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Building An
Acoustic
Steel-String
Guitar
Building an Acoustic Steel-String Guitar
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1
Dedicated to the memory of Irving Sloane, whose beautiful book
Steel String Guitar Construction inspired and guided my
explorations in the craft of lutherie.
Building an Acoustic Steel-String Guitar
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1 - Top and Back Plate Gluing..........................................................................................................5
Chapter 2 - Mosaic Rosette Construction.......................................................................................................6
Chapter 3 - Inlaying the Rosette....................................................................................................................18
Chapter 4 - Arching the Braces.....................................................................................................................25
Chapter 5 - Bracing the Top..........................................................................................................................30
Chapter 6 - Bending and Joining the Sides...................................................................................................37
Chapter 7 - Joining the Top and the Sides....................................................................................................47
Chapter 8 - Bracing the Back.........................................................................................................................60
Chapter 9 - Joining the Back to the Sides.....................................................................................................67
Chapter 10 - Binding the Body......................................................................................................................82
Chapter 11 - Constructing the Neck Blank..................................................................................................91
Chapter 12 - Cutting the Neck Dovetail Joint..............................................................................................97
Chapter 13 - Carving the Neck....................................................................................................................111
Chapter 14 - Constructing the Fretboard...................................................................................................121
Chapter 15 - Attaching the Neck and Fretboard to the Body...................................................................128
Chapter 16 - Applying the Finish................................................................................................................138
Chapter 17 - Fabricating and Attaching the Bridge..................................................................................147
Chapter 18 - Fretting....................................................................................................................................157
Chapter 19 - More to come...........................................................................................................................170
Building an Acoustic Steel-String Guitar
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Introduction
The following illustrates the approach I use to build acoustic steel-string guitars. It's intended to be a sort
of pictorial journey through the construction of a guitar. It's currently a work-in-progress; I'll add sections
as I reach those points in building this season's instruments.
In general, I use the approach described by Irving Sloane in his wonderful book "Steel-String Guitar
Construction" (E.P. Dutton and Co., NY, 1975). I've varied from his method in a number of areas (arched
top, neck joint, truss rod, etc.), but I still use his wonderful rubber-band gluing jig for joining the top and
back to the sides.
I'm currently in a "native American" phase, using native North American woods whenever possible, so
many of the woods used in the photographs are non-traditional. For example, the backs and sides
illustrated use mulberry and quartersawn red oak, the binding is curly maple, the back braces are walnut
and soft maple, and dogwood is used for the bridge plates. The tops are Sitka and Engelmann spruce. The
only parts I haven't found good local substitutes for are the fingerboard and bridge, for which I still use
East Indian rosewood. I've also been using rosette designs that are inspired by Native American pottery
and textiles.
The photographs show a number of tools and jigs used to build the guitars, but you can often get by with
less elaborate equipment - using a hand-held jigsaw instead of a bandsaw, a handplane instead of a
jointer and planer, etc.
Building an Acoustic Steel-String Guitar
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Chapter 1 - Top and Back Plate Gluing
Top plate
The top plate halves are first thicknessed in the thickness sander. I generally thickness them to
between .110" and .115". After the halves are thicknessed, the edges are run over a jointer and/or planed
with a handplane to form a perfect joint. Glue is applied to the joining edge, and the halves are then glued
together. Clamping is accomplished with pairs of wedges and two parallel boards clamped to a Formica
tabletop. The halves are placed together, and the wedges are squeezed together by hand to bring the
halves together. Plastic wrap is placed over the joint, and a caul is clamped lightly over the joint to keep
the faces aligned - this is the middle caul seen in the photo below. The wedge pairs are then tapped
together to tighten the joint. The wedges can exert a huge amount of force, so don't tap them too much
or the joint may become glue-starved. A couple of additional cauls are seen below, to keep the halves
from bowing.
After the halves have been glued together, the top is cut to the shape of the guitar body on the bandsaw.
Back plate
The back plate is fashioned in the same way as the top plate. The only difference is that a binding and
purfling strip is glued between the halves.
When the glue has dried, the back plate is also cut to the profile of the guitar body. However, it is cut
about 1/8" larger all around to allow for the greater arching on the back. The expanded outline can be
drawn by putting a small washer against the body profile template and putting the pencil inside it to trace
the outline.
Building an Acoustic Steel-String Guitar
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