My third archtop

[Jim Hepler]

Here's my latest:

17" body
25" scale
maple back, sides, and binding
spruce top
cooked maple accents (headstock veneer, centre neck stripe, pick guard, bridge)
walnut neck
mjs split single pick-up
holly position markers and headstock inlay

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. It has a BIG acoustic sound. Lots of archtop bite, but a nice rich low end as well. My woodworking skills continue to improve with each instrument I make. I used a technique similar to one I saw Steve Latta use on the Woodwright's Shop to do the inlay, and, while not perfect, it's far and away my best so far. You may not be able to see, but it has Schatten thumbwheel controls for the pick-up. Electrically, it sounds good. The pick-up has more high end than is typical for these kind of guitars, but rolling off the tone gives a nice jazz sound without getting boomy like sometimes happens. I haven't really spent a lot of time with it plugged in. I'll try to post some pictures now.
Thanks for looking.
Jim

[Brian Evans]

That is very pretty, well done!

[Jim Hepler]

Thanks Brian. Forgot to mention the finish is shellac on the body and headstock and tung oil on the neck. It was my first pointy (is that Florentine?) cutaway, which caused some headscratching, but went okay in the end. Also my first time using solid linings. My side pieces were deeper than I needed, so I cut off a bunch (8) of extra binding pieces from them and bent the whole lot at the same time on my friend John Cross's bending jig. I used two of the "binding" pieces on the inside for each of the linings. I think that was quicker and easier than making kerfed linings and the sides seemed to hold their shape better. This was also my first time using hot hide glue, although I didn't use it everywhere. That wild maple on the back doesn't really match the regular curly maple on the sides, and I can't say that it bothers me at all.

[Mike Conner]

Looks really good!
- What kind of spruce and the source?
- Any details you can share on the neck joint? (Dovetail?).
- Fretboard material?

My preference is for a brighter tone for neck pickups, and as you say it tone can be rolled off. It looks like you have 21 frets, putting your neck pickup at about the 22nd fret position? That can contribute to the brighter tone also compared to the traditional 20 fret neck.

Thanks for sharing!

[Jim Hepler]

Thanks Mike. The spruce was given to me by John Cross. I believe he got it at Bow River Specialty Woods in Chiliwack. I'm not sure what kind of spruce it was. It was certainly different from the Sitka I've used in the past. It has relatively wide growth rings (at least 1/8") and the dark lines (early wood, late wood ?)are much harder than the light stuff in between.

I built it using the Benedetto book as a reference, but that's not to say that my ultimate thicknesses were exactly what he recommends.

It has parallel braces - well, they're not really parallel, but they run the length of the body and don't cross.

The neck joint is a more or less standard tapered dovetail. Benedetto suggests only 1/16" of taper. This one is more like you'd find on a standard acoustic. I didn't measure it , but I'd say from 1 1/8" down to 5/8" would be in the range of the taper. Glued it in place with a bit of hot Hide glue. The fit was tight, so the glue just keeps the joint from slipping back out. Also I used a longer than standard screw in the strap pin, so that it goes right through the dovetail and into the neck block. Probably unnecessary, but also probably not harmful.

The fretboard is cocobolo. It is the last of a very dark piece I had which is so dark it looks like ebony, but it's coco based on the smell.

You are right about the frets, there are 21. Also there is actually about 1/4" gap between the fretboard and the pick-up. This pick up just has more bite than you usually find, which makes sense because I understand it is two single coil pick-ups (one on the bottom 3 strings and one on the top 3) but wound to be hum cancelling. But it's a good bite, because it's still back there by the neck where the richness lives.

Thanks for the interest.
jim

[Gordon Bellerose]

Nice guitar Jim!
We have to get together like we promised each other.
I still have your phone number, and will give you a call as soon as I get through the refinery shutdown I'm currently working on.

[Jim Hepler]

Thanks Gordon. That sounds good.
jim

[Jason Rodgers]

That's a great looking guitar! Something about the proportions, or maybe just the pictures, that makes it look like an 18" box and a bit deeper. All the same, good work.

[Jim Hepler]

Thanks Jason. It is 17" wide and just less than 3 1/8 high at the sides. Probably what you're seeing is my lack of photography skills. I'm trying to keep my woodworking skills ahead of my picture taking skills. That seems to make sense to me.

[Mike Conner]

Jim, I use a dovetail joint similar to what you describe and try for a nice tight fit. I do not use glue for final assembly, but instead a 2.5" screw capped with a strap button runs through the dovetail to lock it in place. This means that I can assemble in the white, play and refine, then disassemble for finishing. The details are in my Journal: http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=4668

Do you have any photos of the front plate bracing?
//mike

[Jim Hepler]

Mike,
Wow, that's a great build log. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I will, and more than once. Thanks for doing that.

I see you're in South Carolina. Chilliwack, where the top came from, is near Vancouver British Columbia. I believe it was in the bargain bin, so not a triple A top, but it sounds good to me.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the braces. They are some pine I had lying around that I split to make sure the grain was straight. They're pretty much like Benedetto describes for his parallel braces. About an inch apart at the neck end and about 4" apart at the tail. They're about 5/16 wide. They taper down in height to nothing at the ends. After I glued them in, and tapped the top, it was much less responsive than without the braces. I just shaved and tapped until I got what I thought was a nice "boing" and left it at that. As it says in the book, I just do that, hoping to gain experience without being too sure what I'm listening for.

I'm interested to hear about your neck joint. I agree that a nice tight dovetail really only needs something to hold it in place. The shape of the joint should keep the neck from folding forward, so a single screw should do it as long as the wood in the joint stays stable. If something shrinks and the joint has a little room, you'd be just relying on the screw. I suppose there is a good chance that's enough strength. It would be more or less like a bolt on at that point and they seem to hold. How beefy a screw do you use. I guess it just has to be the right length to bite well into the neck block. The screw I used was a 2" #6 wood screw. which is fairly small, but it's in the neck block almost all the way through, so it's actually pretty strong. In this case it's just insurance since I did use some glue as well.

Thanks for your interest and all the info in your log.
jim

[Mike Conner]

Jim,
The dovetail tenon (and mortise depth) is 3/4" long. Looks like this:

The screw is 2-1/2" #8 brass to match the gold hardware. The location is where I would want the strap button to be anyway:

Hope this helps!

[Jim Hepler]

Thanks Mike. That looks great. I guess I can try it and if it does loosen I can always shim it and glue it later anyway. Good idea for the next one.
jim