First Acoustic Guitar Build

[JulieMo]

Hi all. First post here.

A little about me - I've been doing woodworking for 30+ years and to date have made several electric guitars but have always wanted to make an acoustic. Of the four electric guitars and one electric bass I've made, all have been made from scratch, including the necks. I'm hoping that experience will help in building an acoustic.

I will be following Jonathan Kinkead's book Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar. The book includes a full size plan of Kinkead's Kingsdown guitar. It's based on a Martin's 1929 Orchestra Model.

At this point, my plans are to purchase bearclaw sitka spruce soundboard halves from StewMac, along with sitka spruce bracing and mahogany kerfing. For the sides and backs I want to use a highly figured slab of sapele I have and resaw off what will be needed for the B&S.

Anyone see problems with the plan thus far?

Thanks,
Julie

[arie]

the Kinkead plans are known to feature super-duty bracing so keep that in mind.

acoustic building will teach you glue control and the necessity for tight joinery on very thin wood as well as the tonal implications of what you are doing. electrics are far more forgiving.

have fun!

[emmsone]

I used that book (but a different set of plans) as my primary reference guide for my first build. Its a pretty decent starting place but doesn't cover information about what to do with mistakes or corrections or modifications or deviations from the plans etc.

Personally I found as much help here reading previous build threads and seeing their mistakes and from the helpfulness of the community here as I did from the book.

I actually think (but I definitely wouldn't recommend it) that someone with some woodwork experience and could come on here and build a guitar just with the help of the community via a build thread. it probably would not come out factory quality, but it might be decent.
I think it would be an interesting project/experiment idea as long as there wasn't really any time constraints.

Your plans seem good so far.

David

[Rodger Knox]

If you want high quality bearclaw sitka, I recommend Alaska Specialty Woods. StewMac is fine supplier, but ASW uses exclusively salvaged(windfall or dead standing) old growth sitka, from one of the few old growth forests left, and they have exceptionally fine bearclaw sitka.https://alaskawoods.com/
No affiliation, other than a satisfied customer. I'd go with StewMac for everything else you need.

Your experience building electrics will help, but acoustics are much more difficult because the neck geometry has to be exactly correct, there's no significant adjustablity in the bridge. It is a woodworking project, so the quality of the fit and finish is up to you.

[JulieMo]

Thanks guys!

arie, while watching a Dana Bourgeois video on voicing an OM soundboard, it looked to me like he took the bracing down much further than what I've seen in Kinkead's book. I'll keep what you said in mind.

David, the reason I came here is just what you said. When building the electrics I had a lot of forum help that made the process much easier. Maybe I can make this build something along the line of what you were thinking about.

Rodger, thanks for the link. I'll check them out. Regarding the bridge, I have always been curious how simply placing a bridge where plans show them can guarantee proper tuning when there are no adjustments like on electrics. I saw a StewMac video on their Intonator and it seemed like a good way to go about locating the saddle.

After watching the Dana Bourgeois videos, I'm leaning toward making a trial soundboard with whatever I have lying around so I can get the feel for understanding the effects shaping the braces can have on tonal quality and stiffness. I realize it may never sound right but I may learn a thing or two about what I can and cannot do when shaping the braces.

This is the wood I plan to use for the back and sides.

I have a 16"x32"x8/4 piece left from that build. My bandsaw can only resaw up to 10" so I'll have to rip the slab before resawing. I'll post pics as I progress.

Thanks again for the help.
Julie

[arie]

i might suggest a book or two on the why's of what we do. there are plenty of books on the how's. one of my favorites are Somogyi's two book series.

also, ear training is often an overlooked aspect of building regarding one's ability to discern what actually is a good sound and what is not.

[JonWint]

StewMac has a lot of free instructions like: http://http://www.stewmac.com/freein...295/i-5295.pdf

C F Martin's Guitar Makers Connection (listed under 1833 Shop menu) sells complete kits or individual pieces. If not listed on the web site you can call. The pieces are technically factory rejects but are structurally fine.

For example, you can order a roughed out neck and neck block with dovetails, kerfed lining, bracing sets, bridge, binding/purfling sets, slotted fret boards, whatever. This way would speed your project and give you a good idea what component dimensions are in case you want to replicate later.

[rogthefrog]

Sounds like fun. There's a luthier forum that may be useful. PM me if you want an invite there.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by emmsone

Personally I found as much help here reading previous build threads and seeing their mistakes and from the helpfulness of the community here as I did from the book.

Mistakes and how to fix them, see my first couple of builds. Wait a second, maybe even a few of the last builds.

[JulieMo]

I decided to start with what I'm calling the Scrapper. I have some reclaimed pine, maybe 30-40 years old, some of it junk but some pretty interesting. I picked through what was left of a kitchen cabinet job I'm working on, looking for the tightest grain to make the soundboard.

This is a sample of the grain. The board is about 2" wide.


I planed the pieces to 3/8" for a glue up.


Tomorrow I'll do the glue up.

[JulieMo]

This morning I rechecked the joints on the soon-to-be pine soundboard and jointed as necessary then set up for the glue up.


Any remaining knots will not fall into the final shape


It's now glued up. I'll clean up the squeeze out once it gels.


I'm interested to hear what kind of resonance I get out of this, if any!

[JulieMo]

Got the scrap wood soundboard down to 1/8", sanded to 240. Did some knuckle tapping and actually got some vibration. That surprised me.

Then I marked the perimeter and locations of the braces.


When I referred to the book, I could not any find dimensions for the braces. It would seem that's kind of important. All there was is this:

It's obvious there are different heights for different braces and I know in voicing the soundboard that changes but it would be good to know where to start.

The book tells you to refer to the plans for length and width but the lines on the plans are pretty wide.

Am I nitpicking? Or are there dimensions I need to follow for the braces on an OM guitar?

[printer2]

Click OM bracing.

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...-shaped-braces

[JulieMo]

Thanks, Fred!

Now I have to confess I missed what was right under my nose. I was misinterpreting the plans. The height and width are there. Should have taken more time before commenting.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by JulieMo

Thanks, Fred!

Now I have to confess I missed what was right under my nose. I was misinterpreting the plans. The height and width are there. Should have taken more time before commenting.

You are not the first or the last.