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I've seen a lot of photos of the mold D'Aquisto used to build his archtops. They seem unique and I think he's the only one I've seen with this particular design. I'm going to post a picture of one and maybe some of you guys can help me understand what's going on with it. One interesting feature are the adjustable "screws" on the top and bottom of the form. I remember reading that this let him quickly alter the size of the upper and lower bout. I thought that was a great way to get different shapes without having to make a bunch of different molds. So can someone try to guess at how this form is constructed? Has anybody ever made one of these before?

I don't think anything to special is going on there. The screw/bolts at the top and bottom of the form is for quick release of each half of the mold. It makes it easier to get the guitar in and out. I used latches off of a trunk on mine. Works the same.

3 layers or plywood is plenty for this style of construction. The odd outside shape is so you can use clamps to clamp in the neck block. You need to be able to clamp it from the cutway side and the neck side.

Look in the tutuorial section of the forum. Todd Stock has a tute on making a form.

J

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Joe

Joe, thanks for your reply. However, the screws on top are not for any kind of quick release. D'Aquisto stated that those screws allowed him to alter the width of both the upper and lower bout. That's what is special, IMO. It gives more control over the shape.

It is the same screw found on handscrew clamps, with two opposing threads, and barrel nuts. I think it allowed D'Aquisto to only modify (increase) the width of the upper bout.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I make pretty much all my molds adjustable, simply by adding different width blocks between the mold halves. All my molds are held together by 6 inch threaded rod with washer and nuts, so its easy to add or take out the blocks. The rods sit in a chnnel cut into the end of each half. Its pretty easy to make.

One must be aware though that you can only add so much to one end without adversely affecting the other, and not only in size - the mold halves will not come together in a nice smooth curve if you block out the top too much, and then just try to bolt the bootom together. Since I use the mold as a caul to glue the neck and tail blocks in, this can cause a major problem. For me anyway, I simply adjust both ends the same, and all is well.

You can just see inthe pic the bolt on the top, as well as the added 3/8 block between the mold pieces.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

It is definitely a feature that allows adjustability of both the upper and lower bouts. John D'Angelico also used molds like this. Whether his molds inspired D'Aquisto, or whether D'Aquisto designed these molds for D'Angelico, I couldn't say. D'Aquisto designed numerous patterns for D'Angelico during the time the two men worked together. Too bad neither of them is around to ask. I'm sure they'd be glad to share an explanation with us. There's a nice little book entitled ACQUIRED OF THE ANGELS, which gives a retrospective of each man's work. You will see numerous examples of this mold design in that book. Also note that many of the molds had symmetrical sides in the upper bout. Both men bent numerous cutaways totally by hand and eye, and used the symmetrical molds even when forming cutaways. According to the book, that was also considered an infinitely adjustable feature of their guitars. I do like the post which shows wooden inserts between the halves, to widen the mold at either end. That's neat and simple. There are as many solutions to the problem as there are mold builders.

As far as I recall, only his 17 and 18" bodies shared the same body length. Which would indicate that it is possible that you could just add a one inch spacer block to the 17" mold to make it bigger....but I also recall (my memory could be wrong) that his 16" bodies did not share the same shape or length as the 17 and 18" bodies did. This might indicate that he might have had a small mold and a large mold. One that could be used for 17 and 18" models and one for the 15 and 16" models.

His sons has been interested in following his fathers footsteps. Seems a shame that allot of Jimmy's tools and molds are in museums if Jimmy II was going to carry on the family tradition.

I need to get that book.....

JD

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Joe

Hi CP. Yes I have that book. Couldn't recommend it enough! It's an amazing book. Put together very well with a lot of insight into the world's of both these legendary luthiers. I've always been shocked at the scant information available on either men. I don't think I'm alone when I say they were probably the most important archtop luthiers ever.

Mothing special in the design of it that is not in any other. rather than having a mold with a cutaway inserrt he usess a seperate lower half that has the cutaway pre built into it.

Did D'Aquisto make a 15 inch body? If he did, and anybody has pictures or measurements, I would love to see them. I am trying to work out a nice all acoustic 15 inch archtop. One of the things I am wondering about is how do you plan out the instrument if you have say a 25 inch scale. I know the body should meet the neck at the 14th fret. I have the Benedetto plans, but if I change the body from a 17 inch to a 15 inch, isn't the bridge then going to fall lower down in the lower bout, because the 15 inch body will be proportionally narrower and shorter, or do you keep the length the same and just make the body narrower (I think that would look wierd).
Thanks.

Benedetto has a few 15" too.

Well, you have a few options. Join the neck at the 16th like a les paul and you gain back about 1.5". I use 24.6" (24.75) scale on my 16" and they look just right. So I doubt a half inch shorter all the way around would pull this out of range of normal looking. A 25" scale might start to look strange.

I posted some 14 and 15" models around here somewhere from Benedetto.

J

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Joe

ps: Wasn't the D'Aquisto -Fender elite a 15" body? Possibly also the D'Aquisto Hagstrom model called the "Jimmy". Anyway, I do know that D'Aquisto designed some more modern guitars of which I am fairly sure a few were 15" models. There is not a lot of information around about him or his guitars, but I think I saw several pictures of the 15" models.

JD

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Joe

With regard to 15" body widths and changing proportions, I think there are lots of ways to solve that problem. Attaching the neck at a different fret is one solution. A shorter scale is another solution. But what about using the standard body length with the narrower body width? Just because it isn't commonly done doesn't mean it hasn't ever been done--or that it can't be done now. Experimentation is at the very heart of this forum. It will be up to you to design a curvature for the upper and lower bouts and the waist that looks good with a 15" body width and a 20 or 21" length. Get out some scraps from shopping bags and start drawing experimental patterns and see if anything looks good to you. If you come up with a visual design that you like, then I say go for it! I see no reason why an elongated box shouldn't sound as good as one with the dimensions that are more familiar to us. Success is defined in many ways, and will ultimately be left up to the ingenuity of the builder. Let us know what you come up with!