Continued from previous posts. As usual, it took longer than expected, but here are the rims all bent and blocked up. Next steps will be getting the tops and backs all braced up and voiced. After that I’ll install the kerfed lining and side braces, do some final bowl sanding, notch the lining and finally put the boxes together. Simple as that.
Should have more to share in the coming weeks.
Thanks for the support! Happy to answer any questions!
Wow, building Guitars is super cool. I want to do that one time. I have a really beautiful acoustic guitar that smells like very sweet wood and sounds amazing.
I highly recommend working through the process at least once. There’s a lot guitar building can teach you about woodworking in general, but my favorite part is learning about the crazy custom tools, jigs and fixtures that different luthiers use to achieve essentially the same goal.
Cool! Very interesting
I’m working on a uke myself. On hold for the summer though and taking a while as life doesn’t allow much focus time for fun.
Awesome! What kind of body wood are you using? Also, what sort of bracing pattern do you plan to follow?
Hope you can find the time to make some dust soon, and make sure to document your progress to share with the rest of the class!
I’m using black walnut for the sides and cherry for the top/back. The walnut was sourced from a fallen tree on my property a few years back (the tree was small though so if anything goes wrong I won’t have enough have may have to substitute something else). The cherry from a tree my grandpa had cut just before he died. I’m currently cutting up an ash tree that I hope to turn into the neck.
As for bracing, I’m not sure, but probably whatever plans I found online show.
The above is of course the plan, and subject to change as I discover something in it will/cannot work.
Thanks for sharing! It’s such an interesting process, love to watch the progress!
I’ve been wanting to make a cigar box for years - anything more is probably off limits for me.
There’s some decent inexpensive kit guitars out there that don’t require more than an IKEA-level handyman, and some basic tools you’ve probably already got lying around the house.
Take a look around and you’ll be surprised what you’ll find. Stewmac has a simple cigar box kit going for ~$100 right now. Not a shill, they just have quality stuff. You can definitely find stuff much cheaper on eBay and the like, but Stewmac has great customer service and guarantees all of their products. Plus they have a surplus of reference videos and articles on their site that can guide you through the toughest dovetail.
Very cool - thanks for the info!
I’ll probably try to get the body from a flea market, or from my dad’s collection of old junk if he’ll let me touch it. But getting some professional help getting the neck right wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.
Came for the double entendre, stayed for the wood.
