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Archtop GAS again


ksdaddy

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I go through this every couple years. I get archtop fever. I have it again. I may even break out the plastic if I find what I want and then worry about thinning the herd to cover it.

 

In 2008 I built one from scratch. For a first attempt I guess it was okay. I could have thinned the top more, blah blah blah. Woulda Shoulda Coulda. One part I REALLY messed up on though, was the neck. Not enough taper. It's nearly straight and therefore feels weird and there is not enough "splay" at the bridge; The string spacing at the bridge is ridiculously tight.

 

I should have put a teeny bit more angle on it too, so it would have better downward pressure.

 

And as to me putting a pearl dot at the 10th fret instead of the 9th.... I have no excuse. I wasn't thinking. ](*,)

 

So I may just buy some more flame maple and make a new neck from scratch. What the heck.

 

archtop1.jpg

 

archtop5.jpg

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It's been a LONG time since I've built anything and I'm a little freaked out about it. This time I may buy a fretboard already slotted because I can't cut straight fret slots to save my friggin' life. As to shaping the neck, meh, that's just time. lots of time.

 

Here's more pics:

 

http://www.angelfire.com/me4/ksdaddy/carved.html

Very cool looking guitar man..

 

And yes I buy pre-slotted boards for my builds... Its MUCH easier and about the same price so the way I see it is why not save yourself some work.. You need a jig or to buy one of those stu-mac things to do it properly.

 

Also as for shaping the neck.. This is how I do mine now.. The first neck I did took me like three days to get right.. This way I can do it in about 10-15 mins :)

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Your luthier skills are certainly top notch,the guitar is just too beautiful to get fingerprints on.With regard to you not being able to cut straight fret slots,doesn't Stew-Mac have a fret slot cutting jig of some sort in their catalogue? I was almost sure that I saw one on their website a while back.

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