My First step was to bend the sides. I used slats of Oak that I planed from 1/4" to 1/16". I then built a "Bending Machine" out of MDF and some flashing that I made a form out of. I then hooked up two 100 Watt light bulbs for heat. After soaking the Oak for half an hour I bent the sides. To make sure they kept their shape, I clamped them inside MDF molds that I cut into the shape of guitar I wanted. After drying in the mold, the sides were ready for the Blocks. I then had to carve the arched top and back. I decided to keep with the Oak and make the face and back out of Oak. I traced topographic contour to follow with my router. After adding the kerfing and doing a lot of carving, here are the sides just sitting on top of the face that I am carving. After a lot more carving and clamping and gluing and undocumented neck work, here is what my guitar looks like: Next, I glued and clamped up the fretboard on the neck. While I waited for that glue to dry, I routed a cavity for binding around the edge of the top and bottom face. I then drilled holes in the peghead for the tuning keys, and gave them a test fit. After binding the body, I coated both the neck and body with grain filler (very important on oak). After sanding the excess filler, I glued and clamped the neck to the body. Once that glue was dry, I mounted up the tailpiece and pulled a thread from one E tuning peg down around the tailpiece and up into the opposite E tuning peg. This then allowed me to see how adjustments to the bridge height effect the action. ![]() |
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