(click on any of the images to enlarge)
Well, I finally broke down and did it. I'm makin' an acoustic.
Since I've built my other guitars by the seat of my pants - I figured maybe it would be a good idea to take a class for this build. I am taking the class at Woodcraft in Woburn. Building an acoustic is much more difficult than building an electric. There's more precision involved and more opportunities to make mistakes. I'm glad I decided to try a class first. I can safely say (already) that I'd be pretty lost without the guidance. This is a five week course and we've only completed week one - so there's a ways to go but his is how the first class went down...
The guitar we are building comes as a kit (US guitar Kits). To look at the kit - it looks pretty far along already. And it is. Many steps were bypassed in order to get the class under 6 weeks (and around $600). So, I didn't put the back and sides together - this was done for me. I can see why the kit company does it this way - to bend the side wood and put the sides on the back - you need to make or use a form that is shaped to the guitar size you want. I'm guessing the act of making the form is pretty involved and by cutting that step out - it's easier to make everything come together at the right price and time. So, let's call this luthiery with training wheels and run with it. Hey, you gotta start somewhere.
So, what did we do on the first night?
We shaped the braces on the back side of the top. This is crucial for the stability and tone of the guitar. The top is what vibrates the most on an acoustic. The back and sides do as well - but the top of the guitar is the 'sound board' to use a piano term. You want the top to vibrate as much as possible when the strings are plucked/strummed. The problem is that if the top vibrates too much it'll fall apart under all the stress of the string tension. So the top braces give the top the stability and structure it needs to stay together - but by shaping them (i.e. making them thinner and more light-weight) you help the top vibrate more. Each brace does something different but the big "X" down the middle is where the strength comes from. My goal was to chisel and sand all of these braces until they were small - but not too small.
We also sized the top to the back/sides. We put the back/sides over the top and traced out where the braces should meet the body and where all the excess wood should be trimmed. We then cut and chiseled the braces until they would fit inside the back/sides (but with the top itself resting on top of the back sides). It pretty precise. Then we used a band saw to trim the excess top wood - so that the top matched the back/sides more closely in size.
Finally we chiseled out little grooves in the sides (on the inside) so that the top bracing would fit snugly against the sides. After that was done we test fit the top and sides a couple of times to make sute it was a good fit - then we glued the top to the back/sides with wood glue and all these funky clamps. They look wierd - but they do a great job. Now we wait for the glue to dry (and the next class).
Believe it or not the carving, fitting, and gluing took over four hours. But the satisfying "thump" you hear when your top fits snugly onto the back/sides makes it worth it. As a side note - when you make an acoustic one of the ways to judge the sound before the guitar is finished is to tap-test it. It's exactly what it sounds like. You tap the top in various places to hear what it sounds like. Having never done this before - I wasn't sure what I was listening for (and the instructor gave no hints interestingly enough) but what I did hear was a deep and satisfying 'thume' sound. Almost the equivalent of hitting a gong - but made out of wood. I dug it either way. And look forward to the end result.
Another neat thing was that we all took the guitar necks that came with the kit home with us - so we can personalize the headstocks. I already have my plan in place. I just have to get some ebony laminate this weekend and I'm on my way...
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