Joining back, sides and soundboard

Now the back and soundboard are ready, it’s time to join them to the sides.  First I scribe and shape the sides to accept the curve of the back, then the previously shaped one piece spruce lining is glued in place and sanded smooth.  I cut notches  cut in the lined sides to accept the braces, and glue the back on.

Then I shape the sides  to accept the top, fit the top lining and apply a light coat of lacquer to the inside of the body. Then I fit the soundboard.

The last process before binding is to apply a coat of shellac lacquer to the back and sides.  This serves two functions; it prevents grain being pulled from the rosewood when the binding tape is removed, and also fills the grain to some extent.

Preparing lining and bending sides

Shown right is my old Fox bender, still heated by filament light bulbs instead of the electric blankets more commonly used these days.

I don’t often use the Fox bender for sides these days, I get better results hand bending (on an electrically heated bending iron), then fitting them in the mould and putting this on the stove overnight, as shown below. But because the mould was in use, on this occasion I used the Fox for the linings (mine are solid spruce) though these were also finished on the stove.

When hand bending sides, I prefer to damp the wood first, but Brazilian rosewood varies so much this isn’t always sufficient. I had to soak these sides overnight before I could bend them on the heated hand bender.

Linings are so thick they require several days soaking before being bent to shape.

After hand bending, wetting the sides and leaving them in gentle overnight heat fixes the shape

When I’m happy the sides are perfectly shaped, I trim neck and heel joins and glue them onto blocks (shown right); laminated spruce for the tail block, solid mahogany for the heel block. At the tail I leave a space for the centre inlay of black and colours to fit into after routing the binding grooves.

Now the sides are ready to be scribed to the curve of the back and have the back linings fitted.

Very early days

Now the 12 fret New World is with Dave Wilson, I am starting a Martin Simpson model.  I like to build one guitar at a time, this way I can concentrate on it without being distracted.

Having joined and thicknessed the back, sides and soundboard, I’m ready to start.  Here the spruce cross-grain centre back reinforcement strip is in place and gluing in the go-bar jig.

The Brazilian rosewood is recycled, having been used in early forest settlement houses for various furniture items.  It’s lovely but has some ancient worm holes.  I’ve filled these, and they blend in with the overall grain figuring; they add character and I personally love that this is recycled wood.

The trim on this guitar is not standard MS.  Instead of the MS red/white/red purfling, I’ve used my much loved red/gold/green.  The binding will be standard MS black Rocklite.

The position of the back braces is marked in white.  The centre reinforcement will be scribed and cut away to receive them.

Fretting and making the bridge

The last work before handing over to Dave is first fretting the fingerboard and then making the bridge.

Fretwire has undergone changes in the time I’ve been building. When I started, nearly 50 years ago now, nickel silver fretwire was considered the best available; I used it for several decades without giving it much thought.

I’ve learnt since it doesn’t actually contain any silver but is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, and these can be combined in different proportions, so giving the metal different qualities.

In the early 2000s it became clear the Jim Dunlop nickel silver fretwire I’d been using for years wasn’t as hard as it had been. Not only were instruments needing re-fretting much sooner, but also leveling and re-profiling frets was noticeably easier and quicker; other makers were making the same complaint. But when Dunlop was approached and asked would they go back to the earlier nickel silver, they said there had been no change; it was the same now as it always had been. Clearly not the case.

Stainless steel frets have been discussed and used by some makers for many years, and while they are very hard had the reputation of being difficult to fit to a cambered fingerboard.  I was on the point of trying them when another option appeared. Jescar Gold fretwire (it has a very faint gold tint) is as hard as stainless steel but easier to bend to the fingerboard camber.

Since then I’ve used it exclusively, on both mandolin family instruments and guitars. I can’t say exactly how long this is, but it’s several years, and in this time I’ve had none back for re-fret and seen no dinted frets even on well played instruments.

Attaching the fingerboard

Ebony fingerboard glued and clamped in place

The fingerboard has been prepared in advance, and is an exact fit onto the Wengé neck. The truss-rod is placed in its slot (padded in the centre to eliminate rattle) and the fingerboard is glued and clamped. The large number of clamps is not to exert great pressure but to spread pressure along its length.

The guitar head is clamped in a gun maker’s vise, this brought to me by guitar guru Dan Erlewine around 20 years ago. Wonderfully versatile, I now wonder how I managed previously.

The larger clamps are relatively new; the smaller ones are decades old, some distorted by over-tightening, but all are fine for this job.

Next the fingerboard will be glued in place and the neck carved.

Every so often I build a guitar for myself.  Not that I’m likely to keep it permenently, but a guitar I’m specially interested in.  On this occasion I’m building a 12 fret to the body New World Anniversary model guitar (the seventh in the Anniversary series) with Brazilian rosewood back and sides and best aged German spruce soundboard. The neck will be Wengé, the fingerboard and bridge Indian ebony, the binding black Rocklite with red/gold/green purfling and arrow head trim around the soundboard and soundhole.

12 fret guitars can sound surprisingly different from the more common 14 fret models. Various suggestions have been made as to why this should be; my belief is the greater distance between soundhole and bridge (12 fret to the body guitars usually have fewer frets) and, more importantly, the location of the bridge closer to the tail are the major factors.

My long scale D guitars, while having 14 frets to the body, are based on my 12 fret Model 2 with extra frets at the head, so have 12 fret guitar characteristics. These are currently my favourite guitars, hence the decision to build a New World version. It’s many years since I last built one, so I’m looking forward to completing this one incorporating my latest soundboard design.

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There’s a long way to go yet.  Finishing and fitting the neck, gluing the fingerboard, shaping the neck, cambering the fingerboard, fitting frets and making the bridge will take up to another couple of weeks.

Then it will be with Dave for four to five weeks, getting many coats of lacquer, each flatted smooth before the next is applied.

When I get it back I will glue the bridge, true the neck and frets, make and fit nut and saddles and finally string it up and check and adjust the action.

Even when it is finished, it will be many weeks before the final sound begins to appear.  All in all, it will be at least three months before I can begin to assess it.