Dreadnought SS Guitar (Shaping the Back's 24' Radius)

[Malc2098]

looking good malc, I tried the parcel tape trick today and it worked a treat.

Glad to be of help, Ben.

Having a break with the guitars while I do some family stuff. But back in a couple of weeks.

[Malc2098]

I've finished CNC milling for a while, so it's now stowed in the rafters. That leaves the bench clear to continue with the build.

Today, I'm using the bending iron to create the curve of the headstock rear veneer to fit the headstock volute curve.

(256.25 KiB)

That surprised me. I thought the Purple heart veneer being so thin would bend dry. It didn't like it, so I spritzed some water on the bend area and it worked.

(254.24 KiB)

The sanding bobbins come in handy as cauls to keep the bend in the veneer's memory.

(256.83 KiB)

[Dr.Al]

Nice to see you posting again Malc. All this guitar stuff is way over my head, but I'm enjoying the ride nonetheless.

[Malc2098]

Nice to see you posting again Malc. All this guitar stuff is way over my head, but I'm enjoying the ride nonetheless.

Me, too.

[Phil]

Still watching you closely from way down South ...............

Nice work btw

[Malc2098]

Still watching you closely from way down South ...............

Nice work btw

Thank you, Phil.

[9fingers]

Nice to see you posting again Malc. All this guitar stuff is way over my head, but I'm enjoying the ride nonetheless.

+1
Not an artistic or musical bone in my body but following with great interest in your innovative methods used to achieve such fantastic results.


Bob

[Malc2098]

Nice to see you posting again Malc. All this guitar stuff is way over my head, but I'm enjoying the ride nonetheless.

+1
Not an artistic or musical bone in my body but following with great interest in your innovative methods used to achieve such fantastic results.


Bob

Thanks, Bob. Not sure about innovative. These necks, for example, I started with cut to overall length. Then plane face side, plane face edge, thickness and width, all before those laminations.

Only about now am I changing the referencing from the face side and edge to the centre line.

As for artistic, my older sisters are the artistic ones in our family. I'm just a bit of mangler.

[Malc2098]

You can never have too many clamps!

(250.46 KiB)

I squeezed a bit of white dyed veneer under the Purpleheart to to reflect the veneers on the face of the headstock.

(297.71 KiB)

(231.01 KiB)

I'm not sure how the veneer will look where I carve the volute, but that's a while yet.

[MY63]

"Nice"

[Cabinetman]

So easy to get that wrong I imagine, well done.

[thetyreman]

nice job on the headstock veneer.

[Malc2098]

Thanks, Gents.

More stuff, so back in the saddle in a week or so.

[Andyp]

CNC is stowed in the rafters, Mission Control and I have had a break away, the binding routing jig is finished, so back to building these instruments.

The last thing I did was to glue the headstock back veneers to reflect the face veneers, and this included the curve for the volute.

So both necks had their headstocks cleaned of veneer overhang.

(233.18 KiB)

I then drew on the shapes of the necks from the templates made on the CNC. It was a while back, but you can see the pretty ropey job I made of the truss rod channel.

(160.54 KiB)

I find a pair of socks to be a good cover to prevent dings and dents to the headstocks while moving them around the bench.

(Mods if you'd be so kind to rotate the last image. In a moment of forgetfulness, I took it as portrait.)

[MattS]

The wood combinations are going to look great in these. It's such a involved process - Do you keep track of time spent Malc, how many hours do you think there is in one of your guitars?

[Malc2098]

The wood combinations are going to look great in these. It's such a involved process - Do you keep track of time spent Malc, how many hours do you think there is in one of your guitars?

Thanks, Matt.

I don't keep track of time, because I only spend a few hours ( 2, 3 or 4) in the workshop, and none some days. I average 2 instruments a year, and because I don't have a spraybooth, I spray outside under the verandah roof. Because the lacquer and object have to be at least room temperature, I can only do that earliest around June.

Also, it's my hobby, not a business. The pro I worked with on my internship suggested 45 hours for a ukulele and 60 hours for a guitar, but that was at his rate of work with his experience, and he has all his templates, forms and moulds already made. I had to make all mine earlier this year for these two instruments.

[Malc2098]

Well, new to me. And new to me making guitars, because I already tried this method with the previous two ukuleles.

I've prepared my two pairs of instrument sides and straightened one edge by sticking them to a sled and running them through the bandsaw. Then checking they're big enough, especially the Venetian cutaway side which will need to be 35 mm longer than a standard symmetrical side.

(294.69 KiB)

In the background you can see the paper template for a symmetrical side on top of a pile of veneers. This is the new construction method. I will be laminating the sides. The template shows that one edges is contoured. When the side is bent to shape, that contour should be the finished radius of the back. But I shall be using the sanding dish to finalise that contour.

(217.23 KiB)

The veneer I've chose for the laminations is Swiss Pear. I'm told it's sourced from all over Europe. It is a very tight grained smooth, plain textured veneer, which will look plain inside the instrument body. I also read that the logs are generally steamed to give a warm reddish brown which will compliment the African Mahogany I'm using for the sides and back.

(180.46 KiB)

The supplier quotes 0.6mm as the thickness, but as you can see, these two come to 1.08mm. But I suppose by the time you add a couple of thicknesses of glue, they'll come to about that. I shall be aiming for a final total thickness of 2.5mm. (give or take)

[Malc2098]

The supplied African Mahogany sides came at about 5mm thick.

(231.95 KiB)

Half an hour and millions of passes at 80 grit.

(302.11 KiB)

(OK, OK, I know it's posed!)

I get them down to about 1.7mm

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And when added to the 2 Swiss Pear veneers…

(256.24 KiB)

…well near 2.75. And with the glue, it'll still be under 3mm.

The next stage of the process (apart from rinse and repeat for the second instrument) will be to individually bend the Mahogany and the Pear leaves to the shape of the instruments before gluing the laminations.

[Cabinetman]

Precision stuff Malcolm.

[Dr.Al]

Impressive

[Malc2098]

Thanks, Gents.

This bad boy! Upgraded to springs from shock cord.

(326.67 KiB)

Switched off and set up as a dry run without the wood so I can be sure of the order of setting up.

(379.51 KiB)

Spray the instrument side with just enough water to soak the surface.

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Prepare the kitchen foil.

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Truss it up like the Christmas turkey, but neater.

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Prepare the sandwich. One spring steel outer leaf and the heating blanket first, then the instrument side.

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Followed by the second outer spring steel leaf.

(310.46 KiB)

Then the waist caul and the the spring clips for the ends holding the sandwich together.

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Switch on and cook!

(348.59 KiB)

Up to temperature (140C) Wind the waist caul down and start bringing the upper and lower bout cauls around their curves.

(364.91 KiB)

Feel the resistance in the wood and as it gives, bring the sprung cauls down to the end of the sandwich.

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Let the sandwich cool down and release the sprung cauls.

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Then release the waist caul and slide the foil wrapped side out.

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Remember me making this on the CNC machine earlier this year? Let the side cool, dry and relax in the eventual shape, even though there will be some spring back. The lamination method will remove most, if not all, spring back.


Rinse and repeat with the other instrument side and let is cool while clamped in the bender.

Lunchtime. Phew!

[Malc2098]

I was surprised, and pleased, that that process went as smoothly as it did.

This is how they turned out. Quite a bit of spring back.

(410.27 KiB)

So I got cocky and had a go at the Venetian cutaway.

(356.51 KiB)

If you can remember one of the ukuleles I made last year had a cutaway with a sharp horn, that was called a Florentine cutaway. The Venetian cutaway has a round horn.

(264.57 KiB)

I took things slowly. First the waist. Then the lower bout. Then with the big doobry on the front I slowly lowered and wound it in at the same time.

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This is what came out.

(232.48 KiB)

Not bad, and with a bit of spring back.

(306.82 KiB)

But It didn't fight when I eased it in the laminating press.

Laminating coming up. Advice is always leave it in the press for 24 hours. So all four are not going to be finished before the weekend.

[Andyp]

That heating/bending machine* looks a bit Heath Robinson-ish but is obviously very effective.

* does it have a high tech name?

[Malc2098]

That heating/bending machine* looks a bit Heath Robinson-ish but is obviously very effective.

* does it have a high tech name?

Thanks, Andy. You can google Side Bending Machine, or Fox Bender, and find out how much it would have cost if I had to buy one, including shipping, instead of making it myself.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162016341371?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=162016341371&targetid=1281261556224&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045263&poi=&campaignid=9445986154&mkgroupid=123206630552&rlsatarget=pla-1281261556224&abcId=578896&merchantid=6995734&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItv2stvLVggMVfYVoCR3nGgzVEAQYDCABEgI19_D_BwE

I only ever use it once a year, but nothing works quite like it.

[Malc2098]

Ready to laminate the sides, one a day for the next four days.

(302.21 KiB)

Everything ready.

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First leaf glued.

(359.46 KiB)

Starting the clamping with the mould and caul made on the first page of this thread.

(348.91 KiB)

You can never have too many clamps.

(323.04 KiB)

The leaves all look tight together.


Rinse and repeat x 3.