Diana is starting a new arcthop guitar, and the materials are shown below.  The top will be sitka spruce, and the back and sides are highly flamed maple.  Both top and back are molded, not carved--which has several advantages:  first, the cellular structure is straight through the top (not cut and carved), so the top and back are extremely strong.  Second, we have found the acoustic sound from guitars made from these molded tops and backs is very powerful compared to carved tops and backs, and finally, the waste is significantly cut down--which we also think is a significant factor.  If a customer demands a carved top and back, we'll do it (for an extra fee), but we prefer the molded materials when possible.

 

Here, Diana is scraping her top, preparing it for braces.

 

Here is the jig we use to cut the f-holes in our tops.  The top can be seen-clamped into the jig, ready to cut.

 

Here's George, helping out, cutting the f-holes in the top.

 

Here, Diana is cleaning up the f-holes, using files and dowels with sandpaper.

 

Sides bent, in the mold, and kerf on, Diana is preparing the fit of the top braces. She is running a piece of sandpaper under the brace, sanding the bottom side of the braces--the side that will glue to the top.

 

Putting the bracing aside for a few minutes, Diana applies glue to attach the back to the sides.

 

Here's the back, clamps on, being glued.

 

Back to the braces, here they are, profiled, notched, ready to glue.

 

Here are the braces, being glued down.

 

Diana is carving the braces, using a curved sole plane.

 

Now, the top is being glued on.

 

Here is George again, flush cutting the top and back overhang...prior to cutting the purfling and binding slots.

 

Here is Diana, sanding the sides prior to making the binding and purfling cuts.

 

Here is the completed end graft.  The end graft and bindings on this guitar are being made from quilted maple.

 

Bindings on, Diana is scraping them level.

 

With the body put aside for a while, the next step is to prepare the neck.  Here, the headstock laminate is being glued.

 

Now, Diana applies glue to the fingerboard.

 

Now, clamps are applied...

 

Diana is starting to do the inlay of our logo on the headstock.  Here, she is filing a piece of abalone shell, being held in a small vise.

 

Here's the parts of the phoenix bird--on the right, all cut out of mother of pearl and abalone shell.  On the left, is the headstock, with the pattern of the bird glued down.  Now, Diana has to use a Dremel tool and rout out the pattern, and drop in the pieces...sounds pretty easy...

 

Here is the completed inlay.  Beautiful.  The headstock laminate is macassar ebony, which matches the fingerboard, the bridge, and the pickguard.

 

Diana is now carving the recurve, using a curved scraper.  This step is what gives an archtop guitar a louder acoustic sound.  The top and back are thinned right around the edges, just inside the purfling, to help the plates vibrate more freely.

 

Now, Diana is getting the neck fit to the body.

 

Carbon paper is used to see where the neck extension is hitting the top.  Then, the extension and the dovetail are both carved down to improve the fit.

 

 

After the fit is complete, Diana starts carving the neck.

 

George is now starting to do an inlay on the fingerboard.  This guitar will have a bonsai tree inlaid between the 14th fret and the 21st fret.  The pattern is being traced, so each part of the inlay is on separate pieces of paper.

 

Now, the individual pieces are cut out.  There are three different types of reconsituted stone being used, as well as flamed maple, and two different shades of abalone shell.

 

Here is a picture of the actual tree on the right, and the cut out pieces, placed together on the left.

 

Here are the pieces laid onto the fingerboard, just to check the fit.  Seems pretty good...Now the work begins...each piece must be cut to fit between the frets, leaving about 1/32 of an inch of the fingerboard around each fret.  Once the frets are put in, these gaps will appear to go away, but the frets must be put into the wood--not the inlay.

 

Here is the inlay-almost completed.  A little leveling still needs to be done, then some engraving will be done to show the age and twists in the trunk, and put some proper separation between the different materials.

 

Now, using an engraver to put in some of the age lines in the tree.  The lines got filled with ebony dust from the fingerboard and glue.

 

Now, the gutiar goes back to Diana.  Here, she is putting in the side dots.  These are abalone to stand out against the light maple.

 

Diana is doing some final touch-up sanding on the heel.

 

Working on the neck fit, Diana checks the side to side neck angle, using a jig that shows the center line.

 

Now, looking at the final heel fit...

 

Here, Diana is doing the fret job.  She injects a small bead of titebond into each fret slot.  This doesn't glue the frets in, but it fills the gaps, and makes for a nice, tight fit.

 

Pounding in the fret...

 

The neck gets glued on.

 

While the neck is being glued, Diana shapes the bottom of the bridge, with a piece of sandpaper taped to the top of the guitar.

 

Now, spraying the guitar.  A couple of coats of blonde shellac were sprayed on first, now we use KTM-9 (a water-base lacquer) for the rest of the finish.

 

Here's Diana sanding the finish.  It seems that there is no end to the sanding that has to be done to build and finish a guitar.

 

After sanding is complete, buffing...The shine is starting to show...

 

Puttng on strings and cutting string slots into the nut.

 

Wiring the electronics onto the bottom side of the pickguard...We're using stealth pots, which peek out from the side of the pickguard.  With two pickups, there are two volume pots, one tone, and a three-way switch to select the pickup.

 

Finally, George gets to take it out for a test drive.  This guitar looks absolutely great, plays like butter, and sounds fantastic.

 

Here are the graduation photos...