A Thin Spruce Acoustic

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Originally Posted by tdrake

Man oh man I love your attitude and approach!

To go blindly where no man has gone before? Well, maybe they have, I did not research it much.

Two more picture. I take back saying Titebond does not have the gripping factor to hold the lining blocks in place until the glue dries. Just had to wait a little longer holding them in place. There was some talk in the General section of the forum on bevels and how some think they look funny with the top not looking symmetrical and that a guitar with a bevel has a big chunk of wood inside the bevel area. I guess they did not see me coming.





I need to decide how I am going to brace the top now. Due to the bent section of the bevel a reverse fan would seem the way to go. How will it effect the bridge? I may have to look up some Taylor advertising.

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Just fumbling around in the dark. Decided not to do an X brace due to the arm bevel. Added braces around the sound hole and then drew in where the bridge should be, eyeballed the corners, how to arrange the braces? Looks like an X brace will catch them.


???


Well then why did I just not do a regular X brace? Two steps back and one forward? Uncharted territory here, betting on it sounding like a guitar, how much to carve away is the next question.

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Crossing my fingers.



Now to figure out how to do the back.

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Mail call. (sorry for the poor picture)



Der Jung tuners, trying to keep the weight down at the headstock so went open tuners. They make a quality tuner for a reasonable price, with shipping $25 US for four sets. Tapped the top of the acoustic, it seems reasonable in terms of ability to vibrate, if it can take the tension all might be good. Not sure how I am going to proceed with the back and the body cut. I just took a saw and cut out the section of the cheap guitar I did it on.



I could do the same with this one. It was not the most elegant way to do it but it got the job done.



I would glue the insert piece in and then add the lining blocks. Or I can cut the section now and glue them in and then sand them to take the back and inserted piece. No matter how I look at it the job is a messy one. The thing about gluing on the back and then cutting it out, I already have done it and there should not be any surprises.

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Unsure of the back bracing, might be a little much but at least I can take it away, as hard as it would be.



Too lazy to get all the clamps out.



I wish I felt sure about this, one, two, three, hold your breath and, CUT!



Hope I can recover after this. I already seeing binding to be problematic.

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As said, binding might be a PITA. Looking it over I might only need the top with binding, the sides and lining were sanded accurately enough on the dish so the back was glued on without any gaps other than a section of the cutaway (I did an oops). The top had the sides and binding built up on the top and rather than nitpick insuring a tight fit (I did not have the time) I decided to go with binding. Cutting out the section makes contouring the back tricky as the back and sides now have little stiffness and running a file or sanding block so that the section of back and side have the same angle for the additional piece can be accurately glued up. I tied the back and side together with a temporary piece of filler.





Because the additional piece is structural rather than just a cosmetic veneer over a chunk of wood (Oh why do I always do things the hard way?) I need to figure out how to clamp the wood.





I was thinking of building up a frame inside the body and then an assortment of clamps on the outside to press the wood into place. Easier said than done, or more like it will take some time to do. The time has been a factor as we have had high humidity since I started and even with running a dehumidifier I am at a relative humidity higher than I prefer. But since the guitar is only for me I will live with any problems down the road. I am also assuming I may build another one now that I have a workable geometry which I can jig up for rather than winging it. But for now I need to put some bends into the side off-cut. If I can get it reasonably fitted I might glue it onto the box with CA. I built a nylon string guitar years ago and used CA on most of the box and it is surviving just fine.

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I knew there was a chance of messing it up but I have been lucky pulling a rabbit out of a hat many times I thought to give it a go. Seems I could have used another set of eyes lining things up. I tried a few dry runs and it seemed doable but was a little off. Oh well, not a big deal, I am more interested in how a tool functions more than its looks. The tap tone has the top sounding a little stiff, the back seems fine. I took off some meat from the back braces while I had the side open as before cutting the hole in the box the back seemed too stiff. I need to bind the top next.