Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Sat Nov 23, 2024 5:26 pm


All times are UTC - 5 hours





Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:17 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:12 am
Posts: 216
Location: United States
I could have sworn that there was a tutorial posted on how to make a Ryan-Style armrest/bevel. I found the one on the Laskin Style bevel but can't find one on the Ryan style. Was I just imagining it or is there one for the Ryan bevel out there?

thanks, Don

_________________
Don Sharp
Got Brazilian?
http://www.sharpguitars.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:33 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:41 pm
Posts: 975
Location: United States
First name: Tracy
Last Name: Leveque
City: Denver
State: CO
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
I don't think there is one specific to the Ryan style, but I have a hidden link on my website where you can get most of the information you need on how to do one. You can see it HERE

Good luck!
Tracy

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:47 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 6:34 pm
Posts: 214
Location: Israel
i havent seen one such thing but if you find it, then i'd like to see it.

Udi.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:04 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:05 pm
Posts: 3350
Location: Bakersville, NC
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
I have only seen it once( don't remember who posted it) but it was remotely different from the way Kevin does his.

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:12 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 6:34 pm
Posts: 214
Location: Israel
i have seen Tracy's page, but assume this is the so-called "laskin" style.
Tony Karol posted something too, but i dont think it was Kevin Ryan style.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:25 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:12 am
Posts: 216
Location: United States
Thanks all. I must have seen it on another forum. I wonder if Kevin himself would be willing to help me out with this. I am planning a guitar for myself and want to incorporate an arm bevel. It may be time to sit down and draw it up in CADD and figure it out on my own.

thanks, Don

_________________
Don Sharp
Got Brazilian?
http://www.sharpguitars.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:55 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:32 pm
Posts: 1969
Location: United States
Don,
Look here.

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:18 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2005 7:51 am
Posts: 3786
Location: Canada
The only difference IMO bewteen a true Laskin and the Ryan is that the Ryan is smooth at the ends, which I what I now do - as well, I dont bind the side edge is all thats really different - Kevin also veneers his to match the binding .. you need to scrape the bevel area flat in order to do this I woud think. Other than that, the methodology is the same. You put in an appropriately shaped internal block, and then create the binding channel(s) and bind it first, then the rest of the guitar (Readers Digest condensed version)

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:39 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:32 pm
Posts: 1969
Location: United States
Flippo,
Yes it does impact the lower bout. All the reports I've heard says it helps.
The reason most think it helps is because it adds stiffness.
I'm starting on my first one right now. I can't wait!

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:02 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:10 pm
Posts: 778
Location: Madison, WI
Tony, is there a photo available of a version of the one you use?
-j.

_________________
“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:43 am 
Offline
Old Growth Brazilian
Old Growth Brazilian

Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2004 1:56 am
Posts: 10707
Location: United States
I believe Steve meant that the smaller area of the top at the lower bout added stiffness to the top. This is true because the gross grain span is then shorter in the lower bout. The graft also adds stiffness to the sides in the area of the arm rest but that is not to say extra stiffness is need there it just does.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:08 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:32 pm
Posts: 1969
Location: United States
Filippo,
MP answered nicely. I will add that builders comment that their guitars with this feature sound better to them. They often say they believe this is true because of the increased stiffness. I don't know if it is true, but I tend to listen carefully to what these guys say. What I think I hear is a clue about stiffness. That piece they add to the sides must add a lot of stiffness. Stiffer sides, I think are probably a good thing. Builders who make "double sides" guitars believe that having sides that are more stiff is an advantage well worth the effort.   

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:29 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2005 7:51 am
Posts: 3786
Location: Canada
You can see pix of booth styles on my website, gallery pages. most are the newer smooth ended version, a couple are the curved end moustache/smile.

the latest one completed was the Madrw/adi I posted a couple months back - check the archives ... it was in curly walnut ..mmmmmmm

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:21 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 3:32 am
Posts: 2683
Location: Ithaca, New York, United States
If you figure that most players rest their arms over the guitar in such a way that they are damping top vibrations with their arm, then it would seem to follow that they are doing more to harm the tone than the loss of top area does with an armrest. Stated another way, the armrest does more than make it more comfortable to hold the guitar; it "ramps" the arm up off the top so that the top is more free to vibrate. It makes sense, then, that the tone would improve. (I doubt stiffness has anything to do with it.)

Also, if you spend the money on getting an armrest built into your custom guitar, you're bound to believe it sounds better than it would have without the armrest, whether or not it actually does. There's a psychology about these things...

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:15 pm 
Offline
Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 5:22 pm
Posts: 35
Location: United States
I posted this once some time ago...I'll paste it in again.
--------------
The main challenge is to end up with a solid beveled surface for the veneer, and yet to have good right-angle purfling ledges. Here are some pictures to go along with the description below…
http://mustapickguitars.com/47paskins/3/index.html
http://mustapickguitars.com/47paskins/4/index.html
http://mustapickguitars.com/47paskins/5/index.html
http://mustapickguitars.com/47paskins/6/index.html

1) With the rim assembled and in my outside mold I took a bit of mahogany neck blank and traced the outline of the inner surface of the side in the area that was to become the bevel onto the neck blank. Then I sanded cut and sanded the neck blank into the shape of the side so that it matched the shape of the side.
2) On a belt sander, sand away the side to a nice smooth graceful line that looks right to you.
3) The edge where you sanded will be about 10 degrees off square relative to the side. This edge is going to serve as your purfling ledge...so use a sanding block to square it.
4) Put the profiled piece of mahogany back where it was, and, with a pencil, trace the profile of the sanded out side onto the mahogany lining.
5) Doing your best to maintain a steady angle for the bevel, use a belt sander (I have an edge sander) to sand to the line. If your traced pencil line of the side profile is smooth and your hand is steady with respect to the angle of the bevel your sanding in...you'll naturally get a nice smooth curve for the top as well. Just keep an eye on that as you're going along.
6) Now you have a smooth curve on the top-side of your mahogany reinforcement that will establish the shape of the top. With a pencil, draw a line offset from this 1/4" in. This is the ledge where your top purfling and top will glue onto. Cut and sand to that line. Make the cut perpendicular to the top (parallel to the side) so that it's easier to clamp to the side.
7) Sand the side-height of your reinforcement to whatever makes sense to you, (perhaps no less than 3/16" below the lowest point of the bevel).
8) Glue-clamp the side reinforcement onto the side. Glue the kerfing/lining on elsewhere as you normally do.
9) Hog off all that unnecessary wood from the part of the reinforcement that's inside the guitar that was left square for clamping purposes.
10) Trace the profile of the kerfing-lining and bevel reinforcement onto the underside of your top...very precisely.
11) Brace the top and prepare it for assembly to the rim. I did not tuck the x-brace into the bevel reinforcement...I let it thin down to nothing at that juncture.

At this point, the *exact* location of the top needs to be nailed down without margin for error so the next two steps ensure that it will glue down without the least uncertainty...
12) With the top in its exact place, drill a hole down through the top and into the headblock. Use a toothpick that can stick into the headblock and up through the top to lock in this location.
13) Use some light adhesive to tack down something to the underside of the top so that the bevel reinforcement can rest against it as a precise stop for purposes of locating the top while the glue is setting.
14) Before gluing the top into the rim, very slowly and carefully sand away the area of the top at the bevel so that it's line matches the presented by the line presented by the top of the reinforcement. Continue sanding to this contour until enough room is left that presents a ledge for your top-side purfling to rest on.
15) Glue your top on oh-so-precisely so that the purfling ledge you've left for the top is lined up just right.
16) After you've glued on the back, rout your binding and purfling channels in the usual way so that the channels disappear into the void left by the bevel platform.
17) Trim-sand your binding at the proper sharp angle so that it will intersect properly bevel veneer. It's hard to talk about clearly, but not so hard to visualize when you're standing there playing with the ledges and purfling and the binding and making things fit.
18) Glue the binding-purfling on in the usual way. You'll be starting at the tailblock with just a short piece of binding that quickly dies away. In the area of the bevel you'll need to continue gluing on the purfling but without the binding there to act as a clamping call. I found that I could easily just "massage" it into place as the wood glue tacked up. Once you’re past the bevel, you just continue with the other side with the binding that you've prepared.
19) Thin your veneer for the bevel. I found that with koa I could thin it to .060". This was thin enough so that it flexible enough to just flop in without any prebending, but thick enough to fill the space left for bevel.
20) This is slightly tedious...you've got to shape that bevel veneer so that it just fits inside the area left between the binding, with the backside of it beveled to rest against the the side and top purfles. In order to arrive at the approximate shape for my veneer I put a piece of butcher paper over the area and used a pencil to creating a rubbing shape of the bevel. Then a cut out a piece of construction paper a bit oversize to this shape. Having shaped the construction paper, just a wee bit oversized, I then cut out a piece of practice veneer and got it just so....lots of patience, a belt sander, a spindle sander, one inch at a time. Then I traced this outline on my final piece of veneer, but it a bit oversized and repeated. I won't need to do the practice step next time, I just didn't want to learn on a pretty piece of koa.
21) Glue in the veneer with wood glue, holding it down with masking tape the way you ordinarily would for binding.
22) Wait an hour...remove the tape...sand things flush.
23) Pat yourself on the back, show your girlfriend.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 39 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com