109 – Birth of a Guitar (Part 2 of 3)

Video - January 3, 2010

Rick continues on his journey into the world of guitar-building. He takes us through adding kerfing, inlaying the tail wedge, installation of the binding, and construction of the back, the soundboard, the fretboard, and the bridge. We’ll also see how Rick handles a few errors he made along the way. One error is so big, the fate of the entire project hangs in the balance!

Jump to another part in the series:
Birth of a Guitar Pt. 1
Birth of a Guitar Pt. 3

Music provided by MusicAlley.com:
Jack Jezzro

Discussion

Pierre Baltzell January 3, 2010 7:07 pm

This is great! I’m not that great of a woodworker but this is what I would like to do. Can’t wait to see how it all comes together. It should give me the kick to get out in the shop to start on a cedar strip canoe.

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- Godda(Shannon) September 9, 2011 5:41 pm
  
  Good luck building your canoe! Had lots of fun learning the woodworkmans crave with you as a child. Keep on sandin’. Wood working is one of my faaavorite arts and one really appreciate. Thanks again and daily to you good health and warm fresh feelings! May they smell of cedar….
  
  Reply
Sean January 3, 2010 7:40 pm

Excellent work so far Rick! Something I have a hard time remembering is “it’s not the mistakes you make, its how you fix them” I thought your first repair was a great idea, and I can wait to see how you fix the fret board, and if it helps any I am confident that you will fix it and it will strengthen your Luthier skills.

Marc, really with the cliff hanger? Ugg!

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- thewoodwhisperer January 3, 2010 7:44 pm
  
  Haha, just happened to be an ideal spot to stop the episode. Should I do that more often? :)
  
  Reply
  - Justin January 4, 2010 8:46 am
    
    No thanks… :-)
    
    Reply
Tony Z January 3, 2010 7:50 pm

This video series is great. I see myself making the same mistakes as Rick. I spent a bunch of time making a small sushi board last summer and routed a BACKWARDS inlayed letter “Z”. The guitar looks great so far. I’m looking forward to the end result.

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Dean January 3, 2010 8:43 pm

What, no check list?! Now where did I put my check list???

This is definitely advanced woodworking. Like in the old cliffhanger TV series, the hero triumphs!

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- Rick January 4, 2010 7:45 am
  
  Bah! Checklists are only for NASA and airline pilots :)
  
  Reply
demowen January 3, 2010 9:05 pm

Didn’t see the cliffhanger coming. I almost hate myself for watching this one without waiting to see the next one right after. Sigh…

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- Rowan January 4, 2010 12:40 am
  
  I love this build so far….I have only done solid bodies before but would love to try an acoustic one day.
  
  I did think to myself that I hope that fretboard is shaped and radiused.
  
  I usually cut the side profile of the neck and then match the fretboard with a pattern bit before you shape it.
  
  Reply
  - Rick January 4, 2010 9:20 am
    
    But if we always do things the usual way, how do we learn :) Let’s just say that my luck bucket got less full, but my experience bucket doth now floweth over.
    
    Reply
nateswoodworks January 3, 2010 11:12 pm

I don’t see myself making a guitar but love the series as it is a little bit more on the fine-woodworking side of things, something I hope we continue in videos so we keep pushing ourselves further in our skill levels. As said before it is our mistakes that make us better, thats what you remember most from each project anyways right? Rick, you are doing an awesome job, and Marc-a cliffhanger?? The intensity is too much, TV cliffhangers I can handle, but this is woodworking-this is serious stuff!! Well any mistakes I make until the next video comes out I am blaming on you Marc, sorry I forgot do do that for you honey but my mind was on the woodworking cliffhanger-blame Marc; sorry didn’t mean to stay in the shop an extra couple hours, my mind was on the video and not on the clock-blame Marc!! This could be good for me!
Nate

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Daniel January 4, 2010 2:07 am

Awesome video series on this website! I now appreciate the work involved in manufacturing a guitar and fine furniture.

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Tom (wizer) January 4, 2010 2:29 am

The sign of a good woodworker is one who can dig himself out of a hole…. Are you a good woodworker Rick? Are Yah? Tune in next week to find out…

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- Rick January 4, 2010 9:22 am
  
  Only I (and Marc, and my wife) know the surprise ending! MWAHAHAHAHA!
  
  Reply
BedrockBob January 4, 2010 6:55 am

NO, NOT A CLIFFHANGER! I can’t wait to see how Rick gets out of this one.

This is definitely a challenging project. If I were to take on this project I would not tell anyone I was building a guitar. That way if things went south I could fall back on plan Z and buy a guitar, build a guitar stand or case and still come out a hero.

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- Rick January 4, 2010 9:23 am
  
  Brother, you don’t even know how close it came to being a reality.
  
  Reply
WesternCanuk January 4, 2010 8:42 am

WOW, I would love to give something like that a try when my skills get higher. I’m just amazed and the different skills needed to completed such a project. I do have one question what are the clamps that are used in this video? not the pipe clamps the other ones, and why are you using those, is there a reason for the particular style of clamp for this project?

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- Rick January 4, 2010 9:29 am
  
  The clamps are cam clamps. They’re actually quite easy to build yourself, but I got lazy and bought them at Woodcraft. I like them for a few reasons. First, they have a cork lining on both jaws which helps to not mar the surfaces. Second, they are a LOT easier to place and clamp than an F or C clamp (the cam action is really quick). Third, since most of the clamp is wood, they’re really light weight. Fourth, they provide about 330lbs of clamping force. To be quite honest, though, I don’t think they’re necessary for building a guitar, but every luthier I know uses them. I just wanted to be with the ‘in’ crowd.
  
  Reply
Jim January 4, 2010 9:54 am

Man what a great series you are doing a great job you really have some good skills it must take a very light touch to do alot of that work. thanks a lot for shearing. Man the suspense is killing me… cant wait to see the rest. If you dont mind can you tell use how much the kit and project cost. I mean the parts because I know the labor would be alot you must have tons of time in this thig.

Thanks again cant wait for the end hope to see someone playing this thing.

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Caleb Sarty January 4, 2010 10:24 am

Another great installment in the series. Sorry you ran into a few problems along the way, but these problems will ultimately teach you something new and make you an even more confident woodworker.

I do have a question. How wide is the inside kerfed bracing and how much is left holding the side and top/bottom panels once you’ve routed out for the binding?

I’ve also always been curious as to why the inside top and bottom bracing is tapered, and the only reason I can come up with is to allow more vibration and sound resonance…would this be correct?

Again, great work Rick, keep it coming. Also, thanks to Marc for taking the time to edit and share this series with us.

Caleb

Reply
- Rick January 4, 2010 2:49 pm
  
  Caleb-
  
  The kerfing is 5/8″ tall by 7/32″ wide. The thickness of the sides and top/bottom averages out to be about .095″. The channel for the bindings is .104″ deep x 1/4″ tall. Therefore, the channel only cuts into the kerfing by about .009″, and there is still about .375″ of it holding on to the sides. I didn’t bother doing the math until just now… it was all just done by fit and feel, and it still stayed glued together :)
  
  I’ve no idea why the bracing is tapered. I’m sure it has everything to do with vibration and resonance, and not good looks. If those braces ever see the light of day again, it means something has gone horribly wrong! I DO know that the back and soundboard are arched to get rid of standing waves. Plus, the arch in the back helps direct any sound waves toward the sound hole. I’d imagine a guitar with a flat top and bottom would sound very dull.
  
  Reply
  - Caleb Sarty January 5, 2010 2:14 pm
    
    many thanks for the speedy reply and crunching the numbers for me.
    
    Reply
Heath January 4, 2010 12:58 pm

Great video series! I’ve been thinking about building a guitar for my son but haven’t done a lot of research yet. Having watched these videos I realize I need a few more years of woodworking experience before I can tackle something like this.

Reply
- Rick January 4, 2010 1:45 pm
  
  Heath-
  
  Not so fast, my man! When I started the guitar, I had never used a hand plane, and had very little overall experience with hand tools. The great thing about a guitar is that the design is very forgiving in its construction. When my father-in-law built his first guitar, the only power tool he had was a band saw! Having an army of tools and experience will certainly help get the job done faster, but it’s not necessarily something that is beyond the reach of an aspiring woodworker. It boils down to nibbling at the sandwich instead of putting the whole thing in your mouth at once.
  
  If you’re still very apprehensive about it, many of the luthier supply warehouses will ‘prep’ your material for you. So if you don’t think you have the skill to, say, make the head piece, they’ll do it for you. You can go so far as to have them send you a box of parts ready for assembly. It’s a great way to mitigate the scare factor, but to be honest, it’s not as difficult as it looks.
  
  Reply
  - Bryan Huot January 5, 2010 10:06 am
    
    This is actually really good to hear because I thought about making one eventually for my brother but, I was a little worried that I would be fumbling through everything. I definitely need more hand tool skills… well all kinds of skills but I’m more apt to try it now. Nice work Rick!
    
    Reply
TreefrogFurniture January 4, 2010 2:12 pm

I love this series, I’ve always wanted to try making a Mandolin and this is very helpful. Rick’s work with the venner and the thin wood is impressive. Can’t wait for the next installment.

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Dan Drabek January 4, 2010 5:35 pm

A really enjoyable video. For me, the most nerve-wracking part is routing for the binding. After spending a hundred hours or so on a guitar, one has nightmares about the router slipping or tearing out a piece of the top. And fitting and gluing the binding can make you crazy too. Rick makes it look easy. :->

Great editing work Marc. You’ve really made the video come alive.

Reply
- Rick January 4, 2010 9:09 pm
  
  Dan-
  
  I made it look easy due to the editing of Marc. I spent about twenty minutes psyching myself up before I even turned on the router, and then it was another five minutes of approaching the guitar and then backing off. I will say, though, that once the routing started, it was a total non-event. Having said that, I went through the same ritual when it came to the top bindings :)
  
  Reply
Derek January 4, 2010 6:17 pm

This is a great series. I’m not going to build a guitar, but am surprised how much I enjoy watching Rick build one. Music is great in the video too. Thanks for sharing this with us!

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Claude Stewart January 4, 2010 8:24 pm

I agree with Derek. Great episode.

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WoodyWoodWrecker January 4, 2010 8:28 pm

It would be interesting to find out at the end that the guitar music in the video was actually played on the guitar that he made. I sure it isn’t but it would be interesting.

Reply
- Rick January 4, 2010 8:33 pm
  
  WWW-
  
  Spoiler alert — spoiler alert!! I can assure you, those songs in the video are NOT from this guitar.
  
  Reply
Yazheirx January 4, 2010 8:38 pm

Rick this is truly inspiring to a new woodworker such as myself.

How in the world did you get the binding in place before the glue started to setup?

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- Rick January 4, 2010 9:06 pm
  
  It’s all about the dry fit at that point. I spent a great deal of time tweaking the bindings until they fit more or less (okay, a little less) perfectly. Then it was just a matter of spreading on the glue and tape-clamping them in place. I think the open time of that glue is something like 15-20 minutes, so if the set-up is done right, there should be a lot of time left.
  
  Reply
Rob Cottle January 4, 2010 9:37 pm

Love the Build (Sounds like Hot Rod TV) anyway as I am watching I yell over to my wife and say “If I ever say I am going to make a guitar – stop me” I really enjoy watching the skills of other people in hopes of being able to call upon those skills when I screw up. Also agree start small, a can see my skill & accuracy (even though they are still small) getting better. I thank all of you for posting your work in is all inspiring..

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Jeffrey Parke January 5, 2010 12:14 am

This is an excellent video set. I will be building a Hurdy Gurdy and though not exactly the same as a guitar, the construction of the body is similar. I have never built a guitar before but have read up on it extensively and found myself shouting at the computer screen a couple times during the video. Good to see the mistakes are being worked through and are not bringing the project to an end. Can’t wait to see the next video.

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AnthonyBklyn January 5, 2010 9:02 am

Wow, that super sucks man. All that work to just to come to this point and he has to shape the neck in an unconventional way. I’m rooting for ya!!

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Eric Franklin January 5, 2010 9:19 am

Never realized all the work involved in making a guitar. I now know I will never have the patience to make a guitar.

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Dennis Scott January 5, 2010 11:50 am

I also never knew how much hand work went into a guitar. My nephew has been asking me for years to build one. I think I will show him these videos.

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WoodyWoodWrecker January 5, 2010 4:09 pm

Well, if it didn’t work out, you could sell it to a rock band for the guitar that they smash at the end. Might be able to recoup some of your money.

Reply
- Jeffrey Parke January 5, 2010 4:35 pm
  
  Or cut the neck off entirely and build a Hurdy Gurdy. ;)
  
  Reply
Walnut Weasel January 5, 2010 5:32 pm

Marc and Rick,

These are GREAT videos. So far the guitar is looking awesome, I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

I actually like the cliff hanger!

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Dan January 5, 2010 7:13 pm

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! Don’t cut it on the neck!!! Don’t do it! Don’t do it! Oh no, don’t want to see all this hard work lost…Ideas, need ideas…oh I got one! Why not drill small holes in the fret board then steam it off and make a new one??? All the parts can be reglued in no time but recutting the neck? It just hit me, this process was already completed last year. Why am I fretting (get it?)? Guess this is what a cliffhanger does to someone. Nice teamwork between Rick’s woodworking and Marc’s editing. I have really enjoyed this short series so far.

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Sam Correa January 5, 2010 8:11 pm

I really enjoy this series. Very therapeutic to watch. While I know you said you go with what looks right. It is super easy to make a 15′ radius on Google sketchup, then print 1:1 scale templates for the arc section you need. I make tons of templates with sketchup. Again, great quality and process.

-Sam

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- Rick January 5, 2010 9:06 pm
  
  /facepalm
  
  Uh, yeah. That’s a great idea. I’m trying to think of some clever reason why I didn’t think of it before, but sometimes the simplest of solutions are the hardest to come by.
  
  Reply
Ernie White January 6, 2010 6:59 am

Great video documenting your work. Couple of questions…(1) What is the tool used on your rotary tool to cut the rosette and sound hole? (2) What was the “scraper thingy” tool used to scrape away the extra bits on the binding, rosette, etc.?
Have built instruments myself, I find this very informative. Only wished I had a shop like yours!!! Good luck on your future guitar builds….

Ernie

Reply
- Rick January 6, 2010 7:20 am
  
  Ernie-
  
  1) I used a Dremel with a circle-cutting jig I found at my local home center. I also bought what I would describe as miniature router bits to fit in the Dremel. It worked like a charm!
  
  2) It’s called a cabinet scraper. The brand I used in the video is a BAHCO Swedish Cabinet Scraper, but I’m pretty sure all the brands are the same. I only bought the BACHO because it was on sale :)
  
  Reply
Gary Bell January 6, 2010 8:57 pm

yah we know you already solved the problem by the time we see this. This is a great series. I love it. I built a hammer dulcimer one time from scratch and discovered all kinds of intersting opportunities. That is what we call mistakes by the way.

Anyway I think I would try to router off the ebony with my dremel tool and those little router bits for it. Can’t wait to see how you solved the opportunity

Reply
Larry Leinberger January 7, 2010 6:50 am

Rick, a possible solution to your neck problem…
mark the taper from the body to the nut width on the fret board, then use a rough rasp to manually remove material. Use caution at the body and head. then to shape the neck profile (the back side) use a curved spoke shave. As you get close to the desired shape move to a finer wood file. I’ve built 24 guitars during the past four years so I know how to make mistakes! Good luck!

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carl January 7, 2010 7:43 am

Actually, when there is a major problem with the fretboard and some times with the neck (or the bridge) , the most common way to solve the problem is unglueing the fretboard, not prying it off, unglueing. What you do is heat up the fretboard to the point where the glue will melt and let go (around 150°F or so for titebond, which is why you should NEVER leave a guitar in the sun or in your trunk on a hot day!!). Using a scraper thingy (hot preferably) with a little moisture, it’ll go. The trickiest part is the top. You MUST protect it from the heat (corrugated cardboard + aluminum foil will do exactly that) A 100 watt light bulb at 5-6 inches left for 15min or so above the board will do the trick. An iron as well, but you have to protect the sole if you don’t want to aggravate seriously the regular user and lose a shirt in the process (oils in the wood will stick, like on your bender)Otherwise, I would leave just a smidge of the fingerboard on the top to make it look like a veneer of sorts (looking like it’s intended to “frame” the fingerboard) With a little sanding, you’ll have everyone going oh! Nice idea! lol.
Good luck!

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- Rick January 7, 2010 2:06 pm
  
  I found an iron available and several luthier supply warehouses specifically for removing the fret board. Pretty neat little devices, but I wanted to try some other fixes before throwing a bunch of heat on the guitar. It probably has something to do with the fact that I grew up around a metal shop, and adding heat to parts usually resulted in undesirable outcomes. I like the ingenuity of the light-bulb trick, though!
  
  Reply
Tom Restis January 7, 2010 9:01 am

Very impressive wood working. I really like how yoou put together the video and how you highlight just the items unique to building a guitar. My observation is….. I have always heard that makes of musical instruments use hide glue or more often fish glue to allow for reworkability. I was wondering if you considered this but stayed with yellow glue for a reason or is yellow glue just in your comfort zone??

Reply
- Rick January 7, 2010 2:03 pm
  
  Tom-
  
  Aside from the fact that the smell of hide glue makes me gag, the resources I used for building the guitar all seemed to indicate that using plain old yellow glue would not create any problems down the road.
  
  But I like the comfort zone idea, too.
  
  Reply
  - Dan Drabek January 8, 2010 5:45 pm
    
    The only place I’ve used hide glue on my guitar is for gluing on the bridge. Unlike Titebond, Elmers… even epoxy, hide glue won’t creep under strain when it gets hot. Since the bridge is under tension from the strings, it’s the first thing to pop off if the guitar gets overheated (usually by being left in a hot car).
    That said, many thousands of makers have made hundreds of thousands of guitars with Titebond without experiencing glue failure, so I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. Just don’t leave it in your car in July. :->
    
    DD
    
    Reply
Jerry Boshear January 8, 2010 12:54 pm

What a great series guys. I will definitely keep this one in my iTunes library.

Thanks for putting it together. I hope it ends with a video of you giving it to your wife.

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Greg January 9, 2010 12:36 pm

Very cool series… thanks for posting!

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Greg January 9, 2010 12:37 pm

This is very interesting…. looks advanced… I’d love to see some tutorials on shaping with the chisel.

Also, what’s the point of the bindings?

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- Rick January 9, 2010 8:33 pm
  
  The bindings, I believe, serve two purposes. First, I believe they help strengthen the bond between the bottom/top and the sides. Secondly, if the bindings weren’t there, the end grain of the bottom/top would be exposed on the edge, so they help to make everything look more finished.
  
  Reply
brian higgins January 9, 2010 5:43 pm

hey rick,

love the series so far, can’t wait to see how it all ends. do you have a website? also you seem to have a pretty nice shop. do you have any other vids? if not do you plan on making any others, music related or not? (maybe you could give marc a run for his money!)

Reply
- Rick January 9, 2010 8:38 pm
  
  Brian-
  
  I have a website, but it has nothing at all to do with wood working :)
  
  If you’d like to see more of my shop, you can visit my lumberjocks page at http://lumberjocks.com/RickU/workshop
  
  I have no desire to give Marc a run for his money! I have a day job :)
  
  Reply
Jim Kath January 13, 2010 7:42 am

Rick,
I’m a guitar maker and repairman. I’ve had instruments brought in with busted fingerboards and the solution I use is to replace the fingerboard. Build a jig for your router and rout off the fingerboard. You could be gentle enough just to “skim” the soundboard and rosette down to tissue paper then sand the rest. If you are skilled enough with a plane (and it appears that you are :-) ) you could also rout down to a comfortable level then plane the rest. Good luck and thanks for an excellent video!!
Jim Kath

Reply
blake June 17, 2010 9:32 am

Use heat to take the fretboard off! Protect the top with cardboard and tin foil shaped around the tail of the fretboard. Get a new board….

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Simon June 27, 2010 4:34 am

Something I have been wondering about is the jig he uses for the soundboard. I get the concept that the jig provides the proper arching for the top and that he can glue the braces to that arching but would that not work only if the braces are flexible enough? The larger braces do not appear to be and in my experience the top would then just spring back to the flat shape of the braces’ mating surfaces since the thin soundboard is more likely to conform to the shape of the braces rather than the other way around. If he had shaped the mating surfaces of the braces according to the shape of the arch, then it would work. Other than that, I cannot see that it would do the intended job.

Very nice work however.

Reply
Andy December 19, 2010 10:53 am

There are different types of clamps used in this video.

The ones with the lever on the clamp face is something that I have never seen before? Are they home made? What are they called? Plans to make them?

Reply
GodofBiscuits December 19, 2010 12:01 pm

The clamps are called Cam Clamps. They are a Luthier’s best friend. I have a couple made from a company called Klemmsia out of Germany but there are many manufacturers even home made versions. they wouldn’t be too difficult to make I would imagine. A search for Luthier cam clamp came up with a couple different versions that could be made in the shop.

Reply

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109 – Birth of a Guitar (Part 2 of 3)

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