Two New Edwinsons- An EPC Element and a Zephyr 00 Short Scale

[CyberFerret]

Excellent stuff !! Going to subscribe to this thread to watch the coming developments...

[theEdwinson]

Originally Posted by hnuuhiwa

Steve, I'll be watching that Zephyr closely, as it has all of the features I'd have in my Koa/Sinker one. :-)

So glad you are back on the AGF, Hen. And glad you're watching the Zephyr. It's going to be a special one- for Lenny. When a guitar is built to commemorate a special person, it becomes a sacred trust.
As for specifications, I've built about a dozen Zephyrs now, and every one has been different. Venetian cutaways, Florentine cutaways, non-cutaways, short scales, multiscales, slot-heads, solid heads, Laskin bevels, Ryan bevels... you name it, and this guitar can be adapted to it. I'd love to make one for you. Put together a wish list, and whenever you're ready...

[theEdwinson]

Originally Posted by CyberFerret

Excellent stuff !! Going to subscribe to this thread to watch the coming developments...

Turnabout is fair play, eh, Devan? I'm going to check out your blog!

[theEdwinson]

Here are two more photos of this rainbow-hued Indonesian Rosewood, just to round out the day. Cheers!

[Hierophant]

Hey Steve, I came across your website where you share lots of information on your design philosophy which I really appreciate and mostly agree with. Your detailed description of the bending process in this thread is also very interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience. I really like what you are doing, it's great!

[David Wren]

Wow ... Stephen ... it'll be hard to lose using ANY of those tops! Looking forward to watching these come together!

[theEdwinson]

Today is a good day to update this thread, I guess... Although I would rather be testing out my new jeweler's saw and pattern files, or flat-sanding the sides on the Malay EPC, I have to set aside one day a week for administrative homework and computer-related stuff. So here goes...

The arm bevel and rib bevel have become extremely popular in the high-end guitar market in the last few years, and I am now a dyed-in-the-wool advocate for them. I don't believe that playing a guitar should be an uncomfortable chore. It should be a sheer, unmitigated pleasure, if at all possible. I have had a number of custom-build clients (including myself) who have had muscle and joint issues that can make playing a guitar with a deep, hulking soundbox difficult or even painful. A slightly redesigned, shallower soundbox, with added comfort bevels, can go a long way in helping this situation, without any discernible detriment to the sound.
I've seen quite a few different approaches to making these bevels on acoustic guitars. There are a few videos on YouTube depicting some methods.
I've come up with a method for building the internal bevel support structure that works very well for me. So I thought I'd do a demonstration here, and hopefully someone may find some useful information here.

First: After the sides have been laminated, and the neck block, tail block, and cutaway block are fitted and glued in, the sides are radius-sanded. I use a back radius of fifteen feet, and a top radius of twenty-five feet. To sand in the radius, I measure and mark my target side depth, and then sand in the radius on both sides of the rims with these MDF radiused sanding dishes, faced with 50-grit aluminum oxide sanding disks. This operation gives me a good upper-body workout, which I actually enjoy.



Then, I establish the shape of the bevel(s) on the sides, marking the cut lines with masking tape. Here, I've got the arm bevel and the rib bevel marked and ready to cut. But first...



Before I start shaving away wood on the sides, I take some sturdy but lightweight Hemlock wood blanks, and mark and cut the gluing edge so it exactly fits the curve of the sides. This photo depicts the rib bevel blank.



And now for the fun part: Paring away the sides with a low-angle spokeshave, and smoothing the edge with sanding blocks:





And here is the fruit of my labor, thus far- a handful of laminated-side shavings. Pretty, huh?



I'll continue the demo shortly. It's lunch time! See the antler-handled knife in the lower right corner? That's an important tool in my arsenal, used for spreading peanut butter on bread.

[theEdwinson]

Now that the bevels have been cut into the sides, and the bevel block blanks fitted to the curve, it's time to begin shaping the bevel blocks. Here, I'm marking the block with a cut-line for the side edge.



And now, the bevel block is bandsawed to rough shape, and the fit to the curve is refined.



Here is the roughly dimensioned arm bevel block.



And now I get out my Japanese whittlin' knife, and cut in the bevel to my cut lines. This is the rib bevel.



Then, I cut away the excess mass on the other side of the bevel blocks. Here's my *secret* technique: I leave these blocks on the back side of the bevels, which are used as built-in, temporary clamping cauls. These make clamping the bevel blocks into the sides very easy and secure.
After the glue has dried, I pare away the temporary clamping cauls with the Japanese knife and some skew chisels. This only takes a few minutes.



Here's how easy it is to glue in the bevel blocks. First, the rib bevel:



...And then the arm bevel:



...And then, the clamping blocks are trimmed away, and the whole thing is cleaned up and sanded smooth.



And here's the result- the arm bevel and rib bevel internal support blocks are installed, and sculpted to final shape, and sanded smooth and neat.

[David Wren]

A couple of gorgeous looking builds ... I'll be watching these for sure!

[theEdwinson]

Thank you, David. You've got a couple of fascinating projects of your own going, right now, which I am cheering from the sidelines. Somehow, you manage to keep everything so neat and orderly while you're working. How do you do that?

Now that I have the bevel blocks installed in the Zephyr sides, it's time to install the linings. Since I'm building with double sides now, the linings don't need to be 1/4" thick. I make them about 5/32" thick now, and that gives plenty of gluing surface around the rims.
I make my own inside-kerf linings on the table saw. I've got a jig system that I use to make six strips at a time, and as long as I'm going to the trouble, I might as well make four sets of six, which will be enough for the next six guitars I make. I usually make enough blanks of other parts for several guitars, too.





Once the kerfed linings are glued in, I do another quick radius-sanding of the rims to even everything up. You want to have a totally even, contiguous gluing surface when you glue on the back and the top. No gaps allowed.

[theEdwinson]

Next up is cutting in the Tri-port. This is not for the squeamish, at least not at first, so if the sight of splinters makes you nervous, you may want to avert your eyes when I start cutting these holes.
First, I mark the Tri-port layout on masking tape.



Then I use a step-drill to start the holes. Looks like a hungry beaver has been chewing on the guitar at this point. But don't worry, it cleans up nice.



I use rat-tail rasps, files, and sandpaper wrapped around dowels to refine the holes.



Then, I very carefully chamfer the edges of the ports. You see the middle layer, the white line between the inner and outer sides? That's a layer of Maple veneer that I glued in, so there would be a decorative accent line in the ports.



And here are some late-night shots I took of the finished Zephyr sides, because I really like the graceful curves.









Thanks for looking at this thread, folks. I'll be back soon with some progress shots on the Malay EPC, and show you which top I decided to use.

[fountainhead]

Stephen- Not only do I watch your builds enviously- drooling over your stunning guitars, but you are a fantastic educator as well! I may never build a guitar, but as a guitar enthusiast and player you help me to understand "what is under the hood"! I have a deeper respect for what all builders do, and the tremendous skill necessary to create these instruments that we so dearly love. Thank you "Professor"!

[CoolerKing]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing...

[theEdwinson]

Originally Posted by fountainhead

Stephen- Not only do I watch your builds enviously- drooling over your stunning guitars, but you are a fantastic educator as well! I may never build a guitar, but as a guitar enthusiast and player you help me to understand "what is under the hood"! I have a deeper respect for what all builders do, and the tremendous skill necessary to create these instruments that we so dearly love. Thank you "Professor"!

Thank you, my friend. I do enjoy the teaching aspect of this work. I am really looking forward to the time when I set up my next workshop, you know the one with 2500 square feet of space, and skylights, and dedicated work stations, all the right tools, jigs, and machinery, good dust collection, and a certified spray booth... I am definitely planning on bringing some active teaching into my enterprise. I would like to offer week-long classes, and full-year or 18-month apprenticeships someday.
I want to follow in the footsteps of some of my heroes, like Charles Fox, and Robert O'Brien, and of course the Master, Ervin Somogyi. I'm not fit to stand in the shadows of any of these guys, but doing these little demos on the AGF is good practice. I'm so glad you enjoy this! Thanks for looking!

[Nemoman]

The tri-ports are just awesome, Steve--hoping to try one of your guitars out that incorporate them some day! Really enjoying this thread...thanks so much