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Arch top guitar |
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The first stage of an arch top guiar is joining the front. The two halves are planed flat and fitted together. |
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The underside is then planed flat prior to cutting it to shape. |
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A shelf is then routed around the edge to give a reference for the rest of the carving. |
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The shape is then carved, first to templates. |
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Planes are used to acheive the basic shape which is then fine tuned with scrapers. |
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The inside is then carved out to thickness the plates. Much material can be removed by drilling to a preset depth. |
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The bulk can then be gouged to the bottom of the drill holes before thicknessing proper. |
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The f holes are marked out and cut with a fret saw. |
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The truss rod is glued in covered with a hardwood fillet. |
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The braces need to be carefully shaped to exactly match the internal profile of the front. |
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Phil is bending the sides around a hot iron. |
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In the slipper heel method the first step is to align the front to neck join. |
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Carved top electric guitar |
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Owen is building a carved top electric guitar and the thick facing is glued up first. |
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Here the mahogany neck is being blocked up. |
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An ebony veneer is glued to the face of the headstock and here Owen is planing the edge square to the neck surface. |
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The neck socket has been routed and the body is planed square where the neck will join. |
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The tenon join is the prepared. |
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Most of the top is carved prior to fitting the neck, firstly to prepared templates. |
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Owen then shapes the top using violin thumb planes and scrapers. |
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The neck is then glued to the body. |
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Hammering in the frets. |
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The correct placement of the bridge is critical and the holes for the posts are carefully drilled. |
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The neck is shaped, the pickups are wired in and the guitar is tested 'in the white', ie before the finish. |
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All is well, the first stain is applied to the front and the mahogany body and neck are grain filled. |
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Steel string guitar |
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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. |
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The central ring is then glued in, gently tapped into place. |
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After thicknessing, the back has a central strip of spuce glued down to strengthen the join on the inside. |
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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. |
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Paul is here checking the fit of the bridge which is shaped to the curvature in the front. |
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The neck is now started and is blocked up. |
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Paul is bending the lacewood sides... |
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...and checking progress against the template. |
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The guitar is then assembled in the mould. |
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The back is the fitted to the assembled neck, front and sides. |
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Paul is gluing on the back with go bars. |
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The binding channels have been cut and Paul is bending the rosewood bindings to shape. |
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Steel string guitar |
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Hordur has joined and surfaced the front and back and is here scraping the back. |
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The soundhole decoration is a simple ring of ebony and boxwood. |
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The soundhole is then cut out. |
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The bracing layout is designed on paper and the joins between them prepared. |
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The design details including the neck angle and way the neck is to be blocked up is carefully drawn out. |
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The neck is then blocked up and the headstock angle planed. |
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Here Hordur is rough shaping the heel. |
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The sides are bent to shape and checked against a template. |
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The front, sides and neck are glued together. |
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The back is glued using go bars. |
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Hordur is also making a bolt-on elctric and is here fitting the neck join. |
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The chestnut body is routed for pickups and controls. |