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I just completed an armrest bevel and rib rest and thought I would share my methods. Surely there are other ways to do this; this is what worked for me. Hopefully someone out there will find it useful. Also please note that I am not the best writer so please ask if anything is unclear.

I have been reluctant to do a bevel because I couldn't quite wrap my head around how to route the purfling channels on the sides without doing a bunch of hand work. Using .030" wide purfling this was not a task I looked forward to. Then one day it clicked that I could make a template that I could clamp to the sides to act as a guide for a router. I did a dry run on a mock-up body and decided it was good enough to attempt on a real guitar.

First off I made the side template, which is made of two pieces of mahogany bent in the side bender and then laminated together on a mold in a vacuum bag. The template actually sits atop the actual sides on the mold. I laminate my sides using vacuum as well; this makes everything nice and stiff and everything fits together quite well which is absolutely key. Here is the side template being glued up:



Next up I added an extra strip of lining to the sides where the bevel and ribrest would be. I just bent a couple extras when I bent the linings in the first place.




Once the top/back were attached, I dug right in and rough cut the bevel with chisels and a rasp, going a little deeper than the final bevel to make room for a veneer overlay which will match the bindings.



Once roughed out, I rubbed a piece of paper on the bevel to get a flat representation of the 3-D shape of the overlay (it helps to have dirty hands for this job):



Next I transferred the shape to my veneer and cut it with scissors. I put tape over the cut line for support to keep the veneer from splitting down the grain. Ask me how I know to do that...



Next I glued the overlay, taped it on, and cleaned it up:




Next I routed the binding and purfling channel for the rest of the guitar as if there was no bevel there. Sorry I didn't take a picture of that.

Next comes the heart of the system. I clamp on the templates as best as I can and route the purfling channels. I used a dremel with a 1/32" spiral bit, using the shank to register against the template. You have to keep the tool moving at a reasonable speed or you will burn the template. On the dry run I used a laminate trimmer with a guide which should also work if you're concerned about using the bit shank as a bearing. I was really wanting a Cochran plunge base for this operation!





For the middle of the ribrest, I cut as much as I could with the stewmac base:



and made a custom base to cut the convex portion:



After routing the channels the guitar should look like this:




The purfling is glued up just like normal; there is no interruption at the start/end of the bevel:



Once the bindings are glued in everything is cleaned up and it's finished:



Here's the finished guitar:




-Ringo

I believe Lex Luthier is a genius! Too bad Superman! Ha!

Thank you for the great tutorial!

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Nice job Ringo, I appreciate your sharing that and it's definitely food for thought for me.
Thanks!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Thanks for the tutorial, I may have to try that someday.

Cool job. That looks really nice. Front and back.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks for that great tutorial Ringo. It is going directly into the archive.

John

Absolutely LOVELY! Your description of the process is clear, thanks for the effort.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Yes, Thanks much for your efforts Ringo!
It's Very clear and precise!
BTW- Beautiful guitar !!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Very well done Ringo - thanks for sharing with us!

BTW, beautiful linings inside the guitar.

JOhn

Thank you very much for sharing, I look forward to learning here at OLF