Official Luthiers Forum!

first off, sorry for the terrible pictures. i'm so bad at it that i didn't even bother moving the kids toys out of the way. i realize that poorly taken pictures hurt the appearance of the final product as much as a bad finish job.

anyway, what you're looking at is my 8th guitar, and first attempt at something other than an OM. i love the OM but wanted something with more "whump" in the low end. so i started out with an outline of my OM, then marked out parameters of a dred on top of that, then attempted to draw something with a bit more shape. as you can see, the box is the same length as a dred, but with a tighter waist, rounder shoulder, and slightly wider lower bout (it's 16 1/4"). because the scale length is 25.4" (same as the OM's i've been building) i left all the bracing and the bridge plate in the same place, essentially adding 1/2" of extra perimeter all the way around the lower bout. i definitely got the extra whump.

having the bigger box under the right arm i thought i'd try a variation of the laskin armrest that i dreamt up. when i emailed laskin i suggested that i'd call it the "laskin inspired semi-bevel" and he was good with that. it's not a bevel at all. it's actually a round over. but to builders and players, i think it communicates. i wanted something that a) didn't use up as much lower bout as most armrests do and b) wanted to do something that was less technical and more in keeping with my so-so fit and finish abilities. this doesn't require any fancy moves with the purfling.

what i decided to do was make the whole channel solid wood. outside to inside it's rosewood binding, then bl/wh/bl purfling that is the same height as the binding, then two more strips of binding that have been adjusted to fill the part of the channel that cuts into the soundboard. visually it is more subtle for sure. and from what i can tell in the first hour of playing it is a fantastic improvement to have that substantial round over under the right arm. not quite the comfort of a full bevel, but at only a fraction of the work. i think it's worth it.

the rest is basic. sitka top (sorry colin). paduak back and sides. eir for just about everything else. the finish is tru-oil and it feels like i am getting better at this very slowly. there's a large mylar scratch gaurd that also wraps around the top side of the sound hole (the guy who is getting the guitar is an aggressive strummer). you can see it in one of the pictures but it's invisible in the others. and the pickup is a dtar wavelength with the volume and tone controls. it was my first pickup installation. it went well and it sounds HUGE. very nice pickup. thank you rick turner!

well, enough for now. please share your impressions of my semi-bevel idea.

happy building,

phil

Phil,

The guitar looks great! I like the look of the subtle armrest...though I am not sure I totally followed how you constructed it. If at the end of the day it takes a bit of the edge off and makes it more comfortable to play...you've succeeded. I've not seen a bevel or armrest done this way before so many kudos to you.

thanks anthony,

the full height purfling runs around and the whole top and through the middle of the bevel. so the purfling is continuous - no miters, no corners to turn.

inside the guitar there's the usual extra wood that is needed for any bevel (though less is needed for my version). in that part of the lower bout this takes the place of the lining.

what i did this time was rout the binding channel on the whole top, then adjusted my router set up to take that extra "pocket" out of the lower bout where the bevel was going. i then CA'ed two prebent strips of rosewood (i used binding pieces) into that "pocket" before gluing on the purfling and binding as we usually do. i then rounded all of that over with a file and sand paper. next time around i'm going to rout that "pocket" first, then glue in the wood to fill up the pocket, and then rout the pufling/binding channel. i think that'll be a bit easier.

does that make the process more clear?

phil

I like it Phil, very understated, but looks great in the pics.

It was surprising that you worked it with a file and sandpaper, expected it to be a single router pass.

So, you laminated up a few pieces of rosewood binding material and substituted it for the kerfed lining normally present. Makes good sense and use of materials. Visually can you detect the laminations in person?

Nice variation on a not so easy mod.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I like the subtlety too. Nicely done.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Phil, I like this a lot, but I'm still trying to get my mind wrapped around how it all came together. I think I get it... almost... and I think I get that it's really very simple, but without close up photos of the finished bevel/roundover, or of the steps involved in making it, I'm not sure if I quite have a handle on it. But I think you're really onto something here. The typical Laskin/de Jonge/Ryan bevel just seems too complicated and labor-intensive to me, plus there are aspects of it, design-wise, that don't sit well with me. I really like the subtlety of yours - the sleeker lines, if you will - and I bet it does very well at serving the purpose of comfort. I've noticed that even just rounding the edges of the bindings makes a big difference in comfort over more square-cornered binding edges. I'd love to see and hold this guitar.

If you can manage to post some close up pics of the roundover, or, better yet, of the process of making it, it would be much appreciated. I'm very inspired to do something like this myself.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

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

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

You know, Phil, I looked some more at your photos, read your description of the process a couple more times, thought about it, and I think I do completely get it now. And I think it's brilliant. One of those very simple and brilliant things. I really dig it.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

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

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

I'd love to see some progress shots of the process if you've got them!

What a beautiful guitar you've got there though. I really like it

I love the shape of that guitar! nearly perfect for a large box. The bevel is inspired

John

I've been trying to think of an easier way of doing a bevel as well, and I think you've come up with a great idea, Phil. Thanks for sharing. I'll probably end up completely or nearly completely ripping off your method.

That Padauk looks amazing, too. I've always thought it would be too red when I've seen it unfinished, but I recently saw a bass sporting it that a freind had built and it was drop-dead gorgeous. The color looked really similar to yours.

-Clint

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-Clint Beacock

Phil,

Next time you do one please keep in mind that this process would make a fabulous photo tutorial. And an great addition to the forums tutorial section.


What do you say guy …….shall we beg?

Phil,
This is awesome, man! I'm with Clint; I may be stealing this Laskin-inspired roundover method from you if you don't mind... Nicely executed!

thanks for the kind words guys.

bruce, if you double click that middle picture you'll get a good close up of the bevel and have a very hard time seeing that i used two strips of wood to fill up that space. same thing in person. i made sure to cut one strip of binding in half, then put both pieces in the lower bout part of the bender. that got the color and grain to match as good as possible, and fool most players into seeing only one piece of wood where there really are two.

michael, about the tutorial, i'll hunt around in our picture files to see if i took any pictures along the way. if not, i'll post them after the next guitar. i'm sure i'll do it again. even my OM (which is just a hair wider than most OM's) will be a lot more comfortable with this.

and todd, glad you were able to figure this out. i know that my written explanation is lacking.

feel free to rip off/borrow the idea. just remember to continue giving grit laskin credit for dreaming up the whole thing to begin with. seems that even with my variation it makes sense to give credit back to the proper source.

phil

michael,
it's not a full blown tutorial, but these pictures will give you a good idea of the first part of what is a four step process.
step one, in the pictures, is building up the lining under the bevel area. there needs to be enough wood in there so that i can rout a channel that's about 7mm. you can see that i'm not afraid of using baltic birch ply. builders who are selling instruments for thousands can't get away with it (or need to cover it up) but i can do it and don't think there is any detriment to strength or sound. i laminated a few strips of 1.5mm three ply to get this. i put tape on the side, then used the side as my clamping caul. once the glue set up i removed the piece, dressed it up, then glued it into place. after that i put in the rest of the kerfed linings like usual. followed that with the typical sanding dish treatment.
step two was to rout the binding channel (deep enough for bindings and full height purfling). i then adjusted my jig so that i could rout out almost 7mm where the bevel was to go. i use the jig that mark kett used to sell. amazing jig. it has the router and bit in a horizontal position while the guitar is held on top of fixed rollers that determine the depth that the bit is allowed to cut into the top. because the rollers that come with the jig do not allow a cut this deep, i used the thin rod mark sent along which is meant to help set the router in the right spot on the jig. worked great.
steps three and four then just involved cutting and sanding the ends of the binding and purfling to fit. i did the deepest, inside pieces of the bevel one at a time using ca. then did the purfling and binding with titebond.
next time around i'll try to take more pictures.
phil