Building an Acoustic Guitar                                                                            

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Status Updates - December 1, 2011

I have been spending a LOT of time drawing my guitar on AutoCad. Drawing things, checking and double checking measurements and drawings. I have to make sure everything is perfect in the drawings. By drawing the guitar, I can do a lot of thinking and save myself a lot of mistakes and errors when building the guitar.

I started building seven more cam clamps the other day. I still have a little bit left to do on them but should have them completed by next week. This will give me eleven or so. I also bought wood for the guitar neck from the Ole General Store in Geneva, Florida. Bob Hughes and his son Tim own and operate the company. I bought some sapele and hard maple for my guitar neck. Tim showed me some beautiful Brazilian rosewood but too bad for me, it wasn't wide enough for me to make a jumbo guitar out of it.

Preliminary Drawing 1
This is the first preliminary drawing of my guitar. I plan on getting it to the printer tomorrow or next week. Once it is completed, I can cut a Lexan pattern and start building the guitar mold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My "To Do" List for next week is:

      1. Finish the cam clamps
      2. Get the preliminary AutoCad drawing to the printer
      3. Make a simple chisel sharpening jig
      4. Order drill press (It was out of stock at Harbor Freight this week)
      5. Make resaw jig
      6. Start construction on thickness sander
      7. Take a field trip to Clermont, Florida to look at the neck/body joint of a McPherson guitar

 

I wanted to build this guitar without a lot of layout of cash. To do this, I am trying to cut costs wherever possible. So far, I've got almost all the tools I need. I still want to buy a drill press and will do that tomorrow or next week. Harbor Freight has a 12 speed drill press on sale for $129 but my local store was out of stock. Right now, I am using a hand drill that is mounted in a drill press mount. It works okay but is not quite as rugged as I would like

 

Neck Wood and Bridge Wood
Clamps
Here is some sapele and some hard maple for my five piece guitar neck. I also bought a really nice looking piece of Brazilian Rosewood for the bridge.
Two finished clamps and 14 blocks of oak that will be 7 more cam clamps when they are finished. I glue them up on aluminum foil so I don't get the glue all over everything.
Top Wood
 
Two sets of wood for the tops of guitars. One is a White Kermode Spruce, the other is called "Dusty Rose" spruce. Also pictured are two blocks of spruce for bracing.
 

 

Once I get the thickness sander built, I will cut all the parts for the five piece neck, sand them to the correct thickness and glue them up. I am excited to get going but I know this is going to be a lesson in patience for me, especially with the back problems I have.

Building Clamps