Another guitar, another change of direction. The planing and thicknessing of the maple top just didn’t work with a router and the piece supplied had a significant bow to it that was more extreme than I realized (tbh I’m a bit annoyed at the supplier, I doubt I’ll use them again). Instead I’m going to use a pre-planned bit of maple (sadly not birds-eye) and do a flat top. As the carving is part of the process I really like, I thought I’d throw in something different to make up for it. This is going to be a semi-hollow build, which I’ve never owned. How much will come through in it’s amplified voice is yet to be seen. My one concern is a neck heavy build result, but sticking with the origianl body doesn’t give me much room for adjustment. I’ve changed tuners for lighter ones (Schaller M6 Mini top locking), which should arrive this week. Once they are here (along with the bridge) I can get back on with the neck.
A year and a bit ago, while drilling out the wood for the sound chamber, I drilled way to far out (which was part of the reason I put the guitar build away). Reverting to what I know, time to put together a MDF template to see if I can get a shape that will work. I tried free hand routing the internal curve, which as you can see if a bit of a mess (the top 6mm MDF template). Instead I’ve copied it to a 12mm MDF template without an offet, I’ll use the spindle sander to sand a more natural flow. The flat edges are fine, so I’ll take them to the same line as the 6mm one. None of this would be visible, but I would know……
