Building a guitar- Spruce/Walnut

Started by greggg, December 05, 2006, 07:15:33 PM

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As a guitar player, I always found it interesting to see how a guitar was built, so I thought I would start a thread on guitar building, one I'm constructing right now. I hope this is something you would like to see, if not, please let me know. I'm 8 weeks into the build so I can catch you guys up fairly quickly.

These first photos show the wood involved in the build. A close-up of the Walnut back, assorted pieces used throughout the guitar, the Lutz Spruce top in rough form, and the sides before going into the drum sander.







I hope this is interesting, please do let me know what you think.

Thanks
Greg



Thanks for posting the pics - keep them coming. I love this stuff!!!!

The walnut is very nice. I have a Paragon parlor guitar with Lutz Spruce top - it is a very nice material. Sounds incredible!!
My Guitars:
Larrivee LV-03RE, OM-03MT, L-03WL
Northwood MJ-80
Paragon 00 (Makore)
Seagull 25th Anniv Mahog
Guild GAD-30R, GAD-30E
Epiphone AJ-500RC (12-Fret)
Walden G3030CE, G3000, G2070, N730, N550CE
Dean BW-6 Banjitar
Republic Single Cone, Tricone, Steel Parlor
Washburn R316SWRK Parlor
Walnut Banjo

Nice looking walnut Greg.  I would be interested in seeing more pics of your project also.

Good choice on the Biesemeyer fence. :thumb

Steve

Thanks guys, I'll keep the pics coming. I also noticed some of the photos did not show up, as well as some text, must be a limit to the # of pics per post? Guess I'll figure it out as I go.

Cheers,
Greg

Quote from: greggg on December 05, 2006, 07:15:33 PM
As a guitar player, I always found it interesting to see how a guitar was built, so I thought I would start a thread on guitar building, one I'm constructing right now. I hope this is something you would like to see, if not, please let me know. I'm 8 weeks into the build so I can catch you guys up fairly quickly.

I've always been interested in how they are built as well Greg, but I don't have the patience, nor the talent, time, tools...etc. to be able to build one.  I barely have time to play the ones I've got now!  Looks like your is gonna be pretty sweet.  Keep the photos coming.  We love to see this kind of stuff. 


Here are the sides I tried to post earlier



I also bake my tops in the oven for approx. 1-2 hours at 180 degrees, then let them sit as the oven cools for another 3-4 hours. I put the tops in these contraptions for my own peace of mind as they really don't move much, they are already very dry and stable.




Here are the top pieces out of the oven, notice the resins that come to the surface, they will sand off with a few light passes in the drum sander. This photo also shows the top being glued, it had to be jointed appropriately first, I will then run it through the drum sander to remove imperfections.



Here are the top and back being rough cut on the bandsaw, after careful edge glueing.




Cheers Everyone, have a great day!

Greg


Hi Denis,

I know the feeling, my playing has definitely suffered from my time in the shop building guitars. It is helpful to have the many specific tools to build guitars, thankfully I have managed to collect a few over the years.

Cheers,
Greg

Greg,

Thanks for the interesting posts...keep them coming!!  Where did you learn to build guitars?  Like most folks I too would love to build one some day...and there is actually a luthier school here in VT that I would love to attend...but money...lack of tools...lack of time...*sigh*  maybe I'll stick with playing... :nana_guitar

:cheers

Blue
OM-05MT "Mary Helen"
Silvercreek T-170
Harmony Herd (1203, 162, 165, 6362)

Hi Blue,

Good to hear that your enjoying the pics, I'll keep-m-coming. Fortunately I learned some wookworking skills from my father, and I'm using those now to build guitars. It takes a while to figure it all out, actually, I believe it's going to be a life-long learning curve! Just for fun here are some pics of the last guitar I built.








[img][http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/GregGwaltney/G2Back.jpg/img]


Cheers,
Greg

Greg,
Very beautiful. You have quite a talent. Keep up the good work.
Mike
Larrivee O-01MH 2000
Larrivee P-09 EIR 2006
Larrivee P-09 BZ 2006
Martin Backpacker 2003

Thank you very much Mike, I appreciate the kind words.

Greg

Greg,
I gotta tell you. Your bridge design is one of the best I have seen from most of the builders I have seen.

Hi Songman,

I appreciate that so much, really! I worked on that bridge design for a LONG time, I'm thrilled it turned out O.K.

Cheers,
Greg

Hey nice work Greg!! I really like that bridge too !! Also like the back shot !! What did you use to finish it with? Lacquer? My brother wants to build one, looks pretty tedious and time consuming to me but must be very rewarding when you finish such a nice project !! :niceguitar:
Jim

"I'm growin older,, but not up"  Jimmy Buffett

Larrivee L09 CE
Larrivee L-05
Epiphone 12 string '76
'01 Gibson SG Special
John Mayer Signature Fender Strat
Jimmie Vaughan Fender Strat
Epiphone Iommi SG
Ibanez Artist '82
Various other electronics and amps

Thanks LO5Fan......I finished it with KTM-9, a waterborne Lacquer. It does take many hours to build a guitar, but there is nothing like hearing it sing for the first time, oh man is that cool!

Cheers,
Greg

Just as long as its singing and not moanin!! :humour:
ever worry that youll put in the time and get a dud?
Jim

"I'm growin older,, but not up"  Jimmy Buffett

Larrivee L09 CE
Larrivee L-05
Epiphone 12 string '76
'01 Gibson SG Special
John Mayer Signature Fender Strat
Jimmie Vaughan Fender Strat
Epiphone Iommi SG
Ibanez Artist '82
Various other electronics and amps

It's crossed my mind before, but you know, there are aspects of building that if understood and worked accordingly, enable a guitar to at least sing nicely.


Greg

Here is the jig I built for glueing the top and back plates together, I run/clamp a square piece of aluminum tubing over the joint to keep the two pieces from popping up, then gently apply the appropriate pressure for the joint. You can also see the resulting joint in the lower bout of the top plates, turned out pretty good.






Cheers All,
Greg

Sorry, half of the pics and text did not show up, I'll add a few quickly.

Here is the resulting joint after glue-up on the previously shown jig.



And the 2 plates after being sanded and rough-cut on the bandsaw.


Next up was bending the sides, here is a shot of the sides being thickness sanded before bending.



This is my home-made side bender, it has two hinges which allow the top and lower bout of the form to be compressed in small incements to help reduce stress, and possible fracture of the sides themselves. There is also a timer and temp gauge which runs at a set temp automatically.



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