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Posts tagged archtop
The SpaceShip – First Docking Procedure
Mar 5th
Fitting the neck to the body with a dovetail joint
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- Archtop guitar dovetail jig
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- The dovetail slot in the body
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- Archtop guitar dovetail front view
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- Neck dovetail ‘test piece’
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- The neck dovetail jig
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- The ‘neck test piece’ is dovetailed
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- The actual neck is machined
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- A perfect fit
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- Gluing the neck extension
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- Close up of neck extension
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- Ready to fit the truss rod
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- Installing the truss rod
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- Aligning the fretboard
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- Rear view
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- Ready to glue the fretboard
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- Clamping the archtop guitar fretboard
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- Gluing the ‘wings’ on the side of the headstock
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- Custom headstock designed by Steve
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- Rough carving the neck
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- The neck is now roughly carved
Captains Log
Stardate : 05312.5
Today we passed a milestone in our continuing journey to go where no Jazz Archtop has gone before. It was my duty as captain to single handedly complete the first docking procedure with the new jazz class spaceship. It is necessary to ensure this runs smoothly as we do not want any issues to arise when the time comes to permanently attach the neck to the body.
The neck cannot be glued on until the guitar is just about finished during the final ‘docking procedure’, but the dovetail must be made before the fretboard is glued on or the neck would not fit into the jig.
Completing the neck joint is one of the major jobs when making an Archtop style guitar. It has to be a dovetail as there is no way to get hands inside the body to tighten any bolts.
This is also how the neck angle is set so that the strings will arrive at the right height for the bridge, and also the alignment- the centre of the neck must align with the centreline on the body.
The body mortice is cut first then the fitted neck to it, using a piece of ‘scrap’ to practice on until the angle and alignment is correct, then swapping it for the real neck to complete the dovetail joint.
After this I can glue the neck extension, install the truss rod and glue on the fretboard.
This headstock is going to be quite large so I added some ‘wings’ to each side to increase the width so the shape will fit on.
Steve designed his own headstock which I traced and marked out onto the wood before drilling the tuner holes and cutting out the shape.
Finally I rough carved the neck. I left it slightly oversized for now and will refine it after the frets are fitted. I may have to work on the fretboard first so it is good to leave a little leeway for this. Now I will let it settle for a while…
Contact us if you would like to commission your own epic custom build, or visit our online shop to see some ready made examples.
The Spaceship – The voyage continues
Mar 2nd
The mission: To boldly go where no Jazz Guitar has ever gone before…
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- Ready to assemble the body
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- Inside the sides
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- The back is glued first
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- Gluing the neck laminates
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- The inside of the body is sprayed
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- Neck blank in foreground and body ready for top gluing
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- The top ready for gluing to the sides
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- Secret message
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- While the top was drying I marked out the neck
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- The body is now complete
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- First I route the truss rod slot
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- …then I cut the headstock angle
Captains Log
Star Date: 22712.5
It seems so long ago when this journey began… like the dawn of time. As if nothing ever existed before we embarked on this unearthly path. None of the brave pioneers who originally set out on this mission could have foresorn the possibilty of any of the events to befall us. Those of us that survived have formed a new society, one based on baked beans and sausages, and now, well over half way through the assignment and still accelerating towards our distant goal, things are again running smoothly in this intergalactic class starship we have come to call Bailey World.
When the aliens left it took some considerable time to clear up the mess, but having two large anuses 18″ apart cannot be easy, especially with the plumbing we have around here, designed essentially as it is, for humans only. Seargeant Davies’ attempt to rig up a dual funnel type device and try to catch some of the foul effluent had been fruitless as the phenomenal pressure these creatures produce proved too much for even her technical aboundments.
Meanwhile, as things have been a bit calmer, I have had some time to concentrate on the contruction of our latest specialised ’Jazz Class’ Spaceship, meticulously and painstakingly installing the additional ‘….nice’ and a little extra ’….cool’ just to be doubly sure.
This is Steve’s Arcthtop jazz guitar I have been making for some time. As you can see work has progressed somewhat since the last update. The top and back have been glued onto the sides so the body is complete. The truss rod slot is cut and the headstock angle is cut. My next job is to rough out the neck and then cut the dovetail to fit the neck to the body.
…All systems are go…
Update:
Further studies have revealed that the fetid odour was imbued with a substance of hallucinagenic properties. I am not an intergalactic starship commander but a lowly earthbound guitarmaker, and Carol is angry.
…back to work…
Build your own custom guitar- Archtop Dave
Jul 8th
Made by hand in the Bailey workshop- By Dave Fletcher…
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- Made in the Bailey workhop
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- A work of art
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- By special request
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- European spruce top
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- Headstock inlay
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- Flame maple sides
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- Flame maple neck
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- Custom headstock
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- Quilted maple back
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- Voluptuous back carve
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- Koa end graft and binding
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- Ebony parts
‘Build your own Archtop’ is only available by special request…but it would be my pleasure to build one for you! Take a look at the range of Bailey Archtop Guitars
Dave took a full 30 days in the workshop spread over 18 months to complete this beauty, mainly due to the delicate binding and inlays, not forgetting the full nitro gloss. He brought it along to show us last week when he came on the custom course to build his second guitar, so I took the opportunity to take a few snaps.
I thought I would feature his first guitar while he is waiting for pictures of his latest work being sprayed. This is one of the finest guitars ever to be made on any Bailey course. Now you know why we call him Archtop Dave! 
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Build your own custom guitar- Extra time
Jul 4th
…No rest for the wicked…
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- Dave starts work
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- Morning in the workshop
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- Neck joint- part 1
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- Dave show off his Arch top
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- Show us the back Dave!
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- Play us a tune Dave!
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- Back to work Dave!
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- Neck joint- part 2
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- Carving the top
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- Making a facet around the edge
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- Making the re-curve
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- End of extra time
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7
On the course everyone works at their own pace, making something totally unique, so it is not unusual to have a few minor snags in the seven days. Just in case we do run over we now plan in extra time for the day after a custom course.
We ask our course participants to keep the morning after the course free, for any tweaking time that may be necessary for niggles that there wasn’t time to fix. It gives them chance to really try out the guitar to make sure everything is OK before they take it away. Some of these guitars go a long way home so it is important to have this time to make sure everything is as it should be. Mostly it is not needed- Nick and Kevin didn’t need it but Dave certainly will.
Dave was up against it from the start with such a high spec design but had always planned on a full gloss for his guitar so was always intending to leave it with us for spraying. At break time Dave got out the Archtop he made here with us last year so I could take some photos. Then it was straight back back to work. As it was just me and him in the workshop progress was very fast. He made short work of drilling holes for the the pick up wires, strap stud and jack socket. The neck joint has now been done and the top is now carved. We won’t worry too much about making him sand it perfectly as we are going to spray it here anyway we can finish that for him.
Highland Hot Club visit to check progress on The Spaceship
May 4th
Steve wants his guitar to light up like a 50′s UFO!
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- The sides are bent around the hot iron then clamped into a mould
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- Both sides are done
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- Gluing the tail block into place- the heel block is aready done
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- The kerfed lining is cut to size
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- Lots of small clamps are used to glue on the kerfed lining
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- Cutting the kerfed lining- each set of four is the same length
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- After each set of kerfed lining is glued a side reinforcement piece is added
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- The lining is pre-bent before gluing the tight curves
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- Steve inpecting the work in progress
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- As usual I couldn’t resist laying out all the bits while Steve worked on his drawing
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- The finished art deco headstock design
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- These pieces will be laminated to make the neck
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- Steve designing his finger rest
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- The finished drawing- click for larger image to see more clearly
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- Checking the tuners fit ok on the headstock
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- Close up of the finger rest design
Steve and Evelyn from the Highland Hot Club came down from Inverness at the weekend for a blistering series of gigs and dropped by to see how the Spaceship was getting on. Me and Steve spent the Sunday afternoon in the workshop where we did a bit of work on the drawing to fill in a few of the missing details like the finger-rest, tail-piece and headstock. The black parts of the art deco style designs will be ebony and the rest blue azurite which should look amazing.
During the conversation he casually murmured something about blue LED’s inside the guitar. He has a microphone which lights up blue, so he wants the guitar to match! Shouldn’t be a problem but I’ll have to look into that…I know blue LED’s have been hard to get in the past but I checked and they seem to be readily available nowadays. I will probably mount the watch batteries and a on/off micro-switch for this under the finger-rest. Not sure how I’ll mount the LED’s inside but I’ll work something out…
While he was here Steve showed me some of the three note chords he uses in the ‘Hot Club’ style…I learned that Am6 is also D7, D9 and F#dim and Adim and Cdim…Amazing… 6 chords in three notes…Now I am really confused!
