Official Luthiers Forum!

It has been awhile since I posted a new topic. I am in the process of finishing my first guitar (my dad and I have built 7 others, but this is my first solo operation) and it is going quite well i must say. However I'd like to get into acoustic archtops sometime soon. I am hoping to aquire Benedetto's archtop book, and later his videos (budget constraints). I have googled archtop acoustic construction and have been suprised at the lack of information I've been able to find on a few simple preliminary questions I have. As expensive as Archtop acoustics are, I've not had the opportunity to play one, so I am not sure what to expect in one to begin with (part of my drive to build one). We are planning on carving the tops (obviously) but the rest of the body we plan to construct like a normal acoustic. We've seen this done on a couple of builders sites, and it may be better as a new archtop constructor to go this route, but I could be wrong. It may be awhile before I can get the book, and I was hoping you guys could come through (once again) and help me out.

For starters, I am not sure exactly how the tops are carved. We have a very good set of chisels, but a rather limited number of planes, and no finger planes. Will those be something we will need to get a set of?

LMI and Stewart Mac sell archtop plate blanks for about an arm and a leg apiece, and we plan to start by using construction grade stuff for tops (initially at least). Are there any tricks to finding good stuff at lumberyards?

Finally, is there any other advice you could offer me? I've never done this, as I said before, but have made several flattops with relative success and confidence.

I know this seems ridiculous, but I am a budding luthier, and am still in the "figuring everything out" stage of my career. I would greatly appreciate any information you could pass along to me. You guys always are fantastic about being helpful and cordial about these things and deserve to be commended.

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Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~

Get the Benedetto book first. It is a fantastic resource and guide for doing this. Then come back and ask questions as there are always many ways, including carving, of doing things.

I've built five archtop guitars and an archtop ukulele (my avatar). The Benedetto book was invaluable in getting me started.

I thought the book might be, I guess my first inclination was to just ask you guys. I've gotten so used to the extrodanary help here that I habitually asked you guys first. Now that i think about it, it probably would make more sense to read it first. I'm sure I will have more questions later however.

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Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~

Jake,
Go to the tutorials section via the board index and look up Jordan's tutorial on carving an archtop with hand tools.

Steve

Yeah, get the Benedetto book, it really has pretty much everything covered. There are a couple of carving methods in the tutorials right now viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=21716 and viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=21779

These are both sort of an addendum to the Bene book though, ways we have found to effectively do the grunt work, in my case using mostly hand tools and Chris showing a cool way to use a safety planer to get there. You dont really need a whole set of finger planes, although you will probably eventually want them all, you can build your collection as you go. I find the Ibex curved bottom 12mm to be the most usefull, then the 18mm size (12mm and 18mm are blade widths) There are a bunch of threads in the archives, with lots of conflicting opinions on what people like the best, as its kind of a preference thing.

Archtop blanks are expensive because there is so much more wood in them than a flat top. Top wood is not usually an area to skimp on, but Benedetto famously built an archtop with construction grade pine to prove that a good maker could get a sound out of inferior woods http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthread ... art=2&vc=1 (about halfway down they talk about it and there is a picture)

When you say you are planing to carve the tops, but build the rest like a normal acoustic, you mean like with an uncarved back, domed like a steel string? That can be pretty cool, most notably Stephan Sobell makes archtops this way http://www.sobellinstruments.com/6Strin ... fault.aspx based on an old Martin design. I think its a cool design, and i have been thinking of making one for a while. A big benefit, is that hard curly maple backs are A LOT harder to carve than nice silky spruce, so you avoid some blisters. And you avoid the cost of buying an expensive wedge of maple for the back. Traditionaly, an archtop means a carved top and back, and there is much more of a market for "normal" archtops, but i still encourage you to build whatever holds your interest.

There are a few of us here that will answer whatever further questions you have. The only further advice is, archtops are fun to make, the rough carving stage especially is nice if you are into physical work, you will have some poppin' arm muscles at the end if you dont already!

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY