Jointing the top / Inlaying the rosette (Originally 10-String Guitar Build)

I was asked by my friend HNLim to build him a 10-string guitar.
Well having not tried to play and build a 10-string before I obliged his request.
Luckily for me he got me most of the materials, including the hard to build neck fingerboard etc.
Being a 10-string the main difference will be in the neck and the bridge, the rest of the body top will be like a 6-string guitar.
Perhaps the top braces will be slightly higher by a just a little for the extra tension from the 4 strings.

The specs for the guitar are as follows:
Top: Carpathian Spruce AAA grade
Back & Sides: CSA Rosewood
Neck: Spanish Cedar
Fingerboard: Ebony
Bridge: CSA Rosewood
Bracing: Not really decided could be a Ramirez or modifed Barbero by my luthier friend Alexandru Marian.

The top we got was a great top; HNLim order a few master grade top from EuroSpruce Tonewood over the ebay and the density was 420kg/m3
I didn't quite like that heavy top so when the Carpathian Spruce arrived (from Darren Hippner), measured the density and advised him that top was much better than the Euro spruce.
And so the top was decided.

As for the back and sides, he was undecided between the various set that he has bought; all of them has good tap tones it more due to visual aspects.
But finally (for now) he decided to go with the plainer looking one and reserved the better looking set for the next build.
After all this 10-string build was experimental.

The neck was using cedro with ebony strips in the middle.
This was partially built by the guitar maker / tonewood supplier Darren Hippner; I just need to do up the slot for the sides and the tuner slots.

With all the materials settled, I began to start building.
I jointed the top and plane it smooth using my kanna and wooden plane
Nowadays I love woodies, they so much better then the metal equivalents.
After the top surface is planed smooth, I cut the rosette channel and handed routed the channel with LN router plane.
Now fitting in the rosette was a big problem.
My friend modified the rosette by cutting out the central theme tile and replace it with another.
Problem is he use CA glue to glue the new central theme tile and the rosette hard as rock.
And the new rosette was not concentric but elliptical.
I had shave off the protruding tiles so that it is more flexible and then force the rosette into the channel.
Finally clamped it down with big F-clamps.
After the glue dried I shave it down with LA block.

Once the top is done, began to thickness the top to about 2mm.
This top is ultra light and after thicknessing, the entire top weighs only 120g which is very light.
It has a good potential to make a killer top.

Next I split some bracing from the bracing blank and shave the bracing to size.
The bracing pattern was another problem that I had.
I can't exactly decide on what sort of bracing pattern to apply.
In the end my Great Luthier friend Alexandru Marian did a new experimental guitar based on the modified Barbero flamenco guitar bracing pattern.
That guitar was ultra loud and with good attack.
I guess I would be choosing that pattern.
It's a 5 fan bracing with 3 closing brace and a treble bar.
The sound of the experimental guitar was a bit dry with lots of emphasis on fundamental frequency.
But the attack was superb and the volume is ultra loud; the guitar was very balanced though.
So I cut the bracing to size and wait for a dry weather to glue them in.
It's been raining now, I can't find a suitable weather to do gluing.

Meanwhile I continue to work on the new solera (another thread) for this build.
I don't want to cut open my existing side mold for the wider neck so I choose to build a new one instead.
This solera has no elevated freboard modification and has movable side blocks instead of side mold.

Jointing the top.

Cut out the plantilla

Route the rosette channel

Inlay the rosette

Level the rosette

Thicknessing the top. Look at those translucent shaving!

Splitting the brace.

Braces splitted

Planing braces to size

Tentative bracing. A modified Barbero bracing devised by my luthier friend Alexandru Marian

The weight of the top is 120g which is very light.

20130204
I did some work on the neck.
The neck was a laminated neck but it wasn't flat so I level it flat and check for right angles.
Also I started to glue in the soundhole reinforcement donut ring onto the top.

Flatten the neck

Plane the headplate perpendicular to the neck plane.

Weight of top is less than 120 g after I trim the edges

Gluing the donut

Clamp with a block of wood

Donut glued. It's on top of my #3 that's why you see a spruce underneath

20130222
Well some changes, my friend decide to do the 6-string first and so I am converting this into a 6-string build.
This top will be used for the 6-string and another new top used for the 10-string which will be continued sometime next year.
I will start another thread for the 6-string.

New Sloane Tuning Machine

I bought the new Sloane tuning machine when I saw the Stewmac advertise on their home page.
Now it comes with bearing; in fact 2 of them.
The worm and worm gear fits precisely, there are no backlash.
As I turn it, I feel that it is tight but smooth.
Overall I rate it a well-worth tuner at this price range.

Assemble the Guitar

20121128
It's ... assembly time.
Now that all the dentellones are prepared I can start to assemble the guitar.
But first of all I need to glue the heel block to the top.
Previously I had drilled 2 guiding holes so after applying the hide glue, I inserted the drill bit into the holes for alignment.
It's a lot easier to pull metal out than to use wood.
After it dried I check the alignment with the neck perfect fit.

Heating up the gluing surface.

Apply hide glue

Insert the alignment pin (drill bit)

Clamp it

Done.

Alignment with neck is perfect!

Another view

20121130
After that accident on the top I am ready to proceed.
Cracked Top
I tested the repaired top and it is sturdy as a rock.
The cracks aren't that visible.
Anyway I have learnt my lesson (hopefully) and place the top safely back into the solera.
No more hanging of tops anymore.
I put in back the side molds and align all the pieces carefully.
Luckily I had pencil markings previously it wasn't hard to align them.

I place in the sides and cut the wedges to a smaller length and check the fitting at the heel.
One side fits well and the other side I probably need to adjust the wedge angle to close a small gap.
I check the repair patch and 2 of them sits in the path of the dentellones and so I repmove those parts.
Finally the assmebly stage is set and ready for gluing.
Oh I just remember I need to put in the 3 big side brace for the 2 UTB LTB and the lower bout portion
They will serve to hold the back braces too.
I will make from end block with the grains parallel to the sides.
The rest of the side braces will be cross gain to the sides.

One side good fit

Small gaps here. The wedge angle will need to be adjusted.

Remove the patches which is in the way of the dentellones

Check with the dentellones

Overall look.

Not much update actually, I was waiting for a good weather to continue the assembly but it seems now is the rainy season and it rains everyday.
Looks like I wont be able to continue until next year when the weather clears up.
But meanwhile I will be concentrating on the guitar 4.5 10 string guitar.
Post coming up shortly!


20121231
I prepare the side bracing for the lower bout, LTB and UTB.
I cut the blocks from a end block blank; they have parallel grains as the sides so as to prevent stressed.
The rest of the side struts will be perpendicularly grained.
These 3 blocks (each side) will also be supporting the 3 back braces
One of the special feature is the lower bout side brace block; it has embedded nut to allow fixing of weights to the lower bout sides.
This feature will load the side to create more impedance on the sides so that the top vibration will be harder to transmit to the sides.
The end result will be a more vibrant top.
The result was discovered and experimented by Trevor Gore, I read it from his 2 volume of book on guitar making and tuning.
If you are serious about guitar making >this 2 volume are the book that you should get. After cutting to size and fitting the curvature to the sides, I drilled a hole and embed the nut inside.
After that I close the hole with a piece of spruce to prevent glue from entering the hole when I glue the block to the sides.
The fitting of the waist block was the hardest due to skew curvature at that part.
Also because of the elevated fretboard, the top itself was curve up so the base of the side block need to be fitted to the top.
Finally it's the block need to be fitted to the UTB and LTB.

The side blocks braces

At the UTB

At the waist

Drilling the holes for the LB side braces block.

Nut is embedded in the hole and covered by a spruce cap.

20130105
Finally the day has come for the actual assembly.
It has been raining for the past 1 or 2 months.
After waiting for a good weather, I finally got it.
The weather was fine and the forecast was good too!
It did rain in the evening though but it's OK
I heat up the hide glue and started to glue each dentellones or peones to the sides and top.
For the upper bout I need to correct for the tilt
But it's not too difficult.
I use chisel instead of a plane.

All sides clamp to the mold

Apply glue to the end block

Clamped the end block to the 2 sides

Applying hide glue to the dentellones

Glue the lower bout

The gap is for the side brace block

Correct the skew for the dentellones. The bottom piece is the cut off from the neck. It has the same angle as the sound board tilt.

Upper bout glued

All done waiting for the glue to dry.

20130107
After the glue dried, I began to trim the overhang.
Well I could have use a trimming bit but was lazy to set it up
Anyway the rebate place and chisel was pretty fast too and not to mention safer.
After that I tap the top it remind me of my #1's tap tone at this open back stage.
The treble side sound tighter and more focus and bass side looser and more bassy.
I think this build has good potential.

Trimming the over hang

For the waist I use chisel.

Trimming down the sides.

Check the curvature with the newly made radius stick