The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 01-19-2020, 10:02 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default A Thin Spruce Acoustic

In the General section a poster wanted to know of any thin nylon guitars. I did not have a suggestion but thought it would be a good time to show off what a good thin guitar sounds like. So I showed this video. Then I found out he wanted electric, not necessarily acoustic. Oh well, but it got me started.



So I asked about building a thin guitar on a luthier section of a classical guitar forum. Basically given the two thumbs up, go for it.

So the reason for such an animal. There are times I can't hold a guitar due to pain issues. Can't use a Telecaster unless it has an arm bevel on it, I sold my G&L because of it. Now I have some small acoustics I built, one with enough bevel on it I should be able to play it. It is being humidified for a couple of weeks before I do the neck fitting and bridge, the rest of finishing it up. But I would like to have a full scale guitar that I can practice on that is light in weight.

So going through my wood I decide to use a top I already have joined and some funny looking Sitka that came from a reject pallet of tops for the back (got it?). They are not even bookmatched but seem to come from the same log. I am using a 2"x3" wall stud for the neck. It is some light Engelmann spruce, Just enough depth for building a neck for this guitar. The light weight will go to keeping the guitar more balanced, hopefully not a lot of weight to the body. Going to use some ukulele tuners on it.

So the lineup. Minus the 2x3, I forgot to get it in the picture.



So I chopped the 2x3 and sanded the two surfaces flat using sandpaper clamped to the top of a tables saw. Glued it together. Split the board for the sides down the middle. Left them thick as my tablesaw had a fine tooth blade on it and the power bar that it is plugged into trips the breaker easy. Took a lot of patience to get through it, especially with the garage at -10 C. Rather than freeze longer I just took a plane to the sides so they were a reasonable thickness to put through my drum sander. So off and running. I hope I don't embarrass myself with this one.

__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 01-19-2020, 11:14 PM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 8,381
Default

A few years ago, I played a guitar that Serge de Jonge made that had spruce top, back, sides and neck. His was a standard depth. It sounded pretty nice, as good as many rosewood-backed guitars.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 01-20-2020, 09:25 AM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by charles Tauber View Post
A few years ago, I played a guitar that Serge de Jonge made that had spruce top, back, sides and neck. His was a standard depth. It sounded pretty nice, as good as many rosewood-backed guitars.
My first acoustic guitar had a cedar top with pine b&s's, fir neck. I brought it to a local luthier to get a professional opinion. He told me a few structural things and I wanted to know how the sound was, he said it was fine. It surprised him when he finally realized it was built with pine rather than a hardwood. Some pine is not all that much dense or hard than Spanish Cedar. I would love to make a whole guitar out of Spanish Cedar one day, I have a piece of it for the neck already.
__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 01-20-2020, 11:37 AM
redir redir is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Mountains of Virginia
Posts: 7,657
Default

2x3 wall stud?

Anyway look forward to seeing this project. I am thinking when you say thin you also mean light weight right?
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 01-20-2020, 01:58 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

Light weight for sure. It was suggested that I use pegs rather than metal tuners but I would need to insert plugs into the headstock to give them a harder wood to work with. I screwed up this morning. I was routing the trussrod slot and one of my clamps let go on my guide. Why was I using plastic clamps? Shaved off 3/16" and started again but with metal clamps. Going to have a thicker heel cap it seems.

The 2x3 is light, it is hard enough to find straight grained wood that is not cut right out at the pith but finding a light one also is. Also looking for a higher grain count, most are juvenile trees. But I have been looking for a while. I glue up the sides so that the grain will be angled out, makes for better carving than if you flip the piece over as shown. Going to have an aluminum trussrod epoxied in.

__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 01-27-2020, 03:49 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

Sorry for the delay. I was looking for a mold I had of a body the right length, nowhere to be found. I did find the template for it and made another. A bearing is shot in my band saw and I am surprised I managed to get it cut out. I have a lot of maintenance to do on equipment, lot of my tools were bought used. But the form came out ok. I did the cutaway side first just in case I broke it. I thinned out the cutaway to 0.045", brushed on some SuperSoft II, wrapped it in food wrap, bent it on a hot pipe with a damp rag over it. Clamped it in the form and left it overnight. Not much spring back, did the other side today. Tomorrow I will do the linings.



Feel pretty good about getting the cutaway done. Bending softwood is not the easiest thing and the turns are tighter than the diameter of my pipe. Just a hint of a crease. I did a test piece before doing the side. I was thinking of laminating it to the side, I'll think about it today. I need to think about wedges, bevels and the like, what I eventually want to end up with.
__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 01-31-2020, 10:03 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

You know, I get distracted by shiny objects. I thought, you wanted to make a lightweight headless electric, why not make it with that quartered 2"x3" and the offcuts of the acoustic? So I started figuring it out moved a bag of cigar boxes out of the way so I had some room on the floor to lay a Strat copy down. Then the one cigar box caught my eye. I might be able to fit a class D amp in it with a 12AX7 for the preamp. So I took it and used a hairdryer to get the labels off. I'm a little concerned about getting rid of the heat but I think it might fit.

Oh right, bent the sides, about the size of a Tele. Still not 100% sure if I will go headless, just thought it prudent with no weight in the body. I also figure it would be a good test run on doing the acoustic.

__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 02-04-2020, 09:03 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

My niece's husband sent me an email asking me if he should buy this Harmony that among the usual problems of a 50 year old guitar it also had someone sit on it and cracked the sides all the way around. And sill wanted $350 for it. I think I disappointed him and thought I better finish the guitar I was making for him. I had the body done but needed to do the neck. It seems to have moved up on top of my list of things to do bumping my guitars. Did the scarf joint today and the truss rod slot. Should build up the heel today but it is late already.

__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 11-25-2020, 08:20 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

I might as well put this in this thread. I have had another activity taking up my time and never got any further than I got to above. Now that I am finding more time I want to get a few of my projects finished I know I will get the things done for other people and my guitar will be done last. So in the spirit of, I really need something to play, I looked through the pile I have. I decided I would take a crappy guitar and hack it up to get me what I need. I bought a guitar once, a starter guitar, not so much an instrument rather a guitar shaped object, bought it because it came with a case for $30. I was going to throw away the guitar as I only bought it for the case but I kept hold of it, not sure why. It had no bass, the action was way high, fell sorry for the kids that first get these to learn on. Anytime I read people selling their guitar with, "perfect learning guitar" I think something that is unplayable and the worst guitar a new student should learn on (or they just make them give up).

Anyway, I did a California neck reset on it previously. You cut the heel to the back of the fretboard and then stuff glue in and clamp till dry. Sat around after that, I still could not give it away to somebody, it was better playing wise but it sounded terrible. Well, now was its time. I took a hack saw and cut a section of the waist and another for an arm bevel.



I then glued some added bits where the back and sides had little support for the grafted on pieces. Cut two pieces for the belly cut and one for the arm bevel out of some spruce and glued them in place. Some quick work with a file and some sandpaper got me to a reasonable contoured shape. Then it sat before I could get some strings on it.





I finally made time today to do it. I gave it a half fret job, then put some strings on it. I am really happy at how comfortable it is. I also did some carving of the braces inside the guitar to get it to sound better. At first it was a real dog, no bass. So I took some off the height of the braces to loosen things up (Don't try this at home kiddies.) and it sounds much better, enough to surprise me. It is no means perfect but more full sounding, going to make practicing more enjoyable.

The interesting thing was that other than the bridge plate there was no top brace other than the horizontal one below the sound hole. The top is plywood and thick enough to deal with the string tension. I cut about a third off the top of the two lower back braces, if the top can survive as is the back can take some loosening up. Tapping it beforehand just got a dead thud to it, mind you same with the top. Now there is a bit of a drum sound to it. I could swear that it is louder now also. It does not sound half bad except for the low E string, G# and below tuned to E it struggles on the lower notes and rattles a some if played loud. Still for what I want it for I can live with it for now. I will finish my own guitars yet.
__________________
Fred

Last edited by Kerbie; 02-15-2021 at 03:16 AM. Reason: Removed profanity
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 11-26-2020, 08:29 AM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 8,792
Default

You've been working on the thin spruce acoustic since January?
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 11-26-2020, 10:12 AM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudy4 View Post
You've been working on the thin spruce acoustic since January?
When I saw the date earlier I hung my head. I have not done anything guitar related since that time, other priorities. I am going to finish the full sized one next to give away for Christmas. Also a small guitar that needs frets, tuners, bridge and neck put on, build a guitar amp, all for Christmas. So It looks like I will not have time for my own guitars until the new year. I have been unable to play anything else for any length of time so I slapped this guitar together. Barre chords are a little more difficult with the flat fretboard but I will manage for now.


Actutually was a bad fret buggering up the lower notes, touched it up and not bad. I have not been able to play long enough for my hand to get sore in many years. I am pretty pleased.
__________________
Fred

Last edited by printer2; 11-26-2020 at 08:22 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 02-14-2021, 03:04 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

What have I done? Found I have wasted a lot of time? Carving a neck for a guitar, found a pitch pocket. Installed a truss rod, radiused a fretboard, cut the fret slots, glued onto the neck blank. Carved away. I should have stopped when I found it, thought maybe I could salvage it.








__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 02-14-2021, 03:24 PM
John Arnold John Arnold is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 4,082
Default

Glue in a sliver of spruce and continue.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 02-14-2021, 03:56 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,094
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Arnold View Post
Glue in a sliver of spruce and continue.
I thought of that but I wasn't sure about the sap in the pocket. I got as much out of it as I could using slivers of wood to scoop it out. I thought maybe put some solvent in to get the rest, I can see that just wicking it into the wood. Also I think it may get wider as you go in. The only thing I was really concerned about was the glue sticking.
__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 02-15-2021, 02:57 AM
John Arnold John Arnold is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 4,082
Default

The pitch can be cleaned up with turpentine. In a worst case, you can rout it a bit larger.
In general, I like to see the pitch solidiified before I consider spruce to be seasoned. It can be done with heat. On most of the red spruce I have cut, the pitch sets in 2 or 3 years just from normal air drying.

Last edited by John Arnold; 02-15-2021 at 03:05 AM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:46 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=