Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All,

This is the Archtop I just completed (Need some final touches, like a truss rod cover, tuning peg alignment etc). The top is Sitka Spruce, and the back and sides soft maple...Cocobolo for the tail piece and the pick guard...Had to sttring her up to see how she sounds...

The entire guitar was machined on my CNC machine, including the carving of the tops. The top has integrated braces, which were just machined as a one piece on the CNC. It sounds and plays great. The inlays are curly maple for the peghead, fretboard and the tailpiece. This was a bit of an "experiment" with the integrated braces, but I think this is the way I am going forward from now on...Finish is Nitro Lacquer....


Some more pictures of my router and info on my site, and facebook page....(http://www.facebook.com/cncguitar and site: http://www.cncguitar.com)


Thanks!

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-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

Man, that is really nice!
I like everything about it!
I can't make out the fretboard inlay from the pics.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Nice! What's the finish?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Please see and read my response on your double post. It's a beautiful guitar, but you must watch for signs of top caving.

Gorgeous!! Love the color

That is just creamy dreamy.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Awesome job! Love the color and finish. Great job on the binding too, sometimes that can be a chore on an archie.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

The integrated bracing is interesting. What is your thinging on resistance to cracking of the top plate where there is no brace grain running running on an angle to the plate? I'm asking because I don't know. Would it perhaps be wise to glue some thin strips of some type of material on top of the braces? Even thin strips of CF might help.

Well, I guess time will tell...but I think it is pretty strong. I left about 1/8 of an inch extra width on the braces, and then I proceeded to shave them down, while tuning the top, when it came out of the CNC machine. Doing a "thumb pressure" test like I have always done to tops which have glued braces, i really could not detect a difference in the stiffness of the top.....I know this is not a very scientific method of doing this, but I have reason to believe this will be fine over time...

I will keep monitoring going forward to see if there is any sagging....but so far, the results have been very promising....we shall see...

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-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

To me, something like this looks like a perfect candidate for reinforcement with CF TOW. You could carve the braces thinner and lower (for the next one I'm sayin'), just wide enough to fit the TOW on top.

If you wanted to get super clever, you could use a t-slot bit or something like that to undercut the brace into an I-beam.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

exactly Andy....someone suggested this to me the other day....a small bit can be used to cut a slot and the CF can fit right into that...

We shall see for the next one...but so far so good....no sagging yet...
I love my cnc machine!!...

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-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

Any pics of the top before assembly?
I'd love to see them and I am sure others would too!