensity.
Another location where tonewood is used is for the bracing of the top plates, to structurally support the thin woods. Most often you will notice that the bracing and top wood are constructed from the same species of wood. The top bracing gives the builder another avenue with which to shape the tone and intensity.
Accessory Tools and Jigs:
Jigs and Forms will give the luthier the framework to maintain the precision that is necessary in the building trade. Additionally they will allow consistency from one instrument to another, with greater ease and save vast amounts of time. Consider making these jigs, form,s and specialized tools:
Work board Plate Joiner Jig Fret Slot Cutting Jig Inside Form Heated Side Bender Go-Board Gluing Jig.
Beneficial Hand Tools:
In order to start your building tasks you will need a fundamental set of hand tools. When purchasing hand tools, purchase the best quality tools you can afford as they hold and edge better, are easier to sharpen, cut better, and are safer to use.
Japanese Pull Saws Wood Chisel Set Low Angle Brass Block Plane Violin Finger Planes Fret Saws Dovetail Saw Plastic Tipped Hammer Orbital Sander Hand Scrapers Dremel Moto Tool and Attachments
Recommended Stationary Tools:
If you are serious about this endeavor, investigate obtaining a few stationary tools to save a tremendous amount of time. Some basic tools to consider are:
6" x 48" Stationary Belt Sander 12" Band Saw Drill Press
The Workshop Setup:
Not only do you need space for glue-up operations, and assembly, you need some extra workbench space. Adequate work lights are additionally needed as this is very comprehensive work. Also, if it is available, you ought to strive to bet natural lighting into the work area.
The Purchase of Quality Plans:
To guarantee success of your guitar making endeavors, purchase a good set of guitar plans. Your plans will need to be full scale.
Neck Assembly:
Cut the neck blank to size, and glue halves together. First sand the neck blank square. Cut the scarf joint for the headpiece. Reverse the headpiece, sand the joint and glue the headpiece on the neck. Next, you will need to rout a channel down the center of the neck for the truss rod and install the truss rod. Stack the heel blocks on the neck and glue in place. After the heel blocks are dry, shape the heel, the neck and the headpiece. After cutting the headpiece veneer, glue in position. Detail the neck dovetail joint, or mortise and tenon joint to precisely fit into the head block.
Precisely cut the appropriate openings for the tuning machines. Cut fretboard to shape and thickness and cut fret channels.
The Back, Sides and Top:
Prior to gluing and bending you need to cut the sides, back and top plates to appropriate thickness. General guidelines indicated 1/8" thickness for steel string guitars and 3/32" thickness for nylon string guitars. To thin the guitar backs, sides and top, you can use a wide variety of techniques from hand held jack planes, stationary planer, stationary belt sander, hand held scrapers and drum sanders.
Next, in order to glue the top and back halves together, use a plate joining jig. Rough shape the bracing for the back and top. Glue into place with the go-board gluing jig. Let braces dry and then final shape the bracing and finish sand them. Cut the rosette channels in the guitar top. Glue the rosette into place and cut out the sound-hole. Glue in the reinforcing for the sound-hole.
Fire up the heated side bender and bend the sides. Keep the sides in the bender for a few days. Remove and place in the inside mold. Trim the ends with a Japanese Pull Saw. Install head and tail block into place. Make the kerfing on the band saw and glue kerfing around outside edges of sides. Fit the top and back to the sides with the sides mounted in the form. Mark out brace locations and cut into the kerfings.
Glue the top to the sides by using 1" elastic upholstery tape. Glue back in the same manner. Take the Dremel router with the binding cutter attachment and set it to the appropriate depth and width for your bindings and purfling. Cut the channel for the peghead binding as well.
The Bindings and Purfling:
You can fabricate your purfling and binding trim or you can choose to purchase them. First you will need to pre-bend wood bindings on the heated side bender. Next glue them into position with 1" elastic tape.
Fit the Neck:
Align the neck carefully and then glue in place to the guitar body and head-block. Do not glue a bolt-on neck. Glue fretboard onto neck and top plate. If using a bolt on neck, do not glue to top. Finish shaping neck and heel. Tap the frets into the fret channels and dress the frets.
Finishing the Instrument:
Finish sand all wood parts of the instrument with 120 and 220 grit sandpaper. It may be required to cleanup the rosette, purfling and bindings with a hand scraper. Apply masking tape on the guitar top on for the bridge footprint.
Spray several vinyl sealer coats on guitar. When the vinyl sealer is dry, sand flush. Next apply a toned paste wood filler and let it dry. Clean up and spray the finish coats of lacquer. Depending on the viscosity of the lacquer it may take from 6 to 10 coats of lacquer with sanding between each 2 coats.
You now need to let the lacquer coats dry for at least a week or more. Sand the finish coats one last time with silicone carbide sandpaper and buff to a mirror finish with a buffing wheel.
Final Detail Items:
Glue the bridge to the top plate and use the saddle channel routing jig to cut in the saddle slot. Install nut and saddle. Assemble the tuning machines on the peg head. String up the instrument with either light or medium light strings and test the action and fretting. Make any adjustments as required. Your Guitar Building will now be complete.
About the Author:
Interested in more guitar building articles? Be sure to visit our site of a wide range of free articles at Guitar Building. For information on guitar repair, care, reviews, free guitar tab, lessons an more, be sure to visit our site: Ultimate Guitar OnLine.
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