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Fingerboard being prepped for shell inlay.
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(4/30/12) After the fret slots were cut into the fingerboard we ran another program to cut recesses for the inlay we intend to place in this fingerboard. Once the recesses were cut we removed the fingerboard from the CNC. Nect step was to cut a set of thin spacers which we placed into each inlay recess. These are temporary pieces that will allow us to fabricate the inlay pieces at just the right thickness. |
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Ebony fingerboard being machined on CNC.
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(4/12/12) We resawed a nice piece of asiam ebony and sanded it to a flat condition so that we could get it monted on the CNC. On this machine we perform a few critical operations. Firstly we machine the outer perimeter of the fingerboard to its finished dimensions. Next we machine the compount radius on top of the fingerboard. Once that is done and cleaned up we machine slots into the fingerboard for the 24 frest and cut the slot for the nut. |
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Neck pocket has been cut into body.
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(3/30/12) We have trimmed the body profile to ver close to the finished perimeter. Next job was to set the body up on the CNC machine and cut the pocked for the heel of the neck. This has to be doen carefully as there is a very specific angle between the neck and the body which allows the strings and the bridge to align correctly. After some careful calculations we were able to machine the neck pocket. |
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Body is being assembled with the top plate in the vacuum press.
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(2/21/12) We have done the preparation to the joing faces between the existing chambered body and the top plate, plus we sealed the interior chambered surfaces. Now we can proceed to gluing the top plate onto the body. This is done in the vacuum press and left for several hours for the adhesive to cure completely. When this operation is complete I will clean up the edges on the spindle sander. |
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F-holes have been machined into the top plate.
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(10/21/11) We have now machined the two f-holes into the top plate of the guitar. I will spend some time rounding over the edges of the cuts before gluing the top onto the body. Some things are more easily done before the pieces are permanently assembled together. The grain in the Koa is beautiful and will look even more impressive when the final finish is applied. The f-holes will give the guitar a slightly classical look! |
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Koa top readuy for F-Holes.
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(10/12/11) The two top pieces of the guitar have been bookmatched together and rough shaped to the body contour of the instrument. We will be able to assemble this piece to the rest of the body soon, but first we have to locate positions for the f-holes and machine them through the material. This we will do on the CNC router. It will really bring this blank top to life. Once that is done and the erges are cleaned up we will glue the top onto the chambered body. |
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Cutting out the control cavity hole.
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(9/20/11) This is the chambered body after the initial machining is completed. Following this chambering, I carefully harvested the wood for the control cavity cover from the parent material on the back of the body. This will be used later when finishing the cover. The body has also had a recess cut and a secondary insert glued in around the control cavity, which was then subsequently finish machined. This completes the body prep, now we work on the top! |
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Machining out the chambered areas.
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(9/2/11) Now that the body parts have all been assembled into one solid piece we can start work on the chambering. The material is removed from all the non-critical internal areas to relieve body weight and it often has a secondary effect of giving the guitar a nice light and subtle "acoustic" effect which can make it more attractive for the player to be able to practice without having to plug the instrument in. Getting this work done is a big step forward! |
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Gluing the body parts together.
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(8/6/11) I decided to glue all three body sub assemblied together in one setup. This requires a little care at the beginning to make sure parts dont move while clamping and cause mis-alignment, but it is much quicker to get them all glued together in one operation. The back faces of all three parts have to remain flush with each other so I also have to clamp securely to a flat, non-stick surface to guarantee that alignment also. |
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Gluing veneer to the body joint faces.
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(8/2/11) Before the body is assembled I am gluing black pinstriping veneer onto the two joint faces for decorative purposes. I am doing this on all joints on the guitar and it will have a nice consistent theme throughout. The Chakte-Kok is pretty dense wood but in this case with the guitar being chambered, it will end up very lightweight when the inside is mostly air! As soon as I have the body glued together I can get this up on the CNC. |
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Getting ready to assemble the body.
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(7/20/11) We have completed the gluing on the three main parts of the body, and I put these together so we could get a better impression of what the completed body might look like. The 3 piece red and white section will look great when the neck is on the body. The Koa has a beautiful grain and will look spectacular when the finish is applied. Next step will be to glue all these parts together and get some more work done on the construction of the neck. |
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Body pieces glued together.
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(7/22/11) The three sections that will become the center of the body have been glued together. Again, I have used the black veneer between each glue joint as a pinstriping decorative effect. That should look good on the finished instrument. Note that the red strip in the center of the three pieces is tapered. This taper will perfectly match that of the neck and the guitar will look like a neck-through instrument from the back (although really a bolt-on) |
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Harvesting the control cavity cover from the beck plate.
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(7/15/11) Before I glue body parts together I have to take steps to remove the material that will ultimately become the cavity cover lid on the back of the guitar. If I remove the wood now - I am able to keep that piece and it will become a matching, continuous grain cover. This always looks good on the back of a natural wood instrument. It's a little extra work but worth the benefits of the end result! More on this later. |
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Gluing black veneer onto the back plates.
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(7/12/11) I have sawn the Koa top and back pieces and drum sanded them all to a consistent thickness. Now that they are flat I can put the various pieces into the vacuum press and glue on the black decorative veneer to the bottom side of each. I want to get the body assembled as quickly as possible because there will be some time-consuming operations on the CNC to follow where we cut all the internal chambers. |
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Material for the core of the body and the neck.
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(7/5/11) I have rough sawn and sanded the woods that will combine to make the neck and the center section of the body. We will cut the red Chakte-Kok wood to a taper so that the laminates in the neck will follow the natural taper of the sides of the neck. I'm going to use a black veneer from Europe to highlight the joint areas on this guitar. next step is to glue these pieces together so that we have the core of the instrument established. |
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General idea of thw body using our rough-cut components.
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(7/1/11) We're starting this project by selecting some woods we have in stock that I think might result in an impressive looking and sounding guitar. In this case I am using a wood called Chakte-Kok from Yucatan for the center sections of the body and the neck. It is fairly dense but since this will be a chambered body, that will not end up being much of an issue. The other neck wood will be Cyrly Maple and the top amnd back will be Koa. |
