Voicing the top/back is largely about tapping the braces plates at key nodal locations and listening for pitches and relationships. From there braces are shaved back to allow for more flexibility where necessary.
I’ll admit that this is were the majority of the magic happens to separate an amazing guitar from a good guitar. Unfortunately, it’s almost entirely subjective and every piece of wood is different, so writing up a guide would prove challenging.
It you’d like to know more, Dana Bourgeois has some good videos on YouTube sort of highlighting his process.
Thank you very much! It’s still in need of some voicing and shaping, but should be ready to glue in an hour or two. I’ll snap some more detailed pics of the braces before I box it up.
Awww shucks… I’m gonna blush.
Sounds like an incredible build. I love when folks use wood with a story to it.
There’s some decent inexpensive kit guitars out there that don’t require more than an IKEA-level handyman, and some basic tools you’ve probably already got lying around the house.
Take a look around and you’ll be surprised what you’ll find. Stewmac has a simple cigar box kit going for ~$100 right now. Not a shill, they just have quality stuff. You can definitely find stuff much cheaper on eBay and the like, but Stewmac has great customer service and guarantees all of their products. Plus they have a surplus of reference videos and articles on their site that can guide you through the toughest dovetail.
Awesome! What kind of body wood are you using? Also, what sort of bracing pattern do you plan to follow?
Hope you can find the time to make some dust soon, and make sure to document your progress to share with the rest of the class!
I highly recommend working through the process at least once. There’s a lot guitar building can teach you about woodworking in general, but my favorite part is learning about the crazy custom tools, jigs and fixtures that different luthiers use to achieve essentially the same goal.
Continued from previous posts. As usual, it took longer than expected, but here are the rims all bent and blocked up. Next steps will be getting the tops and backs all braced up and voiced. After that I’ll install the kerfed lining and side braces, do some final bowl sanding, notch the lining and finally put the boxes together. Simple as that.
Should have more to share in the coming weeks.
Thanks for the support! Happy to answer any questions!
Steel string flat tops. Standard X-bracing for the most part.
Just wait til I show off my buttwedge
Bubinga, Plum, and Walnut (yes it’s 4 pieces; I had to get creative and it’s getting color so you’ll never notice 😄)
Gladly! It’s been a long time since I’ve had any work to share, so it’ll be great to have a community to share it with again!
Everything is Sitka. Back and sides will follow shortly. I’m what you might call a professional.
I believe the suspect that the police have identified was a firearms instructor at a military base down in Saco.
My pleasure! I’m lucky to work in a field that I am passionate about, so anytime I can share the passion and possibly start someone on their own journey, I jump at it.