Building a Custom Guitar
I have a number of guitar shapes that I normally build. Once in awhile a player asks for a very specific shape, size, or style of guitar. When this happens, I have to build new molds, bending aids, and a variety of jigs. I plan to detail this process here on a guitar that has just been ordered. The date today is 12/3/21. Putting this project in line with my work schedule, I hope to finish in late 2022.The process is long, because it will involve starting from the very beginning, which is cutting and drying the wood.
This guitar will be made with a koa, top, back, and sides. It will be similar in size to the Taylor and Martin Grand Auditorium sizes, with a cutaway. The wood for this instrument is unusual and has a special story. It was cut probably in the 1970's on Hawaii Island, and milled at a small samill in Hilo. The player brought me this wood, which was milled by his Grandfather. The most unusual part of this wood is that it has been thoroughly drilled by termites. Lots of termites in Hilo! My task is to find a guitar in this wood somewhere. Guitar wood must have special characteristics for it to be useful in guitar building. The wood grain and growth patterns must be right for making a guitar that is stable and not subseptable to being easily damaged by weather changes. There will be termite holes in the top, back, and sides. That will be unavoidable, but it looks like the wood will still be suitable.
This guitar will be made with a koa, top, back, and sides. It will be similar in size to the Taylor and Martin Grand Auditorium sizes, with a cutaway. The wood for this instrument is unusual and has a special story. It was cut probably in the 1970's on Hawaii Island, and milled at a small samill in Hilo. The player brought me this wood, which was milled by his Grandfather. The most unusual part of this wood is that it has been thoroughly drilled by termites. Lots of termites in Hilo! My task is to find a guitar in this wood somewhere. Guitar wood must have special characteristics for it to be useful in guitar building. The wood grain and growth patterns must be right for making a guitar that is stable and not subseptable to being easily damaged by weather changes. There will be termite holes in the top, back, and sides. That will be unavoidable, but it looks like the wood will still be suitable.
To begin, I will resaw the wood into thinner panels and look for the usable sections. It gets resawn and sanded to about 4mm. I will look for the sections that I can use and those will be stored in my dehumidified dry room for about 60 days. Even though the wood is not wet, wood stored in the normal Hilo air never gets below about 16% moisture content, so further drying is needed.If you are going to follow along, the postings will be slow.
Resawn panels coming off the thickness sander and a good look at some of the termite damage.
Before molds can be made for a new shape, the shape gets drawn, re-drawn, and refined many times.
Top, Back, and sides selected. They will be stickered for further drying. 2 sets of sides are selected because I don't know how the termite holes will affect the bending.
The wood dry and ready to go. Time to get started. Since this is a new shape for me, I have to make new molds. Here is how they start. A good mold makes a good guitar. A bad one makes--well you know!
Bending mold for the non-cutaway side on the bender. Next comes another bending mold for the cutaway side.
The Honduras Mahogany neck with the adjustable truss rod and it's pheasant wood fretboard. It will have a koa headcap from the same wood as the body.
After a bit of a medical hiatus, I'm back. Here I'm installing the kerfing onto the sides.
Getting back and top ready to join. Color is much different than earlier photos because those were wetted to show the color.
Jointing the back and top. Joining is the process of gluing parts together. Jointing is the process of planing the edges.
A traditional jig for joining tops and backs.
Final prep of the top and back before adding the rosette and thicknessing.
