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#61
02-28-2016, 10:07 AM
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 There is still a ways to go in designing and executing a number of features to tie all the elements together.Quote:
Non-steel string flat tops are a bit out of the mainstream here in the AGF "Custom Shop". I sometimes when posting to these threads feel like I am talking to myself... (>50% of the posts are the OP).That said, happly there are a subset of members like yourself who are interested in builds like this one. I thought this build would be particularly interesting flat top players. While Bill has built many hundreds of guitars for over two decades now, he has never shared his build process publicly. Additionally, he has never made a guitar quite like this one that has elements of both flat top and archtop guitars. This lutherie journey is also a bit of an experiment and relies upon experience and intuition to navigate to achieve the goal he has in his mind. For those of you planning on attending this years Woodstock Invitational, I have let Bill know that I would be happy to let him display it so attendees will have an opportunity to try this guitar out.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… 
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#63
03-02-2016, 05:26 PM
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What I can tell you is that Bill is carving the neck and came up with an interesting asymmetric neck heel design that should make access to the upper fingerboard slightly easier. It reminds me a bit of some heels done by California luthier Michi Matsuda. He also made a Cocobolo backstrap veneer for the peghead. Additionally, we have also discussed a number of body finish ideas and bridge design.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 03-02-2016 at 05:53 PM.
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#64
03-04-2016, 12:54 PM
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Neck Carve
Bill has now moved on to carving the neck. The figure in the honduran mahogany neck blank can now begin to be seen. I am glad that we decided to stay with a one-piece neck. He created a small volute at the headstock transition. A figured, plainsawn cocobolo veneer can be seen laminated to the back of the peghead. The brass plates of the Rodgers tuners should contrast nicely against this back drop. After some consideration we decided to stay with a conventional symmetrical heel. The dark “s” shaped mark is simply a sketched pencil line when he was still contemplating an asymmetric approach.
More when I get it... 
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#65
03-05-2016, 04:49 PM
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What's Next...
This week Bill will fret the neck with Jescar EVO Gold 47104 wire, install a Cocobolo heel cap and glue the neck to the body. Because this is design is somewhat experimental, I believe Bill will again go the extra step to install a temporary bridge and tailpiece to see how the top reacts to differing tailpiece angles when strung up to determine the optimal down pressure on the top before making the real bridge and tailpiece.
We still have a number of important aesthetic decisions to make on the design of the bridge, tailpiece and finger rest. We also need to decide timbre wise on an ebony or bone saddle. Lastly, we have tossed a number of different body finish ideas back and forth that we will hold off on until we see the whole thing in "white".
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#66
03-05-2016, 05:02 PM
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Lovely neck and backstrap...
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2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle) 2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW) 2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga) 2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco) 2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak) 2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk) 2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa)
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#67
03-06-2016, 07:21 AM
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The tuners should definitely "pop" on the Cocobolo veneer...  
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#68
03-10-2016, 07:27 PM
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Neck on!
Bill has finished carving the neck and has glued it to the body. For the first time, we can now begin to see how the design elements of the body binding and rosette work with the fingerboard and peghead. The gestural arc of the Cocobolo/Ebony junction on the fingerboard is visually reinforced by the curve of the venetian cutaway. The same sweep is visually completed in the Cocobolo/Honduran Mahogany junction in the headplate veneer.
 This shot from the side, not only shows the beautiful curl in the figured Honduran Mahogany, but the gentle but complex arch of the top and the negative neck angle. Also note the added depth of the body which is about 4-1/8" deep at the end block. Traditional archtops do not have tapered backs like flat tops and will more typically be 2-3/4" to 3-3/8" in depth.  In these assembly shots you can see the neck extension, the EVO 47104 Gold fretwire, and the oval shaped MOP side position markers. You also can see how the Cocobolo body binding visually ties into the Cocobolo portion of the fingerboard. You can also see the purfling beneath the fingerboard that Steve Kinnaird commented on a few posts back. 
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 03-10-2016 at 07:45 PM.
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#69
03-10-2016, 08:07 PM
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Steve
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#70
03-10-2016, 08:31 PM
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Like my last project with Bruce in 2015 (which was a wonderful success!), this one is also a bit of an experiment in lutherie. Bill has never built one like this, but I trust the mastery gained from 300+ guitars of experience will help guide him to greatness here. I also know that he is having a lot of fun with this project, which is in my experience an added success factor...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 03-11-2016 at 07:23 AM.
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#71
03-12-2016, 11:06 AM
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Process
Given the somewhat experimental nature of this particular commission (e.g. combining elements of an archtop with a flat top), Bill is taking some somewhat unusual steps during this build.
Now that the neck has been attached to the body, Bill can go ahead and string it up again (he did this before the body was even closed using a very clever and interesting fixture to evaluate his top carve). He wants to understand the proper amount of down pressure on the bridge to make the guitar voice sound at its best. This will provide him insight into the bridge mass and tailpiece angle to achieve this ahead of making them. On a normal x-braced carved archtop this is of course unnecessary because he established these parameters years ago and after making hundreds of them can simply navigate by dimensions and tap tones. So no pictures today, but I thought that I would journal an interesting process...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#73
03-12-2016, 01:58 PM
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Thanks John...
Quote:
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#74
03-16-2016, 05:04 PM
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Bridge Plate
I want to share some of the empirical, experimental process of creating this hybrid guitar.
Bill strung up the guitar with a temporary bridge/saddle and tailpiece today. After playing it a bit and evaluating the timbre he thought that he might be able to add some "weight" to the mids by experimenting with adding a bridge plate. The archtop had been fully carved and the body assembled and a bridge plate needs to be shape fitted to the arch of the top. Fortunately, Bill had originally prototyped the experimental arch with pine billet. He applied sandpaper to pine prototype to shape fit the top face of a maple bridge plate to shape of the arch. The other side of the bridge was hand shaped to make a uniform thickness, compound bridge plate. He double stick taped in place and found the character of timbre of the midrange shifted to his liking. He then removed it and then properly glued it in place. So now we have an oval holed archtop, with a flatter arch and recurve, carbon fiber reinforced scalloped x-brace with a maple bridge plate. Here is a mirror shot of the bridge plate. 
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#75
03-16-2016, 07:01 PM
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Bob,
Very cool! Thanks for sharing the pics and back story with us. For Fretboard Journal issue #9 Spring, 2008), I wrote an in-depth piece on Kim Walker's similar project. In his attempt to bridge (pun intended) the sonic landscape between archtop and flattop, Kim used Brazilian rosewood for the back and sides and, like Mr. Comins, experimented mightily. An in progress pic:  Completed:  And, most apropos of your fabulous thread, the full text of the article. Thanks again for updating this thread. I'm happily hanging on every word and photograph!
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John
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