Archtop Progress

So the top and back are carved to the point where they can be glued to the rims and have the re-curve carved then. The top has also had the braces shaped & glued on and it has been voiced to the best of my ability..

Today I planed the sides down to 2mm ready for bending.

Looks about right I think

And with the braces on the top

Sides ready to be bent

Wood Shavings

OK working on the back of the arch top is making a pile of shavings.. Going well but time to clean up.

Rough work done on the outside back

Preparing the inside, yes I'm doing it the easy way

And more shavings

OK OK I need to vacuum

Done

Tenor #4 is done.. Whew, always nice when it actually plays and sounds OK, this one seems pretty mellow..  All in all it went pretty good, I know now exactly what not to do on an arm bevel, and I think the new neck joint worked out good..

To Recap:

Top 3000 year old Sitka Spruce from Alaska (dug up during construction)
Back & sides Zircote
Neck Peruvian Walnut
Fretboard & Bridge Ebony
Rosette, Arm Bevel & Bindings Flamed Maple
Schaller tuners
Gold Mother of Pearl inlays
Bone nut & saddle
X-braced
Bolt on removable neck
Finish Royal Lac hard shellac
"Irish" or Octave Mandolin tuning (GDAE)

The Other Tenor

Work on the other tenor, the flat top Zircote & ancient spruce one is going well too.. the finish is polished up and the neck is back on ready for measuring and fitting the bridge.

Might even be playing music next week..

Carving Archtop Plates

My weekend working with Joe Egan of Egan Custom Guitars turned out great lots of good tips and progress carving the top and back for the Archtop Tenor Guitar I have in mind. Joe estimates a novice takes up to 40 hours for the top and similar times for the back. I've got about 15 hours into the top and maybe a 2 into the back so lots left to do but the top is looking like  it should, just really a bit more graduation to do and then once it is glued to the sides the recurve can be finalized.

The back has a long way to go and is certainly harder to carve than the top, or at least the wood is harder, the top has more tricky parts & graduations wile the back is pretty much a constant thickness

It's been fun even if it has caused a good number of blisters..

After about 4 hours, shape is roughed out

After about 15 hours the shape is finalized and my version of "f" holes are cut

A small start on the back

Back to Work on the Tenor Guitar

Now that the holidays are over i can get back to doing some work on the tenor guitar.

I've glued down the braces on the top and back and carved them to shape and the top is more or less voiced, I just need to think a bit about it and decide if I want to try and push things a bit farther and carve the braces down a bit more.

A "quick" video of rough carving the back braces, actual time about 18 minutes
http://youtu.be/pNuLS7FQ8tQ

The rough braces before carving

Top after carving

Back after carving

Tenors.....

The weather is still not great for building. The RH in the house needs to drop another 10% but it is on the way.. In the mean time I'm getting as much done as I can..

Both Tenors, the Uke and the Guitar are moving along, if a bit slowly.. I bent the sides for the Tenor guitar today and the Uke is going OK as well..

Headstock inlay for the Uke

Routing the Headstock shape with a drill press router,
nice & safe for me and the headstock

The completed result

End wedge in the Uke

Roughed out neck

Rough work done with the table saw, first time I've tried it

Bending guitar sides

Done, first time bending Zircote, it is actually pretty easy,
which is good considering the cost...

Tenor Guitar Rosette

About 3 days work - more or less and the rosette is in the tenor guitar top.. Maple segments with black/white/black purfling and dividers.. turned out OK.

Rosette sitting waiting to a pocket to be routed

Using a block plane to level the purfling

Final Leveling with a scraper

Leveled

Finished rosette