Two "Standard Size" Concert Guitars

The first guitar I built was a Dreadnought design and the rest have been a 000 size body (25.5" scale length and 16" body width). For this project I wanted to try some thing a little different. So I built two smaller concert "standard" style guitars.

In conjunction with the Musical Instrument Maker's Forum, I participated in an Internet "on line" guitar building course. The course built a small travel style guitar, and I built two of these concert guitars

Here are some notes on the building of these two guitars followed by some general discussion on my building process

Shown to the right the sitka spruce top, with it's bracing attached, its bridge plate(rosewood), the tail block and head blocks attached. The top is resting on the work board which is suspended out from the workbench.
To the left is a shot that shows the height of the top bracing(12 mm) and the slight dome(arch) built into the top. The top is resting on the workboard shim, lined with cork around its perimeter to compensate for the top's slight dome. This should prevent distortion of the top when down ward clamping pressure is exerted.
To the right is the engelman top with its bracing and bridge plate attached. The rosewood back in in the back ground.
One "mistake I think I am making is that I sized the head block to the dimensions of the 000 size guitar. These guitars are smaller of course and the neck a lot shorter. I may be adding unneeded mass/weight to the guitar.
I am going to try a different type of neck to body joint. In the past I have used the Mortise and Tennon joint secured by two tapered hardwood dowels , just as described in the "Guitar Making , Tradition and Technology". This joint will use the "knockdown bolt" and nut you see to the right. The nut will be in the neck and the bolts go through the two holes in the block, and treads into the nut. This should provide a much easier and stronger joint. It is fully described on Cumpiano's web site.

More of my Standard Concert Guitars and the building process,

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Here i a restoration project I completed.

This guitar is (I believe) a vintage 50's Gibson J-45. I purchased it off the Internet in hopes of restoring it to its former glory. As you can see it came to me in many many small pieces. The pictures make it look better than it actually is! Both sides have been completely shattered and are beyond repair. The back needed about 33% new wood and all braces reattached. The top was pretty good shape with only two major cracks. All top braces were loose and the upper transverse brace was missing, and the bridge plate came off in my hand!
The logo looks a little strange in that it is pearl inlayed and none of the books I have read mention pearl inlay logo as an option for the J-45. The tuners were missing. The neck itself is straight and in very good condition. There was no serial number to be found on the guitar.

 

 

Here is the finished J-45 project

     
Getting the finish and sunburst down was a real challenge. I learned a lot from the effort. I did not get the grain of the Mahogany filled as well as I should, and I was not using my spray gun properly. I any case it came out pretty good.
  The Guitar is a great sounding guitar and playes very nicely. A nice booming sound and delicate to play. It responds to fingerpicking very nicely  
 
     

 

 

Let me hear any ideas you might have about my projects. Thanks Bob.

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