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My First Archtop
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=32030		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Terence Kennedy [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:11 am ]
Post subject:  My First Archtop
Inspired by folks like Dave Stewart I recently finished my first archie. An offspring of the Benedetto book and DVD. It was probably the most excited I've been about a build in the 13 years I've been messing around with this stuff. I'm hooked and plan many more.

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I laminated the Maple sides and used a bolt-on neck accessed by a long wrench through the endpin hole. I'm interested to see how that works over the long haul. Anyone here ever tried that on an archtop?

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For more than you would ever want to know about the build pictures are here:

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh38 ... ?start=all
Author:  Mike Dotson [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Can't beat a good lookin' blonde! [:Y:]
Author:  jason c [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:18 pm ]
Post subject:  My First Archtop
It looks great Terence. Dave Stewart did a thread on bolt-on necks for archtops. It's somewhere in the tutorial section. Did you go with parallel or x braces?
Author:  Chris Pile [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Absolutely beautiful.
Clever neck adjustment, too!
Author:  Dave Stewart [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Looks great!! Love that vintage deep amber on archtops... very "big band". Is it on mahogany?? (..can't seem to view your photobucket spread worth a dang)
Glad to see you used the bolt-on (...maybe you saw my tutorial so long ago you thought you dreamt it laughing6-hehe ) It's pretty intuitive anyway and, I think, makes things just a whole lot easier, particularly finishing.
Great job! (you're hooked!)
Author:  JJ Donohue [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Terry...it looks beautiful, as if you've been making them for years. I'd love to hear some sound clips.

Thanks for posting the build sequence...I plan to check out all of the details during leisure time!
Author:  Bill Hodge [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Sweet work Doc! And superbly creative photography.
Author:  Terence Kennedy [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
The top is X braced as the guy that talked me into building this thing wanted to play it acoustically a lot of the time. The back and sides are Maple, top is Sitka.

Dave I looked up your tutorial. Very nice! We did things pretty much the same. I think the Cumpiano attachment method with barrel nuts is almost mandatory because of the high neck angle. I found that some fiber/rubber plumbing washers served as good retaining washers to keep the bolts from falling into the guitar when the neck was off. I also ran my carbon bar reinforcement into the extension as you mentioned. Have your bolt-ons remained stable over time so far?

The finish is nitro by Addam Stark and he did a great job.
Author:  James Orr [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
JJ Donohue wrote:
Terry...it looks beautiful, as if you've been making them for years. I'd love to hear some sound clips.

Thanks for posting the build sequence...I plan to check out all of the details during leisure time!


+1!!!
Author:  Jim Watts [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Wow, another great looking archtop. Excellent job Terry.
Author:  Darrel Friesen [ Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Very nice! The color is great Terence. I did bolt on necks for my last 3 archtops using a long wrench much like yours and hanger bolts. I don't think I'll ever go back to dovetails.
Author:  DannyV [ Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Nice Terence! It's great to hear you've gotten excited again. What's the router setup you used for the "f" holes? Collet? Flush trim bit? It looks like it works well!

Cheers,
Danny
Author:  Terence Kennedy [ Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
DannyV wrote:
Nice Terence! It's great to hear you've gotten excited again. What's the router setup you used for the "f" holes? Collet? Flush trim bit? It looks like it works well!

Cheers,
Danny


I bought the LMI plexiglass template and clamped it to the back of the top and cut from the back with a flush trim bit with stacked bearings. Not ideal as the bearing didn't quite fit through the narrow part of the template and I had to do some hand work. I think I will rig up a pin router setup for the next. I actually did some experimenting with a pin router setup on my drill press with a 1/4" downcut bit but was not totally happy with the cutting at the lower RPM.

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Author:  Dave Stewart [ Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My First Archtop
Hi Terrence. To answer your question, I've not seen any problems with the bolt-on over time. I typically do a pretty complete "tweek" after 2-3 months after things settle down, & at that point I check the bolts & may find another 1/4 turn needed.
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