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Thread: Shaping an archtop

  1. #1
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Shaping an archtop

    Not a mandolin in this case but the same method would apply to any archtop.
    I started off using gouge's and mini planes, I can remember it taking me two full days to carve a 6 string acoustic soundboard, obviously I still have finishing work to do but for basic shaping I much prefer a bit of electric assistance……


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  3. #2
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    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Nice-----did you shape to illicit a recurve? What tailpiece have you selected---your excellent video did not show the tailpiece. It appears that you used cedar for the top.

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  5. #3
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Well the wood is difficult to recognise, it comes from an old church pew and I know the church is over 200 years old.
    It looks like ceda but does not have that distinctive smell and seems much harder that any ceda I have used.

    I think it is Scotts pine as this was a popular wood to use at the time, the colour is deceptive but I think that is due to the age?
    In any case it makes superb soundboards it just a shame I only have a tittle left.

    So in fact I made that video this afternoon and the very last frame in the video shows last months work, this new one will be the third in a row.
    I can show you some pictures of the last one.
    The woods are olive sides, apple back (complete with old bullet) cherry and mahogany neck.Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by fox; Jan-17-2022 at 3:38pm.

  6. #4

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    That scared me.....I suggest you build a carving cradle. I wouldn't do that freehand, I like my fingers too much.
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  8. #5
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Understandable and a fair point but, I have been wielding a grinder for around 45 years now, I learnt my trade as a boat builder and a 4” grinder was in my hands on my first day.
    I put up a video on youtube a few years back of myself carving a didgeridoo and it got taken down as it was said to be too dangerous !

    If you look closely you can see I still have ten fingers, its the scars you cant see….

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  11. #7

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    The chainsaw disc is heads and shoulders, (and fingers and limbs) more evil than even chainsaws in the hands of drunks. I think bear carvers still use them.
    Yes, 10krpm small angle grinders with cutoff disks or sanders can bite back, but the worst in my family metalworking history involved their larger versions and shattering grinding disks. When I first started restoring cars and bought one, dad felt obliged to educate me. I tend to be conscious of where shrapnel or the tool might go, and like leather aprons and Kevlar guards. The even smaller die grinders, almost always used with one hand, are good for escaping the grasp. Or shaping wood.

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  13. #8

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    ... because nobody ever does something dangerous for 45 years and THEN has an accident.

    Seriously: build a carving table. Make it round so you can work around the piece, if you like.

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  15. #9
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Thanks Jeff, to be honest I used to post a far bit on this forum, I remember why I stopped now.

    I build things for a living, I was trying to show how I can save time and thought a few builders might be interested!

    It is not easy to make any profit building guitars but I live in a real world and do what I can to do the best I can.

    I do apologise for upsetting your party but rest assured I wont be bothering you again.

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    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Fox---your photos are terrific and I love that you have tweaked the design of a Uke. Sorry for the other posts that are eager to point out flaws. I hope that you continue to post other photos of instruments that you have completed. Did you design the tail piece yourself--a close up would be of interest to me.

  17. #11

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Fox, don’t go away, you’re not being dissed. I read this forum as at least half amateur builders, players who are curious or have a problem to solve, and some like me, who do make other sorts of things. Whenever I comment about something bad to get on your skin, or lungs or innards, some tool that might provoke an explosion (this week, a propane-butane sprayer being used indoors by a newbie), I feel that it might be useful to say something.
    Serial instrument building and repair isn’t only for professionals. The forum helps everyone.

  18. #12

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    I'm not even an amateur. Don't mind me.

    I did recently do a stupid and had my hand in a splint for a month or so and still need to avoid playing piano and a few other things so I'll cop to being extra sensitive about safety. Hoping to be mostly back to good by the first anniversary of my stupid, in June. Damn tendons, they just take forever to get better.

  19. #13

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    For maple, I use a Kutzall spiky donut similar to RobH but with finer spikes. No freehand. For the outside, the maple is held down to a piece of 3/4" plywood with two screws from the bottom. For the inside, it's in a cradle after the indexing holes are drilled. It's a strictly two hands on the grinder with one elbow anchored into my ribs. With practice, you learn to swing arcs to produce the gradual curves. Another great thing about the donut is it makes it easy to rough in the recurves.

    After the grinder, I switch to a 5" ROS with a 1/2" thick soft foam interface pad and 60 grit abranet screen, then 120, then the Carruth scraper.

  20. #14
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    I want every one of you to live a safe happy life, free from tool incidents. I nearly severed about half of my left hand when I was 18 working on my second guitar with a very sharp chisel.

    Both times that I purchased a very expensive Sawstop tablesaw, I was essentially verbally abused by several longtime friends with decades of tablesaw experience. Ironically, most of it was due to the cost. Within two weeks, one of them literally almost killed himself when he caught his hand in the blade and then his face was dragged down to it. $10k hospital bill and a lifetime with a messed up hand. Within a year, three of them had matching stories and scars.

    Novices tend to do dangerous stuff from misinformation or bad technique, but they have a healthy fear of machinery. It is the experience folks with decades of time in the shop that tend to get complacent, distracted, and several that I know who drink and smoke in the shop, a few both. Those are the ones I worry for the most. One of them smokes multiple substances in the spray booth (While spraying!) thinking that nobody will notice the smell when it is mixed with nitro in the exhaust fan and has complete disregard for his lighter's open flame!!!!!

    The second Sawstop that I purchased was for several reasons, but importantly because I usually have a lot of students passing through my workshop. Within two weeks, one of them- with 50+ years "experience" in a woodshop, wound up in the hospital using his $200 contractor saw. I visited him in the hospital and we had a long conversation about many things in life.

    The day he got out, he showed me what was left of his fingers, and said he gave our conversation some serious thinking time. He concluded that I was correct. Life is short & chaos can strike at any time, so he revised his thinking and his spending and got his priorities straight. That day he went out shopping- and bought a beautiful restored 1957 Chevy coup, bright red with a red interior for $25,000. He kept using the rickety old saw because now that he only had some shoddy little nubs for fingers, he had a built in push stick and no longer worried. We were scheduled to take that old car to the Charlotte National show. He was one of the most physically unhealthy men I have ever met and also had the strongest genes. He survived 4 different cancer bouts, five heart attacks, died on the table twice, and had 14 linear feet of arteries replaced with hog parts before he died from COVID early in the pandemic.....Rest in peace Doug....
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  22. #15
    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Quote Originally Posted by j. condino View Post
    I want every one of you to live a safe happy life, free from tool incidents. I nearly severed about half of my left hand when I was 18 working on my second guitar with a very sharp chisel………

    Novices tend to do dangerous stuff from misinformation or bad technique, but they have a healthy fear of machinery. It is the experience folks with decades of time in the shop that tend to get complacent…..
    ...
    I agree on both counts and certainly hope no one gets hurt in either their hobby or profession. Haste and it’s inherently poor judgment have caused many injuries. Thinking it can’t happen to you is a quite unwise sentiment.

    I had a few minor injuries in my trade career, a couple requiring a few stitches and all were preventable with better judgment on my part.

    Please realize it can happen to you.
    Not all the clams are at the beach

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  23. #16

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    Re. The Sawstop. In addition to cost and hubris, I think the inventor’s attempt to get legislation to mandate his design was offensive, although very American. If, instead, the technology was made royalty-free, other manufacturers would have possibly used it more. Some development would have brought the cost down, I think. But amateurs and pros alike strip the blade guards off conventional saws, first thing even now.

    When I was learning to fly, new pilots were considered most likely to crash at about 200 flying hours, as initial fear and care began to be replaced with unwarranted confidence. With further hours, we would be more careful and better-skilled. In the Dallas area, we had about one general aviation ‘incident’ a week, seldom equipment failure.

  24. #17

    Default Re: Shaping an archtop

    You’d think that with 39 years of experience chewing food I’d be able to do it without biting myself…

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