Acoustic archtop non-traditional design and build

[Carl Dickinson]

I use 4" wide packing tape down the center of my go-bar deck base. Renew it with a new layer occasionally.

[Nick Kitchener]

An update. After getting hit for a week with this flu/cold and then slicing my hand open and various other pass-times:
1. The mould is smoother and now fits together.
2. The neck and tail blocks have been cut, then planed so the side edges are completely flat.
3. The sides and blocks are glued.
4. The solid linings are cut and shaped to be very close in size, they're also scraped to remove any contaminants and smooth the faces. The sides where the linings will go are scraped.
5. Two of the linings are bent to shape - some crazy fool decided solid linings would be fun not thinking of the really gnarly tail and neck bends.. supergluing fractures works well.
6. I've glued one of the linings in, this takes 4 g clamps and 48 pegs for one lining. This clamping hell, plus the spring of both side+lining, means I'm giving the glue over 12+ hours for each lining to ensure it's bonded.

Dry test fit.

I'll be double lining and bracing, so this could take a while!

[Nick Kitchener]

The first four braces are in and next it's the vertical side braces.

I know there's quite a discussion between cloth and solid wood. Also I did note a conversation that Alan had with a museum restorer about not leaving the braces simply butted up against the linings.
I've taken that into account - shaped and interlocked them accordingly:

I still have some more to go but once they're done, I will flush cut the tops then install the second set of linings over the top. Joys of bending thick wood!

[Barry Daniels]

One of the mistakes that new builders usually make is overbuilding resulting in a non-resonant body. My motto is "Build Light".

[Nick Kitchener]

Strength in geometry!

The linings are about 4mm, there are two layers giving 8mm total, and I will scrape them back a bit, i’ll also round the inner edge (neat and tidy!).

The neck block is quite chunky due to the non traditional neck joint planned.

January should see the top being carved and more interesting progress. I’ll also update on the profile for that once the xmas chaos has subsided.
This is my first archtop so it’s a slow thoughtful progress, i got some of the impatience out with my first solid state build!

[Dave Rickard]

One of the mistakes that new builders usually make is overbuilding resulting in a non-resonant body. My motto is "Build Light".

Yep

[Nick Kitchener]

Update - I've finished gluing in the linings today. With the holiday break and the local temperatures -5 below freezing it's been a case of running an oil heater whilst working outside to warm the piece and keep the glue above 10degC. It's been brought into the house for curing and that's paid off.

It still needs to be cleaned up but it survives being outside of the mould and goes back in for safe keeping. Also it's got a drum sound just on the sides.

So think a quick clean up tomorrow and I'll also clean up the top and take some final measurements before I start working on it.

[Nick Kitchener]

A little clean up, I've had to adjust the colour balance as the phone hates the garage light.

The sides are straight, but it's neither symmetrical or perfectly flush again the mould - that's fine, it's my first (and probably only) acoustic. It's got its own tap tone too which surprised me (although at this stage completely useless observation).

I've not cleaned the outside or fully flattened for the plate surfaces yet, that will wait until closer to the glue up.

Next up is starting on the top.

[Nick Kitchener]

I've started to make the deflection tester for the top:

The idea is that the parts are clamped down to the bench, weight is placed at the end of the tube, and downforce is exerted via a dummy bridge. The dial then measures any change of the top.

The same dial should then allow me to thickness the top against the defined profile. I'll draw out the profiles before hand and post them up here for comment.