On The Bench: February 2011

Hi everybody I just wanted to post a quick update. The two guitars are progressing nicely, and
I'm getting close to having finished instruments!

I used the old inner tube trick to glue the binding onto the peghead of the flat-top neck...

...And the same for the Archtop

Then it was time to get to work carving both necks. This is one of my favorite parts of the guitar building process. For some reason putting a contour on the neck marks the point at which the guitar begins to feel like an instrument and not just a hunk of wood. It might be because the neck is really the main interaction point of the instrument, sure you need the body to amplify the sound, but the shape and feel of the neck really informs your sense of the guitar....at least it does for me. Anyway...it's a dusty job, but I love it!

I start by roughing out the shape with a rasp...

...And then I fine tune things with a cabinet scraper.

After a bit of sanding, I give it a coat of shellac to seal things up.

I go through the same process for the Flat-top neck.

After carving, I usually like to let the necks sit for a day or so, and then re-check them for lumps and bumps I may have missed. Over the next few days I'll refine them a bit more...

Here's a little preview, I'm getting close!

Well...I took a little bit of time off for the holidays. Consequently, I've spent all of January and most of February digging out from under the mountain of repairs that came in while I was gone! I wish I could say I was making progress, but they just keep coming in. We are running a two-three week back log right now with no let up in sight. For my own sanity I decided it was time to squeeze in some work on my own projects. So I'm back to spending a few hours working on the Archtop and Flattop before the shop opens each morning.

The first order of business was to build a jig to cut the binding channels around the outside of the guitars. I have made a couple different versions of this jig over the years but it was time to make a nice permanent one. Here's a pic of the cradle with adjustable slidey thingys that hold the guitar body.

The other part of the jig is a small router mounted on a sliding mechanism. the router has a bit that cuts the binding channel as you feed the guitar around under it.

Here's a close-up of the business end of things. The white collar rides on the top of the guitar. the grey cutter underneath cuts the channel and the bearing rides on the outside of the guitar. The cutter is slightly larger than the bearing so it cuts a consistent rabbit around the outside of the guitar.

Here's a picture after the binding channel is cut. I cut some thin pieces of wood which will be bent to the shape of the guitar and then glued back into the channel. It may sound like a strange process to cut out wood and then glue it back but, it helps to seal the end grain on the top and back and it looks cool! At any rate, It's called binding

I've recently discovered the magic of bicycle inner tubes...they are awesome for clamping odd shaped things. I've been using them to clamp the binding into the channel while the glue dries.

Another shot.

Here is the semi-finished product, the back of the flattop with the binding installed. I cut the binding very slightly oversized and then scrape it all down flush. I've still got a bit of work to do!