Official Luthiers Forum!

So as I was looking at the 2 sets of wood that was just sitting in my studio, I couldn't resist to get them going at the same time (Working on the simultaneously made sense, since I have to go to my friend Steve's shop to use some of the tools that I don't have: Drum Sander & big bandsaw) I could do everything at once. I wanted to go for something that was quite different than my other 2 guitars, so I decided to go WAY thicker with the bodies, but since that may cause a weight issue, I ended up channeling out both bodies with some sound chambers to lighten up the weight and hear what my go on tone-wise as well - so far, they seem to be about the same weight as the Dueling Dragon body before it had all of the goods.

"Triple G" is a carved top with a contoured grafted walnut top (Franquette & Claro) - During the process of the both of these builds, I have been able to figure out more things to make things easier along the way. I have a FEW fellow luthier's that I speak to about different processes and I can definitely see that everyone has their way of doing things and I am always am amused at how I mention one's process to another and they always jump in and explain why their way is the "right way". This is also commonplace on various forums as well and one friend who has been building guitars for 28 years had told me from the get-go that I will hear a hundred "right ways" of doing things and I will discover which way works best for me after building a few guitars. I LIKE to hear the different ways of how people doing things, so I can at least try things along the journey and some suggestions have been bad, some good and some that I even came up with myself.

At one point, someone suggested Oregon Wildwood ( http://www.oregonwildwood.com/ ) when I was looking for woods and this was the pic that showed the grafted Walnut that I bought a few months back....



it was .60" thick - perfect for a carved top!

After a visit to Steve's shop, I was able to drum sand the 2 sets of tops, then routed along the sides and glued the seams and it was my first glue-up of bookmatched wood - also you can see the routed chambers in the African Mahogany body:



I didn't want to bug my friend Steve again, cuz I JUST used his shop on last Monday, but couldn't cut into the body any other way than my drill press, but got sick of that after 10 minutes, so I called him up and he said I can use his shop (Not to far from me) anytime I want, so I'm in!





"Wide Ride"


1/4" over routing:






I decided to make some paper templates of my "elevation map" for the contour top":



I made the cuts with a Safe-T-Planer - suggestion by verhoevenc - by the way, this tool makes a great planer for smaller pieces of wood as well:




I finally got to use my homemade finger plane:


I got impatient with the finger plane and decided to break out a power tool:




Getting there!


stay tuned...

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Looks good. I love the shape and top on this one.
I just just got my safe t planer set up this weekend. I'm finding it a big help, since I don't really have the space & money for an actual planer, plus I'll be able to do carved tops on it.
0.6 sounds a bit thinner than I would have thought you needed for a carve top. How deep did you go on the lowest contour?

Thanks man! The last pic you see is still a rough piece - I have it at 1/4" over the actual size of the guitar (I made 1 template 1/4" over for gluing the top to the body AND a "Safe area" while I used the safe-t-planer, shaping, etc") I am currently in the middle of routing it out to actual size.

The lowest point right now of the top is 3/16". .60" seems to be fine for a carved top. What I did was I made 8 lines on the side of the walnut that were evenly spaced and left 3/16" for the edge - this way, every time i did a pass with the safe-t-planer, I knew how far to go down.

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

More pics from today!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I like the relief on the horn part of the carve.
Might be interesting to do a ledge all the way around?
Just thinking out loud.

Hi Alan! I think that would be cool, but I kinda like how the devil horns kinda "creep up" on their own - reminiscent of Linda Blair's stomach! I am also going to be carving a bit more on the inside of the horns - a little like the PRS.

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Man I love walnut and this is a nice piece of it! I need more pics!

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Thanks Tony - yeah man, this is my first time working with walnut too - I like it!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I've looked at a lot of wood and bought some from them that I
haven't used yet.
It's great to see it in form and sure like following your projects.
Very cool Virgil, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Michael! Yeah, I spent allot of time drooling over some of the stock that they had and bought a couple pieces a couple a months ago - it's nice to see it in its new home!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

This may be a silly question, but how do you have all this money for fancy wood and inlay material, but you can't afford a bandsaw? Get a cheapy on craigslist, they work just fine!

Edit: By the way I like that horn relief, and thats a crazy grain you got there. Fancy!

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Hi Mark!
Great question - over the past year, I have sold some guitars, a PA and also do odd jobs on the side(video, graphic design, web stuff) to help support my *newest addiction* - most of the monies over that time was to get the minimum requirement tools/supplies for the Dueling Dragons - a few bucks here and a few bucks there helped me build up some more supplies for the 3 remaining builds, but I am nowhere close to having the money for a bandsaw -one of my problems has always been is "saving". So when I had a few bucks a couple months back I bought the wood for 3 more guitars - my logic was simply that if I had the wood, I could at least get SOME things going. I really HAVE been looking on craigslist for bandsaws, but none of them seem to have the HP I need for descent resawing. I DID buy my first bandsaw on craigslist about a year ago for $35 but it would choke on anything thicker than an inch. I am always putting together a "priority list" of the goods I need and the bandsaw is actually NOT on the top right now... since I have everything cut at this point for these 3 guitars, my next step is to get an aluminum radius beam (12") to get the fretboards going for the next 2 axes. Today I am contemplating on making a radius jig for fretboards and the $4.57 in my pocket is earmarked for some conduit at Lowes. I do have this guitar "pre-sold" and am just waiting on some monies (doing a "payment plan" prior to delivery) that will go to finance the hardware, inlay materials and much-needed tools. Even though I may "complain" that I don't have all the proper tools to get all of these things I want to get done, I seem to be able to get up every morning with my hands that seem like they are going to not work for me (Rheumatoid Arthritis - AKA "RA") and get rolling on SOMETHING -I have NEVER found anything in my life that puts me at this indescribable inner peace that comes with working with wood - a discovery I stumbled upon last year. Not sure how long I will be able to do this, but I set out to get 3 more guitars done after finishing the dragons. In the meantime, I will keep scouring craigslist and just keep a supply of sandpaper on hand and you will see a sheet-eating grin on this luthier-wannabee's face.

thanks for checking the build out!!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Yeah I need to do some resawing and I'm afraid of my saw not being good enough for it. It's a Ryobi 9in. I got a resaw blade that broke at the weld (luckily Timber Wolf gurantees their welds) and sent off and got a new one but it's been sitting unopened in the package because I'm worried of breaking it. So far with other blades the saw cuts through thick wood just fine but with a guide on it never cuts straight, actually wanders much worse and gets stuck. But it'll cut out a body shape at least. We'll see how it does for resawing. Fingers are crossed.

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I researched resawing a bit a few months back - I heard that it's not so much the blade thickness as it is a "low tension blade" here's a really interesting video that shows an example by George Vondriska:

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Yeah that's how I got turned onto the idea. He mentioned it can be done with a less fancy bandsaw which is why I tried it. Still figuring things out though. At this point I've had better success guiding the wood through by hand than with a guide. Any tips would be great. This is with squared up wood by the way.

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I use the method where you score the top and bottom edges on a table saw first. Then you have a piece of plywood with a pin that lines up with the blade. The bottom slot from the table saw goes over the pine to keep the bottom lined up with the blade, and you manually keep the top slot lined up with the blade. Works great.

AWESOME - looks like I got my work "cut out" for myself!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I used to use the low tension blades, but started getting better results when I switched to a higher tension setup on my small jet 14 inch bandsaw with the riser block. Also less drift. How you set up the guide blocks and bearings is very important, and also where the blade tracks on the tire.

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

Man.....that is a NICE piece of walnut!

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

I can't even imagine what it will look like after the poly finish on there - darkening it up slightly and that grain popping - the grafting should be 0.00133% short of spectacular - almost qualifies for "Wood Porn" eh?!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

What formula did you use to come up with that number? I just did a quick calculation and I came up with 0.00140% short of spectacular. You lost points for inlaying a dragon fly. If it were breathing fire, you would have been closer to "spectaculer" but not as is. Maybe I forgot to carry the "awesome" or I might have rounded the "graft" but I think I am pretty accurate.
Might want to re-run those numbers there fella!

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Ooooooh Tony my friend your calculations MIGHT have been right IF you were referencing the CORRECT guitar. You see, there is NO dragonflies on this guitar, you have it confused with the "Silver Willow" - you may want to re-check your "Fuzzy" math!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

the carve on those horns reminds me a bit of scott walkers work. pretty cool.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

That walnut looks like the parting of the seas.

And therein lies the error of my calculations. No need to recalculate in my opinion. I am putting my slide rule away. I trust your numbers. I am embarrassed beyone belief that I mixed up your guitars. It wont happen again.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC