Front Linings

Creep is often a problem in guitars. Here is one of the ways that I over come this. Laminated Linings are very stiff and this stops the sides from deforming after time from the continual pull of the strings on the soundboard.
I do everything as on the back linings (bar the profiling) but in 2 stages. In the second last picture you can see the laminated linings before they go onto the sides for the final time.

Fitting Back to Sides

I use a curved sanding board to sand the linings to the correct profile of the back. Then the brace ends are marked and notched out with a chisel. Once the back fit is spotty dogs, then the linings are cleaned up and sanded.

On to the front Linings. Now these are little different from the back linings.

Back Linings

Linings? Well, they hold the guitar together, so there very important and worth a bit of extra TLC. I use Rock Maple or Sycamore for my linings. I have always found kerfed linings a total nightmare and I'm not overly keen on the look.

So here are the steps to getting them on the Side Back Edge;

1. First fit of Braced Back, Scribe and removal of excess side.
2. Bend Maple (in this case) and fit to side.
3. Maker out and cut linings to profile. - I like the linings to follow to curve of back so they
have to be profiled in height as well as curved to follow
the sides.
4. More tape! The sides are taped to stop glue mess and also it means that I can degrease the gluing area with out getting Acetone everywhere, (that's why that nail polish remover is often in shot).
5. Linings Glued on.

I hope that you can all follow this, some bits are hard to explain.

Shaping Back Braces

Here's the back off the go-bar bench with it's braces shaped (using the worlds smallest plane), tape off and all bonnie.
A wee note about the back.
I only curve the back one way (across the grain). When I first started building guitars the idea of doming the back as dramatically as a Martin or Gibson seemed a little like asking for trouble, what with all that pressure on the glue joints from putting the back plates under so much tension. So I started doing it like this, I soon found out that I'm not alone in this technique, there are other builders such as Stefan Sobell (who really was the first I think).
Anyway, everyone with a Martin or a Gibson, PLEASE, don't worry! The way they put there backs on is fine, tried and test for many years! I use this technique because it works for me and my instruments, you see I think a back put on this way makes a guitar sound different.

And That's Friday

Here are the sides ready for the linings and back with braces. Tune in Monday folks.

Bracing The Back

Once the positions of the braces are marked out the notches in the center graft are cut out.
Then the braces and edges of the joints are taped to stop the glue going everywhere. I like crisp glue joints and this seemingly long winded approach is the best way I've found to create the quality I seek on the back. Just as in every other area of the build, I'd rather spend little extra time to get things right.
Finally the braces are glued on via my go bar clamp/bench/shelf. Space is tight so I had to build upwards!

Back Braces

I use Italian Spruce for my braces through out the guitar. I like this spruce because its very light and has a good stiffness to it. All the braces are split from large blocks and the machined to the required thickness. Then each braces is marked out, cut and routed to shape. I do all of the final shaping once there on the back.

Back Graft

The back graft is cut from the end of a spruce soundboard. The direction of the grain is very important here. If the grain of the graft travels with the grain of the back, after time it would pull the back joint apart through movement between its annular ring. I have seen this happen on cheap instruments especially lightly built classical's. So the grain must cross the grain of the back for a strong and stable graft.

End Blocks

Once the sides are to shape I glue on the end blocks. These are made of Mahogany plywood. I use waste Mahogany to make up the Ply, the reason, well, stability, end grain doesn't glue well and on the neck joint area there will always be a gluing face with end grain on it, so a ply makes every surface get side grain, the strongest for gluing. Make sense?

Sides

The sides are cut to width and then the inside faces scraped before bending.
Naturally it is very important to select the correct side of the side to go on the outside of the guitar, but even more importantly is the correct orientaion of the side with regard to grain direction and colour so that it will work visually with the curves and colours of the final body.

Back Strip

The first job on the back is to inlay the central strip. This is why the design has to be finalized before the build begins, one of the last jobs is to bind to body and the back strip must meet the side purflings.

I route the slot for the inlay strip with a paralell routing board. The strip is made up of black veneer and quilted Sycamore which in this case is sanded to 0.6mm for the very central and 0.3mm for side strips. Then they are glued together prier to going in the slot.

On the final guitar there will be 54 slips of veneer of differing thicknesses and colour to make a up the purlfing. The thickness of these veneers is very important to me as line weight can be the difference between clumpy heaviness and refined elegance.

Back and Side Prep

So first things first. Gluing the back plate together. There are a number of ways of doing this, I go for the clamps and wedges approach which like all the rest works very well.

Then to the sanding machine. I'm lucky enough to have one next door that I borrow time on. The first few instruments that I made I thicknesses all the plates by hand so I'm time severed you could say, it takes an age.

Here is the back and sides ready for the next steps.