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Do any of you have an idea of how he does it? Seems like the soundboard is all in one piece??
Definitely looks great!

A really good glue joint?

Actually i never saw this before, but it seems like he is bending the top just like the pliage on a Maccaferri guitar. I really like it, a nice simple solution.

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Randy Muth
RS Muth Guitars Website
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I like to too. The angle seems more comfortable than many bevel's I've seen, and it seems like a fairly simple, elegant solution. I bet fitting that binding is a pain in the arse tho p

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Jim Hansen

That's what I was just looking at! Lots of super soft!



I believe it's all one piece. I really like it in that it keeps the top looking symmetrical if looking at it straight, where as the Ryan style bevel makes one side look smaller than the other.

I don't think you need supersoft. Spruce bends quite well. I would worry about staining with the supersoft.

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Randy Muth
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Yes, the pliage on a Selmer is an example of spruce bending very well. I imagine that bending diagonally on the grain might be a little trickier than perpendicular to it, but seems like it should be fairly straight forward. Great application on that bevel!

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Chuck Kish

I did not know Doolin was doing this, but I have seen several of Sheldon Schwartz's guitars with this feature. They are real comfortable to play. I asked Sheldon at Montreal and he says he just bends the top and does not do anything special inside the guitar. I would love to stick a mirror and light inside and see the bracing, or see a top before it is glued on.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

The lower leg of the x-brace must come into that region. I was wondering if he carves it to that shape or just ends it short.

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Randy Muth
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Looks like nylon strung geetar Randy.
Probably no X brace.

Mc

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Mike Collins

Yes Mike, but he's also done it on a steel string for Nancy Conescu.

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Randy Muth
RS Muth Guitars Website
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I think Maks Lavrov was referring to the binding re- supersoft, not the spruce - just for clarification.

I can't assume to know how Mike Doolin is creating his, but heat bending would certainly achieve the result reasonably easily. I have seen some builders such as Graham McDonald heat/steam bending thick spruce into a semi-arch state for carved mandolins with more continuous grain - as opposed to a fully carved top.

As others have suggested, it is a technique commonly employed in electric guitar caps too. I did this on a seven string multiscale a couple of years ago. I was bending a very dense (~1350kg/m3), stiff and somewhat brittle, highly figured Ring Gidgee cap - that is an Australian outback timber you are unlikely to see much of in USA. To lessen the risk of fractures, I bent it against the body (or mould) using a heat blanket and a flexible clamping caul so that it was fully supported - much like bending acoustic sides.





I used some veneer softener in this case, but in hindsight think it was overkill. A wipe with water would have provided the necessary steam. That was just the arm bevel - I then bent the whole left side, followed by the whole right side. All the bends went perfectly. The flexible clamp caul was simply made with kerf slots machined into it following the required bends. It was then used as a clamping caul to evenly glue the cap down too.



The same method could easily be applied to the top of an acoustic instrument.

My first consideration was how much this would impinge on the tops lower bout vibrating area, but it appears to be a very small bevel, perhaps only just further in than the lining itself thereby possibly not having much effect - but care in design here is pertinent I would think.

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Jeremy.

J.F. Custom® Guitars

www.jfcustom.com.au

I asked, got this from the kind sir.

Funny, Max Larov was just asking me the same thing. I clamp the top to the bench with a rounded-edge board above and below right up against the bend line, with a side bending blanket in between, and bend it up with a third board underneath the rest of the top. I wet the inside of the top just along the line of the bend, just smear a few drops of water along the bend line. As long as you support the whole length of the bend, it works every time.

The fun part is the binding...

I'm about to do one of those so I'll take some pics and post them to my Articles page. Check there in a few weeks - http://www.doolinguitars.com/articles/
Mike

It's easy.
Shape the face of the brace that glues to the top to the bevel profile. Kerf the lining in the vertial plane to about 75% of it's height to get it to bend in both directions (or get some of Kevin Ryans lining). Fit it up and glue as usual. Binding is much easier than the solid block type of bevel.
I had this guitar at Healdsburg. This bevel method is now standard on my Freestyle Parlor models.

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

That's funny, I did ask him and didn't get a chance to post it here yet. Guess you beat me to it, but that is the exact same message he sent me. I am going to try this out, and I plan on having this a standard for my builds for myself. Anybody know if sinker redwood would have trouble bending like that?

Yes, I was talking about the binding. And I asked Mike about that too, and he actually uses a separate piece of binding for the beveled part. Just blends it in really well with the rest of the bindings.

I wonder about the sound difference on a steelstring when messing with the bass side lower x brace that way. Seems it would take away from the bass responce somewhat.