Current Build

Construction of the Sinker Redwood Guitar

Here are pictures of the construction of a guitar with a sinker redwood top, Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, cocobolo bindings, and a mahogony neck.

Weeks 1 and 2

This is how the original tonewood looked before starting.

The top was jointed together then the channel for the rosette was routed and the rosette glued. The weights help press the rosette into the channel while the glue dries.

The headplate was fashioned from left over wood from the back and then jointed together.

The back was first jointed together then brought to the proper thickness and scraped smooth. Then I cut it to within 1/4" of the ending shape. Now the center reinforcement strip is being glued on.

Weeks 3, 4 and 5

Here is the rosette after scraping.

Glueing the heel block.

The neck after the heel has been rough cut with some of the scrap pieces shown.

The headplate, maple and ebonized veneers are glued to the headstock.

The neck after the headstock has been rough cut.

Glueing the back braces. The top braces were glued on in a similar fashion.

Weeks 6 thru 11

Rough gouging of the heel using a cardboard guide.

Next come the chiseling of the heel to rough shape the rounded sides.

Once the sides cool off then the lining are glued on to add glueing surface for the soundboard and back.

Here the almost completed headstock is shown. I'll file the ramps in later.

The roughed out heel. Next it's filed until it's shape is just right and then sanding is done.

Bending the sides using the side bender.

Weeks 12 and 13

Bending all the purfling, binding and trim peices is very time consuming, because the Cocobolo bindings are very difficult to bend. I broke one in the process. All these pieces will go on this guitar.

Once all the parts, except the bridge and fingerboard, are complete, assembly starts with the gluing of the neck and end block to the top.

Next comes the carving of the braces. This lightens the soundboard and makes it sing again.

Then comes the gluing of the sides to the soundboard, neck, and end block all at the same time.

Weeks 14 and 15

The Back braces are carved. I leave about 1/4" in height at the ends to fit into the linings for a nice tight fit of the back to the sides.

The Back was glued on using Spool Clamps. Clamps are used for the heel and end block areas. Note that the center strip had to be perfectly aligned with the heel and center of the end block. You'll see why later.

Then I concentrated on trimming the back that overhangs the heel. Trimming this was an extemely delicate operation in order to prevent damaging the heel surface and make the back and heel appear seamless and centered to the back strip. As you can see it was very important to align the back center strip with the heel. Of course nothing is perfect, so slight adjustments to the heel can be made using a file.

Since the edge router can only come to within about 1/2" of the neck, the rest of the way had to be carefully trimmed out using an X-Acto knife, a 2mm wide chisel, and a small flat diamond file. Again, this is an extremely delicate operation. The staircase has to continue as perfectly as possible well into the neck area. This area will not be visible once the fingerboard is glued on.

The sides are sanded using a special curved sanding stick that has the same curve as the back. Also, notches are carved out of the linings of the sides to receive the braces. The sides and back are now ready to be glued together.

After the back has dried throughly I scraped the butt area and then used a ruler, X-acto knife, 1/8" chisel and safe edged files to create the cavity for the end strip. It had to be purfectly in line with the center strip. The end strip is now ready to be glued.

Next came the dreaded routing of the purfling and binding channels for the top. Notice the staircase step on the edge of the guitar. The first step is for the purfling and the next step for the binding.

The end strip has been scraped clean of glue and is now flush to the surface of the sides. I routed the binding channel right up to the edge of the end strip but before I reached the maple trim edge. Then I had to chisel the rest of the step out by hand. Then I re-adjusted the router depth a little higher before routing the end strip itself. The end strip has to be left a little bit higher then the bottom binding step to account for the mitered edge of the decrative maple trim. Next week will be the routing of the back side and the gluing of the binding and purflings.

Weeks 16 and 17

The back binding channel routed out.

Once all the parts, except the bridge and fingerboard, are complete, assembly starts with the gluing of the neck and end block to the top.

Very carefully the V shape has to be carved out near the heel for the binding. The binding and maple trim has to sized slightly longer and then adjusted have to be made to the length by filing the end down during the gluing process at the butt end for a purfect fit.

After the tape is removed it's not pretty with all the extra glue that was squeezed out under the tape. This extra glue will be scraped away later during the leveling and clean-up step. I ended up with a slight 1/2 mm to 1/4 mm gap between the end strip and the binding at the back of the guitar, because the maple trim that was pre-glued to the cocobolo binding piece I was using to determine the height I needed to leave the end stip was shorter then the piece I actually used. Lesson learned: Always use the actual piece that will be glued to determine how much height to leave the end strip. The width of the maple trim varies quit a bit. I will have to fill the gap by mixing cocobolo sawdust with some hide glue and press it into the gap then the next day scrape the excess away and level it. Next comes the leveling, scraping and cleaning up of the guitar body.

Weeks 18 and 19

I make my fingerboards tilt toward the bass side about 1 mm lower. I found it best to sand the board by hand using a flat wood block. Once the fingerboard has the right slant and is flat length wise and width wise, I saw the fret slots using a special jig that I made for the table saw to assure accurate placement of the frets. Once the fret slots have been cut, I shape the sound hole out of the fingerboard. Normally, I use the band saw to rough shape the soundhole and then smooth it out on the belt sander, but this time, since I'm adding a 20th fret, after roughing it out at the band saw, I had to file and sand the final shape by hand.

This is how the fingerboard looks before the frets are installed.

The tie block is made from gluing pieces of purfling and binding together. Then I meticulously shape it to just the right size to fit over the tie block area of the bridge. I then shape and miter 4 pieces of bone to fit around the piece of purfling/binding. The bone is then glued to the piece of purfling/binding. The glued tie block and the completely carved and sanded bridge is shown.

Finally, the fingerboard is glued onto the neck.

To make the bridge, first it must be shaped into the right size then 4 cuts are made at the table saw. Then 2 cuts for the wings at the band saw. Here you see the carving of the bridge beginning.

Once the tie block has dried from gluing, I shape it to fit just right, with no overhang, on the tie block area of the bridge. Then I sand it flat because the bone frame is always thicker then the purfling/binding piece. Then I glue the tie block onto the bridge as shown.

Weeks 20 and 21

The bridge being glued.

Once the frets are in I prepare the fretboard for dressing the frets.

Then I finish sand the entire guitar to get it ready for the first application of shellac.

Next I pound in the frets using my fret pounding caul so they go in flat and true every time.

Here is the fretboard after dressing the frets. I then insert the abalone dot at the 7th fret.