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Good day all. I'm venturing into deeper waters with a couple body features I've not tried before. Specifically a cut-away and an arm bevel. I'm a fan of avoiding the mistakes other people have already made if I can help it, so any advice on what to look out for when executing these features would be most helpful.

I've attached the design rendering for reference. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Wow...nice rendering. I thought it was a real photo until I read the post.

Looking at the arm-bevel shape at the bottom and wondering how are you planning to put on the veneer? I use the iron-on method with Titebond and even with a normal shape (no recurve) it's a bit of a challenge. I thought of vacuum but the veneer is pretty fragile and the overhanging edges would probably crack. Be interested to see how you pull it off.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Though it sure looks attractive, the arm bevel to me, seems a bit overly infringing on the top and it will require
a big chunk of wood to back it up. I'd be concerned about the possible negative tonal effect it may have. Beauty
shape though. Something to think about.

Thanks, I'll pass the compliment on to my daughter. She's quite the artist and has a great eye for design... even when it's not something she normally designs. I learned long ago, that I shouldn't make visual design decisions on anything involving colors and patters . So, I send her line drawings to scale and say "go for it."

I agree, the bevel might be a little larger than it needs to be in order to be effective. I'll probably eye-ball that when I have it in my hands. After watching multiple videos on how different people approach the bevel, I think I'm going to follow what Jason Simpson showed in his YouTube video. The initial form/mould will be the most difficult part, but I think I have figured out a process to make that... although it will take a good bit of time. Once that's done, I'll probably follow his process almost exactly, except for a couple steps where I'll use different tools. Seems very well conceived though. And, I like his approach to the laminated support piece... seems very structurally sound and doesn't require a large block of wood filling the corner of the body.

I found that the armrest bevel was one of the most challenging things to do. I studied Kent Everett's video. Even with that, it took me a while to get the technique down. I use Spanish cedar to reduce weight. I precarve the internal side to reduce weight. His tite bond pre-glue idea works great for the veneer!

I watched Jason Simpson's video, his process is well thought out and looks like it would work well if you are going to make enough of the same shape guitars to make it worth developing the jigs. I like his approach to the bevel although I carve the inside of mine (bass wood) down quite a bit so I'm not sure there is that much difference. I usually make a different shaped guitar each time so, like Mike, I find Kent Everett's process works well for me. Kent's process also eliminates the need to route purfling slots around the bevel which, for me, is a big plus. Lot's of different ways to do the job and I'm looking forward to see how it all works out for you.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks guys, I'm definitely going to check out that Everett video to make sure I've considered it thoroughly.

My approach to building (at least for the foreseeable future) is to settle on specific designs and work them over and over until I can give the customer a demo guitar to play for a few days, and then a few months later give them something they can't tell apart from what they originally played.

I totally agree that fully custom guitar building is a different animal than offering specific models that can be "tweaked" a little here and there, but I'm not there right now.

A lot of the way I approach guitar building comes from an odd blend of making furniture for a few decades, trying very hard to never make the same thing twice, along with working in manufacturing for 18 years where quality means you can make the same thing every time (regardless of how "good" that thing actually is). It's a struggle for sure, but I've found that making the exact same guitar multiple times isn't as draining as making the same piece of furniture over and over, because each step of the guitar making process is relatively short and very different from the next step. It seems to help me cope with repetition by constantly switching tasks.

In any case, my goal for this armrest is to invest heavily during the first one, and leverage the templates and jigs many times over.

I built custom furniture for several years and spent 11 years in manufacturing so I understand where you're coming from. Your approach sounds reasonable and I hope you keep us ul to date on how it goes.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I can't offer any advice on actually building it or on the arm bevel. But that cutaway area right near the treble side upper bout on the extension I would recommend having some extra reinforcement. I've had a few indie built acoustics with similar style cutaways on my bench over the years that developed cracks in that exact spot. Maybe just some extra wide kerfing in that spot?