Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey All,

Thought I'd put one of these threads up here to document my first ever build (still in progress). HUGE thanks to this forum and the wealth of information it offers. Also to Cumpiano and Kinkade's books (now the only books I can say I've ever read more than 2x in my life...)

I'm working with minimal power tools and at the very best a novice woodworker, so... it's been a learning experience to say the least.

My "shooting board" set up, jointing the top:


Made two tops. I originally had grand ideas of building two guitars at the same time, but rather quickly aborted that idea. Figure I'll keep the second top as a spare until #1 is done, and if the first top makes it all the way through, it'll be the top for #2:


Tiger Myrtle Rosette. This is actually take two - tried a radial rosette at first, but the rosette itself didn't make it through, so I thought I'd simplify, as it was, I still had some tear out problems...:



Bracing pattern laid out:

Gluing up the X-braces:



And the finger braces and tone bars. I used scrap/cut offs from the back and sheet cork as cauls to even pressure out and not damage the face of the soundboard:




Everything glued up and ready for carving/shaping:

Here's a look at the back and gluing those braces up:


And the back braces carved (I feel like these are still a bit high and may take them down a bit...):

I keep telling myself to take more pictures... but get all busy working and forget.

Here's some pics of my first stab at carving the top braces. Though, I actually came down pretty significantly more with the tone bars and finger braces at the suggestion of the forum... and then forgot to take more pictures specifically of the bracing:



First shot at bending a practice side:


As a quick plug - BIG props to Bob at RC Tonewoods!!! I bought some practice sides from him - as well as the B&S set and top(s). I told the gent on the phone my 'story' (noob, no bending experience) and mentioned what my materials were. without hesitation the guy said he'd make sure to include some more ambrosia maple if he had it so I could really get a feel and practice filling the beetle holes!!! Great service!

Here's the ACTUAL sides, and a look at my basic take on a "C-style" neck block:



And - where things currently sit. Still working on letting the braces into the linings:



I'll keep this updated as I make more progress, but as it is, I'm certainly open to comments and critiques!!!

Thanks all.

Looking very good so far.

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I like the shooting board. That's slick. The guitar looks real nice.

Hey Tim!

How's this coming along?

Steve

I build classicals - so this is just a question - but is that tail block a little on the large side ?

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

I guess that, structurally speaking, it is oversized. That said, someone can have other motivations (acoustical) to put some mass there, or there, or somewhere else.

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars