Acoustic Guitars
Photos of the building of a steel guitar
Many years ago when I was at school some sixth formers started a jazzband and to be in it you had to have your own instrument. Now I had met a guy in the local jazz club who was in a skiffle group and he had made a guitar from plans published in the 'Practical Mechanics' year book (about 1955 I think). So I got said book from the library and set about making my own guitar. The instrument was made from thin plywood and mahogany, the plywood I bought and the mahogany was derived from scrap furniture legs found in my granddad's workshop. The guitar when finished sounded quite good and I gained my place in the rhythm section of the band. I was never that good at playing and only learned loads of chords at the time.
More recently when my son and daughter were about to leave school and go to university I thought it would be a good thing to make them one of these guitars each. I found my original sketches saved between the pages of an old book and made up two more from them. The guitars sound and play quite well and are good for anyone wanting to learn. They are fairly simple and cheap to make and I describe their construction here.
The basic materials required are
Body
Two pieces faced plywood, 21"x16"x1/8" (three equal layers if possible)
Two pieces thin plywood 34"x6"x1/16"
Length 3/4"x1/4" deal
Two blocks 31/8"x3"x1"
Neck
Block 21"x4"x3" mahogany
Bridge
One piece 7"x1"x1"
Finger board
One piece 19"x3"x3/16" mahogany
Fret wire, Machine Heads, Nylon Strings
Boat Glue e.g. Cascomite, Epoxy.
Start by making the neck, cutting out the outline and then carving and sanding to shape. Keep testing the shape and thickness that you will be able to get your fingers around it and the finger board OK. You can make the top to take the machine heads either by cutting two slots and fitting the machines from the side or by drilling three holes and fitting them from underneath (much easier!)
Then mark out the top and bottom and cut out so that both are the same size. The top has a
sound hole in it which can be cut with a sharp pair of dividers. You can decorate
the edge of the sound hole with an inlay if you wish. The inside edges of the top and
bottom can be rebated to take the sides if the plywood allows this to be done. Some
plywood has very thin faces and a thick core which does not leave much thickness if you
cut a couple of plies out.
Cut the blocks and the posts, lay the top down on a flat surface and glue the neck and bottom block in place on it.
Next carefully align the back onto the under neath of the neck and the bottom block and glue. The posts can then be glued in as shown in the sketch. It is important and can be quite tricky to get the top and bottom pieces of the guitar in correct alignment.
The sides can then be fitted. If your plywood in thin and cut with the main grain at rightangles to the length then they will bend easily into place. At the neck end fit the side into the slot and then bring it around the side gluing and tying it hard into place with string. Cut it to size at the bottom after. Then fit the other side matching the first side on the bottom block.
Now make the bridge block. The actual bridge can be a piece of bicycle spoke wire bent like a staple and fitted into two drilled holes or you can buy plastic bridge from a music shop.
The finger board is next, it is best to make saw cuts for the frets before it is trimmed to shape as this way it is easier to get the frets at right angles to the centre line. When marking out the fret positions it is best to measure from the nut end After trimming to shape glue in place on the neck together with the nut also bought from a music shop. If the saw cuts are just right then the fret wire will knock in and hold, otherwise a drop of epoxy glue will be needed. After setting the frets carefully file the edges smooth to the side of the finger board so that you don't catch your fingers on any sharp edges. You can use a 1/4" drill to make holes for the white spots made from white plastic (Ice cream carton) with a hole punch.
Now glue the bridge into place, this must be set so that the actual bridge is twice the distance for the nut as the twelf fret.
After sanding and varnishing you will be ready to fit your strings and get tuned up then off you go.
Materials and hardware for building guitars from
http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/ttwp9.html