The progress of

from 5th May to 25th July 2008

The latest photos of the group were added to this page on 9th July 2008

Phil Bates:	Arch top guitar
	The first stage of an arch top guiar is joining the front. The two halves are planed flat and fitted together.
	The underside is then planed flat prior to cutting it to shape.
	A shelf is then routed around the edge to give a reference for the rest of the carving.
	The shape is then carved, first to templates.
	Planes are used to acheive the basic shape which is then fine tuned with scrapers.
	The inside is then carved out to thickness the plates. Much material can be removed by drilling to a preset depth.
	The bulk can then be gouged to the bottom of the drill holes before thicknessing proper.
	The f holes are marked out and cut with a fret saw.
	The truss rod is glued in covered with a hardwood fillet.
	The braces need to be carefully shaped to exactly match the internal profile of the front.
	Phil is bending the sides around a hot iron.
	In the slipper heel method the first step is to align the front to neck join.
Owen Davies:	Carved top electric guitar
	Owen is building a carved top electric guitar and the thick facing is glued up first.
	Here the mahogany neck is being blocked up.
	An ebony veneer is glued to the face of the headstock and here Owen is planing the edge square to the neck surface.
	The neck socket has been routed and the body is planed square where the neck will join.
	The tenon join is the prepared.
	Most of the top is carved prior to fitting the neck, firstly to prepared templates.
	Owen then shapes the top using violin thumb planes and scrapers.
	The neck is then glued to the body.
	Hammering in the frets.
	The correct placement of the bridge is critical and the holes for the posts are carefully drilled.
	The neck is shaped, the pickups are wired in and the guitar is tested 'in the white', ie before the finish.
	All is well, the first stain is applied to the front and the mahogany body and neck are grain filled.
Paul Mckee:	Steel string guitar
	Paul has prepared a ring of rosewood for his soundhole decoration. The bordering strips have been glued in and the material between them excavated ready for the central ring.
	The central ring is then glued in, gently tapped into place.
	After thicknessing, the back has a central strip of spuce glued down to strengthen the join on the inside.
	The front braces have been glued but not yet shaped. A bridge plate is also glued on the inside - this both protects the soft front from the ball ends of the string and also supports the area around theedge of the bridge, minimizing distortion.
	Paul is here checking the fit of the bridge which is shaped to the curvature in the front.
	The neck is now started and is blocked up.
	Paul is bending the lacewood sides...
	...and checking progress against the template.
	The guitar is then assembled in the mould.
	The back is the fitted to the assembled neck, front and sides.
	Paul is gluing on the back with go bars.
	The binding channels have been cut and Paul is bending the rosewood bindings to shape.
Hordur Tomasson:	Steel string guitar
	Hordur has joined and surfaced the front and back and is here scraping the back.
	The soundhole decoration is a simple ring of ebony and boxwood.
	The soundhole is then cut out.
	The bracing layout is designed on paper and the joins between them prepared.
	The design details including the neck angle and way the neck is to be blocked up is carefully drawn out.
	The neck is then blocked up and the headstock angle planed.
	Here Hordur is rough shaping the heel.
	The sides are bent to shape and checked against a template.
	The front, sides and neck are glued together.
	The back is glued using go bars.
	Hordur is also making a bolt-on elctric and is here fitting the neck join.
	The chestnut body is routed for pickups and controls.

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