OK...here we go....

By writing this I am putting myself 'on the record' and will eat **** publicly if I have to.

This is the plan.

I want one of these:

http://www.gibsoncustom.com/flash/products/archtops/cs356/CS-356.html

(No Bigsby!!)

But will not get authorisation from the war office for such an allocation since there exists a quite reasonable belief that I "..have enough guitars already..."
but for reasons I don't understand (and don't question) the idea of making some is met with approval and (almost) encouragement.

So...archtops eh? Hmmm...Routers eh? Hmmmmm...Well one can't stand still forever so I have bought timber & some tools & some plans and am ready to fill the forum with questions and pictures of triumph & tragedy as they occur.

The way I'm approaching this is round about to say the least!!

The target requires a carved top & angled neck pocket so I have ordered a Warmoth neck & LPS carved top chambered body as a reference. I will finish it last and maybe give it to one of the kids but if I like it It stays mine!!! :D

Also my elder daughter wants an SG in the standard Cherry Red. I showed all the Gothic designs in the Warmoth gallery but good taste won over her teen age...so what could I do? I can use it as a practice piece for routing & all the other tool stuff that I'll need to do and of course the finishing. So like a friend of mine who always has three projects going because he doesn't like waiting..to build my CS356 knock off I will build (at least) three guitars..overkill..of course! :p

I couldn'r see the point of shipping unimproved lumber half way round the world so I researched local Australian timber and came up with the following:

Queensland Maple has similar properties to Mahogany
Victorian Blackwood has similar properties to Koa
Myrtle is an 'undiscovered' tone wood that a number of local makers applauded, and
Victorian ash while somewhat opened grained is often used as tops because of its figuring.(it will be a flame maple analogue)

I got one guitar's worth of each. Incredibly cheap..$us 21.00 for enough for a blank. I sat down with 'Building Electric Guitars' by Martin Koch & decided to give up.

But ...hey...what are sub-contractors for? They have their own workshops & fancy tools...so I called by my local joinery and met one of the nicest little old scandinavian gentlemen ever who dressed the lot of the above timber for AUS $25.00 ~US$18.00...."Are you sure?" I asked.

The way the timber has come up is great. The Qld maple (mahogany) has sported flames when it's not supposed to, the Blackwood and the myrtle are dark and sensual. The ash is a little disappointing...it was supposed to flame and didn't. I had read that what you get when buying Mountain ash can be a bit of a pig in a poke because of the way it is felled & it's difficult location...ie an area is worked & everything is called mountain ash. But I have not split it or done anything to it yet. I may have to rethink how I am going to use the various timbers.

Browse this site for examples of guitars made using the timbers:

http://www.belmanguitars.com/index.htm

So next task...I must make templates from my plans. I can probably do this. LOL!!

I will start taking photos now and come up with some sort of blog if I can sort out a web page.

Now I must go & actually practice playing...I am getting the odd ....GIG!! My music dedicated computer has crashed so no sound files yet. :(

You're much braver than I. I would love, and hopefully will somday, build my own guitar. Until then, I can dream. There's a forum you might want to check out called "The Gear Pages". There's a section there for luthiers that I'm sure you can find a lot of great information in. You can find it here. Be sure to keep us updated.

BTW, I'm a member of that forum as well under the same name.

Originally Posted by: RobSm...
Queensland Maple has similar properties to Mahogany
Victorian Blackwood has similar properties to Koa
Myrtle is an 'undiscovered' tone wood that a number of local makers applauded, and
Victorian ash while somewhat opened grained is often used as tops because of its figuring.(it will be a flame maple analogue)...

... The way the timber has come up is great. The Qld maple (mahogany) has sported flames when it's not supposed to, the Blackwood and the myrtle are dark and sensual. The ash is a little disappointing...it was supposed to flame and didn't. I had read that what you get when buying Mountain ash can be a bit of a pig in a poke because of the way it is felled & it's difficult location...ie an area is worked & everything is called mountain ash. But I have not split it or done anything to it yet. I may have to rethink how I am going to use the various timbers...

[font=trebuchet ms]Take some comfort in knowing that the relatively thin layer of wood used to create those lovely flame tops actually make [u]insignificant[/u] contribution to the tonal properties of the instrument. You may as well save yourself some work and make the body from Queensland maple clear through.

Or top & bottom, as case may be.[/font] :D

Right on LATS!!

That's what it looks like I will do.

But I will still glue on a top & back since I plan to construct the semi hollow body like Samick do theirs...that is have a frame made from the sides & centre block. It looks loads easier to make since it appears to be cut out with a jig saw rather than drilled & routed to a depth with the back part of it.

Also no drilling & routing control cavities.

I still have to make my templates & practice my routing. Patience, patience.
Regards..

I have actually done something!!! LOL

I trying to record things as I go. It helps me think.

However I spent a lot of time this afternoon teaching myself elements of HTML when I could've been fiddling with the Dremel trying to salvage a dodgy bit of my SG template.

Visit this link: http://www.geocities.com/fanlee_rhs/

to see what's up. More tomorrow I hope!!

All suggestions welcome & no offense taken.