Hi everyone! I’m a little late on this post, I know. I’ve been sick the past week and even had to miss my last lesson! Hopefully, I’ll be able to make it up this week, but I’m finally feeling well enough to write; so here’s what I did week 7 of guitar building school!
(*If you missed my last blog, click HERE to go back to it.)
Since we were starting on our top bracing this week, the first thing Brian showed me was how to read and understand a guitar bracing plans. He tested me by having me write down every measurement, that is, what I though the correct measurement for each part was, and then to combine all the numbers I got. Using a ruler and studying the plans I began to write down and then answer him. I was a bit nervous, being put on the spot, but thankfully I got most of them right! Next class time we’ll begin by drawing a plan using only the measurements that I wrote in my book.
*Guitar Plans
I’m quickly learning that Brian often asks me things that he knows I don’t know, and when he does it stretches my ways of thinking.
*Medal bar *Finished x-brace
Once the appropriate measurements were written down, and checked a couple of times, we began making and shaping the tops X-brace. I won’t go into how we made the x-brace, as I’ve already covered it in weeks 4 & 5, you can check them out by clicking HERE. However, this time, I was left to do a lot on my own, which was really cool! I got way better at using the Japanese saw, which I thought wouldn’t happen for a while, if ever. I was really excited how much I was stretched, and was starting to really feel like I was building! Brian also, showed me how to clamp and accurately place the medal bar on the band saw for accurate cutting.
*Gluing the X-brace
After the X-brace was cut, sanded, notched, and glued, we began to work on the Bridge Plate. This is the wooden plate that lies directly under the bridge for support. We decided to use a really beautiful piece of maple for this. You can use rosewood or maple, but since the guitar has koa back and sides, we used maple for the congruity of sound. We pulled the plate, cut it to size on the band saw, and thickness sanded it till we saw it was the right thickness on the caliper. We then placed the bridge plate in its place, using a ruler to make the appropriate measure between the end of the upper bout and where the plate would rest.
*Bridge Plate
We centered the plate, within lines we had drawn a bit before. Then, we drew where we were going to make the cut on the bridge plate, so that it would fit in between the braces. “It’s true”, Brian said, “that this would have been easier to do if we had done it before we glued down the x-brace” (since the brace was a bit in the way). Oh well, there’s always next time!
*Drawing the lines on the bridge plate
We marked the plate, cut it on the band saw, and then sanded the edges using the belt sander. Finally, we glued and clamped down the bridge.
*Gluing on the bridge plate
I was really stretched throughout the day to look at everything that I was doing dead on. What I mean by that is getting my eyes dead over whatever I was measuring, or drawing out, and/or both! Brian told me that even if it doesn’t seem like it, my eyes often are even better than a machine when building, and I need to train them in this way. I did this all throughout; from measuring the plans, to making the x-brace, to cutting and gluing the Bridge Plate.
Not building for a week showed me again how much I love learning to create and build! I get more and more excited every time I think about it, and can’t wait to get over this sickness so I can get back to it!
I read an interesting article the other day in Distinction Magazine that Brian suggested to me. The article is on Huss and Dalton; a guitar company based in Staunton, Virginia. It’s all about how they got started; an ex-lawyer, and car finisher, who started their business in a garage. If you have the time, I would check it out HERE, I think you'd like it!
Also, an artist blog did a spread on me this week. It was about the different mediums I work in; and one of the mediums I talked I talked about was guitar building. Check it out HERE!
If you’d like to find out more about Brain and his guitars click HERE for his website, and HERE to “Like” his Facebook page!
Until next time… ~DANIEL