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My buddy and I are getting ready to start our first archtops. We also stumbled into a supply of bubinga, and are doing our first resawing. Benedetto's book says to start with 1" thick plates. I think when I've seen back blanks for sale online, they are wedged, I assume to waste less wood. Does anyone have advice for us on dimensions to cut the wedge? Should it be a triangle or should we leave a flat section in the center? Anything else we should keep in mind?

Thanks,

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

The archtop wedges I'm familar with have a right angle cross section, with the center a bit over 1 inch, maybe an inch and an eighth and tapering down to 3/8 inch at the edges.

The wedge also means less wood to remove. Note: you might find the bubinga very difficult to carve! I love/hate the stuff. Good luck and share some pics, Mike.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

If it's like the bubinga I resawed for back/sides I would not look forward to carving it. Good luck!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

As a true wood miser, I can tell you I've cut wedges from 1" blanks corner to corner. I lose an easy 1/8" in the blade kerf. It's ok on the back if the arch doesn't quite reach 1" from the bottom of the rim. The back carve is, in my experience, far less critical than the top. Some end with an arch 3/4" from bottom of the rim to top of arch.

As to the Bubinga, like others I wouldn't recommend it for your first carve. And you want to start with the back and use that experience carving the top. Just like you wouldn't do your first side bend with highly figured wood. Make your first with mahogany (or any easy to carve wood). The experience will be much better and you will be much more likely to make a second with more challenging wood.


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Thanks! Yeah, we're fully aware of the frustrations we're in for trying to carve the bubinga, but maybe we'll still get a rude surprise. I love it for acoustics. It sure can be tough though. I had been planning to get going on my first this summer with something more appropriate, but then this other stuff pretty much fell in our lap.

We're not opposed to power tools, so the router or safe-t plane will give us a bit of relief. I've been trying to decide how the Galahad carver might do. I find I have a lot of control with it on other projects. If things turn for the worse though, I bet it goes bad in a hurry.

Thanks for the advice on wedges too. I think we're right at or just over 8/4, and we're trying to decide if we can get two backs out of the same piece. I guess we'll see how the first cut goes and proceed from there.

I will let you know how it goes. We thinned sides yesterday and will probably get bending in the next week or so. It's also my first cutaway...

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

Well, if you split wood, it will usually be wedge-shaped because the split will follow the rays, especially softwoods.
The resulting surfaces have perpendicular grain, which is desired.
Starting with pieces that have been split into wedges seems only natural and lends itself to an arch carving.

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Planks are easier to join than wedges. Wedges have less wood to carve away. Planks can be joined and then be sawn to a partial wedge shape to reduce the amount of carving needed. Planks should be a min of 1' thick to carve a back plate shaped according to Benedetto plans. Wedges can be planed flat in the center section down to 1" thick. You need to allow for some loss of thickness from trueing flat the bottom of the plate for joining to the ribs.

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