Variations on a theme: building the new york doll

[meandi]

I posted some shots of my first archtop build on this page & thought I'd share this with you all as well.
I'm in the early stages of another build & this one will be a total departure, stylistaclly from my concept on that one.

Rather than hash out my entire thought process on this one vs. #1 at this point, I'll just say that this one will be a platnum blond maple neck/sides/back...bright-n-brassy like a new york showgirl...hence the name in the thread title.

Couple of shots on where I'm at on this project.

One of the differences on this one will be that I'm going to do a pedistal mounted neck which will leave the front of the body open & visable & allow me to round off the corner at the front of the cut-away.
Layout shows the square mounting pocket in the neck block.
Toyed with the idea of a cello style waist cut...I don't know about that...

Went to the wood store a couple of days ago & this lovely piece of chocolate colored Brazilian ebony just followed me home.
I've got enough to do all the neck lam accents, fingerboard, tailpiece, bridge & the body bindings, with a little bit left over.

 

[drive-south]

Wow!! I assume we are looking at the maple back in the process of being carved. That's just beautiful. Will there be a pickguard?

Tell us more about this neck pedestal. Does the neck float above the top?

I recall you were using the Bennedetto book for reference. I think I have a copy of the book at home I picked up used at a guitar show. Time to start reading.


drive-south

 

[meandi]

Wow!! I assume we are looking at the maple back in the process of being carved. That's just beautiful. Will there be a pickguard?

Tell us more about this neck pedestal. Does the neck float above the top?

I recall you were using the Bennedetto book for reference. I think I have a copy of the book at home I picked up used at a guitar show. Time to start reading.


drive-south

Yes, there will be a pickguard/finger rest, also in ebony.
It is the mount for the pickup to attach to as well as a volumn pot.

The neck will float above the top...I'm in the process of doing full scale engineering drawings to work from...I'll post them for you...probably more discriptive than trying to use words.

I studied Benedetto's book & his 9 1/2 hr dvd set for almost a year before beginning the first build.

 

[meandi]

Basic concept drawn to scale.
Drawing shows side view of the top profile, bridge location & desired height above the top.
Broken line shows string trajectory from neck top to bridge top.
I'm going to build a soft wood prototype for the drawn area to see it in 3 dimension...I can add a couple of more degrees to the neck angle so it will set a bit closer to the top for a more compact appearance & still intersect the bridge top properly.
The pedistal will be laminated & cut with the neck blank, making it a one piece item.

 

[meandi]

Couple of shots of the guitar that sparked my interest in the pedestal mount concept.
I don't care much for the starkness of his design...feel the neck bottom/sides should blend/radius into the pedestal for a more flowing look.
I really do like the openness of the front of the body with it rounding into the cutaway...lovely.

 

[meandi]

A little background on the conceptual evolution of this guitar.
Maple neck blank for conventional dove tail mount on the front of the body, already glued up with the machine work done on the top surfaces, with f.b. blank & other accesories.
Quite a bit of work already done to abandon it in favor of another design concept.
but this is pure art for me, so I gots to follow ma muse...put these parts on the shelf for a later time.

 

[meandi]

- Great work! I'm looking forward to the updates.

Thanks.
It's in the engineering stage for the neck mount...got most of my drawing work done, I think,...I'm going to build an abreviated prototype out of pine to get the moves figgured out...did go to the wood store yesterday & bought the hard maple for it...guy there checked moisture content on it & was 2-3%, so it won't have to acclimate in my shop too long & be ready for use.

 

[meandi]

That's a pretty good sized piece of ebony there.
Neck blank template is attached with double stick tape & is long enough to enclude the headstock after the scarf joint is cut for the headstock angle.
Maple for this neck will be cut from the right side of the board to avoid the dark streak...this guitar will be a platinum blond, so I want to keep the wood as white as possible

 

[meandi]

Rough cut maple neck blank...

...now will be re-sawn into strips to allow for the insertion of the ebony accent strips & then glued up as a laminated neck blank.

 

[meandi]

ok, fresh out of the glue press, now I've got something to work with.

 

[meandi]

Quick pass on the jointer to square everything up & get rid of the glue mess, set-up the re-saw fence on the band saw & there's my fingerboard...

...and carying the visual theme on back, my tailpiece as well.
Bright-n-brassy like a new york show girl, the ny doll.

 

[meandi]

Added a base of ebony to the the fingerboard & tailpiece blanks.
Will act as an accent line between the neck and fingerboard, as well as providing some solid material to re-enforce the glue lines against truss rod loads.

 

[hogy]

Couple of shots of the guitar that sparked my interest in the pedestal mount concept.
I don't care much for the starkness of his design...feel the neck bottom/sides should blend/radius into the pedestal for a more flowing look.
I really do like the openness of the front of the body with it rounding into the cutaway...lovely.

Hi meandi, who built this guitar? I'd love to see more of it, do you have a link?

How is the neck mounted?


Hogy

 

[drive-south]

I was also wondering where the seam is. Besides the seam at the end-pin is there a second seam? Normally the sides meet at the heel, with the joint hidden.

drive-south

 

[meandi]

Hi meandi, who built this guitar? I'd love to see more of it, do you have a link?

How is the neck mounted?


Hogy

Google Ken Parker archtops...sorry, don't have a link handy.
I'm not sure on the specifics of his mounting system, he's not showing too much.
I haven't concerned myself with his obvious hi-tech approach, as I'm primarially focusing on the general visual vibe of the pedestal mount concept for my current project.
I'm a hobby shop rookie builder...this being my second acoustic build, I'm still very much doing it as lo tech as possible.

I was also wondering where the seam is. Besides the seam at the end-pin is there a second seam? Normally the sides meet at the heel, with the joint hidden.

drive-south

After having looked at his work, my feeling is that he's building with one piece of side wood, with the seam at the end-pin only.

 

[Pedro58]

This is fascinating! I can't get over the simplicity of the idea... it almost looks like it can't work.

 

[meandi]

This is fascinating! I can't get over the simplicity of the idea... it almost looks like it can't work.

It has to be more complex than meets the eye...It's adjustable for string height at the pedestal without the need to re-tune the guitar, according to Parker.

 

[meandi]

Decided I wanted to carry the theme from the fingerboard & tailpiece on around the rest of the guitar.
So I split the back plate & glued up an accent line bundle.
Still need to remove some material from each half of the plate to bring the overall width of the plate back to original specs before gluing back together.
Looks good to me.
Small pieces at upper left will be saved & used as material to inlay into the front & rear of the body later in the build.

 

[meandi]

On my first archtop, I had a complete set of full scale prints from which to work as well as having watched Benedetto build a guitar on the 9 1/2 hrs of dvd, so it became, in essence, an act of emulation on my part to complete it.
On this one, however, since I have determined to have a pedestal mounted neck, I have placed myself in the hazy world of working from concept, visulation & insights/instincts gained from 40+ yrs as a hard core shop rat.
Experience has shown me the hard way, that when one is building from concept, it's a real good idea to prototype before committing to good materials.
That's what's going on now.
I have cut the centerline top profile from the bridge forward on the pine block...the nail represents the saddle top & the pedestal prototype has been set deeply enough into the neck pocket that the straight edge, when laid on the neck top intersects the saddle top properly.
This allows me to verify that the neck angle, which I calculated on my original working drawings is satisfactory.
The prototype is proving it's worth already, in that I've decided that I want the neck to set closer down on the top for a more compact appearance.
Seeing concepts in three dimensional perspective is much more enlightening than merly trusting a one dimensional drawing.
To do this I will have to add a couple more degrees to the neck angle so that the neck top/saddle intersection factor remains satisfactory.
This will lower the headstock end of the neck relative to the body of the guitar & quite honestly, I feel that in so doing, the neck angle will be more in sync with the slope of the top plate for a more balanced, pleasing visual appearance.

 

[meandi]

- How are things coming along? Interesting project.

Part of my visual concept for this guitar is to have the corner at the front of the cut-away rounded, rather than a square corner, as on builds that have the neck mounted on the front of the body.

Which will give a more fluid transition from the cutaway to the front of the body with the pedestal mounted neck.
I have been bending my side woods by wetting & bending over hot pipes, as is one of the traditional methods.
However, the tightness of the radius required to accomplish this is causing my test materials to split when bent via that method.
The piece illustrated has had the split area removed by sanding it away...this worked for a prototype, so I could get a 3D look at the design concept, but it has also thinned it more than I feel comfortable using in the actual build.

I do have the non-cutaway side bent & in the mold for safe storage.

Through online research, I have discovered steam bending & that by softening the wood this way, tighter bends seem to be doable.
So, at this time I'm in the process of building a steam box to check it out & see if I can accomplish the desired result this way.