Build of yore - Electric Thin Line Archtop Nylon String

[LouieAtienza]

So I stumble upon a long-lost USB jump drive that just happened to have some archived photos of a few builds. Thought it would be fun to share this. This build was originally done around the fall of 2010, only a little more than a month after my mother's passing. The guitar had moved along to it's current owner since.

This guitar was actually a "challenge" build in the ol' MIMF; maybe some of the folks here may remember. Anyways, I remember Gibson came out with a custom nylon-string LP where the bridge was actually carved into the top. Always liked the clean look of that, but thought it would be cool to make an LP-type guitar that was nylon string, but had a stop-tail as well. This was a conundrum, as I wanted a fully carved top plate.

I start off with this template, which is a copy of a OO template I made for another challenge guitar (which had since imploded after a fall):
[IMG]007-Template After by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

The top would be made of this cedar, which believe it or not, was a "save" from a decking job I did about 5 years prior. Had some cool discoloration, but was decently quartered:
[IMG]008-Resaw Top by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Being it was a 6X6 post it needed to be glued up out of 4 pieces:
[IMG]011-Bookmatch Sort Of by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

I also fell into a lot of this crazy Philippine mahogany, and made a few LP bodies from it later. I actually had some resawn a year ago by Chris Ensor, but only succeeded in bending one pair of sides. Alas there is no more, save for some drop-offs.
[IMG]013-Back Blank by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Routing the top shape out using the template as a guide:
[IMG]015-Top Route by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[LouieAtienza]

So although I had my CNC up and running, my self-imposed challenged was to devise a jig that would do what I call a "proportional" arch on the top, without having to use an already carved template and pantograph. This was the jig I devised, and will carve an arch on a body of almost any shape, without prior templating.
[IMG]016-Top Rough Pass 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Some folks at the MIMF were a bit concerned about my prior "hazardous" carving techniques. This was far more safer, and the roughing consumed about 15 minutes or so of relatively easy work.
[IMG]017-Top Rough Pass 2 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]018-Top Cleaned 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

The back was glued up and cut to shape:
[IMG]021-Back Cutout by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

And the template for the "hollowing out was made:
[IMG]023-Chamber Template 2 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Leading to the not-too-fun task of hogging out:
[IMG]025-Chamber Route 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]026-Chamber Route Done by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

So far:
[IMG]027-Mockup 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[LouieAtienza]

Neck billet glued up from more Philippine mahogany, padauk, and maple:
[IMG]032-Neck Mockup by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

A chunk of phenolic (arborite) that I use mainly for electric guitar fretboards:
[IMG]034-Fretboard Blank by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]035-Fretboark Blank Cut by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]036-Fretboard Planing by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]038-Fretboard Slots by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Then brought onto my fretboard radiusing jig:
[IMG]039-Fretboard Radius 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]040-Fretboard Radius 2 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]042-Fretboard Radius 4 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[LouieAtienza]

Fretboard glued with epoxy to neck billet, which has ears added to the headstock, and getting flushed on belt sander:
[IMG]055-Neck Sand Side by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

The laborious task of removing the mill marks from the fretboard:
[IMG]057-Fretboard Sand 2 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Phenolic looks really nice all polished up:
[IMG]058-Fretboard Sand 3 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]063-Fretting 5 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

When you don't have a bandsaw you have to resort to caveman tactics:
[IMG]070-Cutting Taper by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Rough-shaping the neck using aforementioned jigsaw, rasps, and sandpaper:
[IMG]075-Neck Shaping Done by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

The arched top is hollowed out using a Forstner bit on the drill press. A roll of tape underneath serves as a guide:
[IMG]077-Top Rough Done by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Scraped, sanded, and almost ready:
[IMG]079-Top Done by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[LouieAtienza]

Spalted maple gifted to me by fellow MIMFer:
[IMG]081-Headstock Veneer 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]082-Headstock Veneer 2 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

The back "braces" are shaped, along with the two "bosses" that will be used for the pins for the "floating" stop-tail:
[IMG]084-Bracing Carve 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

And the corresponding holes on the top:
[IMG]087a-Top Drill 2 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Headstock rough shaped:
[IMG]095-Headstock Shape by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]103-Headstock Bevel Done by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Binding:
[IMG]101-Binding Glue Up by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]106-Binding Top Bout Done by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[LouieAtienza]

The tenon is shaped onto the neck heel:
[IMG]112-Neck Tenon Cut by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Was afraid the neck pocket wall at the cutaway would be too frail so I reinforced it with padauk. The neck wood under the fretboard was also shaped to the top. Having a continuous neck piece all the way through ensures me of no hump:
[IMG]113-Body Tenon Cut by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]114-Neck Joint Detail 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Finishing the headstock:
[IMG]116-Tuner Holes 1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]117-Tuner Holes 2 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]118-Tuner Holes 4 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[LouieAtienza]

Bridge and stop tail carved from padauk:
[IMG]121-Bridge Carved by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]122-Tailpiece Drilling by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]123-Tailpiece and Bridge Finished by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

The guitar's first coat of finish:
[IMG]125-Front Preview by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]126-Back Preview by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

More spalted maple which would become the back plate:
[IMG]127-Back Plate by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

And the finished guitar:
[IMG]131-Front-1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]132-Headstock-1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]133-Top-1 by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

Detail of how the stop tail works. Originally I used flat head screws, but they ended up bending from the string pull. I eventually turned to posts from drill rod.
[IMG]134-Bridge Detail by Louie Atienza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[redir]

That's really neat Louie. What does it sound like?

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by redir

That's really neat Louie. What does it sound like?

Thanks... I do have a soundclip, somewhere. If I find it I'll post it. Surprisingly good for a guitar without a sound hole. Because this was part of a $100 challenge, I put what was likely the cheapest feather pickup ever (about 13 on eBay.) The tuners were the costliest part and they were Ping's for about $40 at GC. The pickups kind of give a "uke" effect; unfortunately I didn't record the "acoustic" sound. Could have been my rough fingers and carpal tunnel... Very happy with the trebles, didn't want booming bass because it was meant to be amplified.

[LouieAtienza]

Of course as I go to look for something else I find the track. Please excuse the "rough" playing...