Can you make an acoustic by cutting out the shape and routing it out?

[Brian Greve]

I know that to make an acoustic guitar you would need to normally cut, bend, and glue the sides into a mold. Could you circumvent all that by just cutting out the shape on a bandsaw and route or cut out the center of it? Is there a reason that I don't see anybody else do this?

[packocrayons]

Originally Posted by Brian Greve

I know that to make an acoustic guitar you would need to normally cut, bend, and glue the sides into a mold. Could you circumvent all that by just cutting out the shape on a bandsaw and route or cut out the center of it? Is there a reason that I don't see anybody else do this?

Grain direction. You would end up with very weird grain orientation, including end grain where the neck block sits. At the wall thicknesses for acoustic guitars (0.090" on the high end), it would simply fall apart if you could manage to glue it together.

Not to mention the size of the billet of exotic wood you would need to start with.

[Quickstep192]

There are some "chambered" electric/acoustic guitars that are made by routing out the inside of a slab and putting a top on it, but they are generally quite shallow and the "sides" are fairly thick. Godin Multiacs are and example of this and maybe the Taylor T5 also.

If you were trying to rout a shell that was 3-1/2" deep with walls of 1/8" thickness, the wood would almost certainly crack at the end grain on the top and bottom. Not to mention turning a lot of exotic wood into sawdust.

[tadol]

Besides being a tremendous waste of material, and the cost of it, you’re basically talking about an approach similar to Ovation - making a structurally sound box in a specific shape, and adding a neck and a soundboard. Yes, it could be done, but there is nothing to gain from it -

[DenverSteve]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

..but they are generally quite shallow and the "sides" are fairly thick. Godin Multiacs are and example of ........Not to mention turning a lot of exotic wood into sawdust.

And much smaller physically (think telecaster size). Chambering a large piece of wood into a "hollow box" to make a guitar body would be more work, more waste, impractical, costly and as soon as you make a mistake you would have to throw that "box" away and start over. If one had the knowledge, skill and ability to hollow out a massive (16"x16"ish) piece of wood to do this accurately, they would have the tools and skills to simply build a guitar in a more traditional manner. As implied above, you could me dozens of guitars out of the amount of material wasted in an effort to make one in the "dug out" fashion you are asking about.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Brian Greve

I know that to make an acoustic guitar you would need to normally cut, bend, and glue the sides into a mold. Could you circumvent all that by just cutting out the shape on a bandsaw and route or cut out the center of it? Is there a reason that I don't see anybody else do this?

Hi, I do believe that this was a part of Orville Gibson's original attempts at making a louder and stronger mandolin, but quickly abandoned the method for the method long used in the building of the violin family.

One could say that this method has been used in the making of instruments using gourds and , of course, in the shells of certain animals.

[Howard Klepper]

I think Rick Micheletti does something like this.

[printer2]

The Telecaster shaped guitar on the left was slabs of spruce glued together and then hogged out. I did not go as thin as a traditional guitar on the back, I did not know much about how the guitar worked at the time. Mind you, my inspiration was a Tele hollow body and I was really trying to build a practice one that was just a little louder. Worked well enough that I went down the mistaken path of building guitars.



The reasons given not to do it this way are valid. But if you have a router to hog out the piece of wood you have the capabilities of thinning down the wood to proper thickness. Look up router sled, take tin cuts and use double sided tape to stick it down. For your viewing enjoyment, say this "guitar" in a thrift store.





Basically took lengths of wood and glued them together. No that is not binding, it is the thickness of the top and back. Needless to say it was not very loud and sounded thin.

[Bax Burgess]

Puerto Rican quatros, at least the one I own, and Charangos are 'dugout canoes'.

[ruby50]

Here is one of several guys making ukes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCNph720XI

On a guitar size, you would have end grain issues at both ends of the body, and the sides and back would probably end up thicker. I saw a uke that had the back braces out of the same piece and a very thin back - solid piece of Koa. Lots of waste.

[vibrolucky]

Short answer, no. I don't see how you could possibly get the thickness down enough for it to not sound terrible.

It would take a 24" wide log to make a guitar, and it would (without any doubt) be full of cracks very soon after building. I know someone who did this with a fiddle (violin) as an experiment. It looks cool, but sounds terrible - nothing like a fiddle.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by Brian Greve

I know that to make an acoustic guitar you would need to normally cut, bend, and glue the sides into a mold. Could you circumvent all that by just cutting out the shape on a bandsaw and route or cut out the center of it? Is there a reason that I don't see anybody else do this?

In theory yes, in reality a lot of hurdles would have to be overcome, one being the grain being in my opinion the wrong direction on the sides

Here is a drum shell example i make from solid pieces of wood, making a guitar would be the same process

Steve


Cored and roughed out, seasoned and dried for two years.



Then machined to a wall thickness of 10mm with an overhead router and turned into a drum, this is one shell i made that went to brady drums to finish.

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by Brian Greve

I know that to make an acoustic guitar you would need to normally cut, bend, and glue the sides into a mold. Could you circumvent all that by just cutting out the shape on a bandsaw and route or cut out the center of it? Is there a reason that I don't see anybody else do this?

Y'know Brian, if I'm reading you correctly ("circumvent all that") you are among the many people who, having no experience bending thin wood, find it intimidating and mysterious, and try to think of a way to build a guitar and avoid doing the bending, or find some other way to bend that looks like it might be easier. I get it, because if you haven't done it it IS intimidating and mysterious. We've all been there.

I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that the solution is to make or buy a bending iron, cut or find some thin wood or get some orphaned sides for cheap, and start bending. IT'S FUN! What you are thinking of is much harder and much more work. And if it does work in the end, your guitar will weigh a ton and be an oddity with its own set of problems (like severe weak areas in the sides from run-out) that no one will be able to help you with.

[John Arnold]

There is a good reason why it is not done this way. To prove that this method is not viable, all you have to do is bandsaw a 0.09" thick slice off the end of a board and then try flexing it a little. It is incredibly weak.

Not to mention turning a lot of exotic wood into sawdust.

It really doesn't have to be made from exotic wood. Some of the best guitars I have built were made from domestic woods.

[printer2]

I agree with Howard, get some wood and bend it. The satisfaction of bending your first set of sides is really kind of cool.