Day One

Once I got all my materials together, the first step is to build a body blank to cut the body from. In this case I'm using Brazillian Mahogany with a maple accent stripe and a Spalted Curly Maple top.

The Wood...

Here we have 2pc Brazillian Mahogany, 1 Maple strip and 2pc bookmatched Spalted Curly Maple for the top.

Getting ready to glue...

The edges have all been surfaced for a perfect join. Because I'm never sick, I use my health card to spread the glue!

All clapmed up for the night...

Just to be safe, I let the glue set all night.

Day Two

Today I built a jig to glue my bookmatched maple tops together. Because they're only 1/4" thick, clamping is difficult. Have a look...

The jig with one top ready.

This jig will hold 2 sets at once. It's purpose is to apply even pressure to the glue join. A wood strip is screwed to a peice of MDF. I push the maple peices up aginst it and prop the center (where the join will be) with a small scap. Then, scribe a line at the outside edge (left) and hammer in a few finishing nails along the line. Apply glue, remove the center prop and clamp down to the board. The pressure against the nails (left) and the centre strip (right) holds the two peices together firmly! Oh yeah, some wax under the glue joint keeps you from gluing the maple to the jig!

Two drop-tops setting in the jig...

Next, the glue joins on the blanks get sanded to remove glue squeez-out. The same is done with the maple top. This ensures a smooth surface and invisible Join.

...            ...

Now that the body and the top are done, they need to be glued together to give me a complete body blank to cut the shape from.

Day Three

At this piont the two guitars take seperate paths. This is because one will be solid and the other chambered (semi-hollow).

As for the solidbody, I can now glue the top to the body blank and let set for the night.

You can never have enough clamps.

For the chambered body I first measure, mark and draw the centerline from which all measurments are taken then trace the body shape on the blank using a template...

Then, with my trusy bandsaw, I rough-cut the the guitars shape from the blank...

Ahh, now we're gettin' somewhere...

Next, the same for the maple top...

From here I need to build a routing template in the shape of the wing chambers I will be routing. You'd be surprised how much time is spent just making jigs and templates for the building process.

The finished template.

The template, ready to route.

These chambers will be routed into the body for a lightweight feel and a thinline tone.

And now, back to the solid body. The blank has set and is ready to be marked and cut.

And finally... Where I'm at on day three

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The Thinline (left) has not yet been chambered. So basically they are identical now, except the left top is not yet glued.

Day Four

Today I put the routing template to use and created the chambers for the Thinline. It took a couple of hours and made quite a mess!

And now I can glue the maple top on and let set for the night.

And, back to the solid body...

Routing, routing and more routing. That's pretty much all I did today. First, I clean the edges of the body using a template and a flush trim follower bit. When that's done. A roundover bit softens the edge on the back of the guitar. I only do the back because I'm binding the top.

And that's all for tonight.

Day Five

Today's work was to get the thinline to the same stage as the solidbody (i.e. edges routed, back rounded) and also to cut the F-Hole.

So, after 3 hours of carefull routing, here they are in their current state. I set some old hardware on top to give you an idea as to where we're heading.

All of this work, so far was done with a laser-cut template, a bandsaw and a router with various toolbits. (along with the wing chamber template that I made.)

...and that's all for today.