Portland Guitar Co.

( 001 ) 31-March-2014

Starting a new guitar I have laid out some of the materials.

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A beautiful set of flamed maple for the body

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And Sitka Spruce for the top.

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I start by sanding the Sitka Spruce pieces to about 150 mils thickness.

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My drum sander gently removes about 5 mil of material on each pass.

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Here I have laid out the top pieces with an outline template.

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To glue the two halves of the top together I use the jointer to create a straight edge on each piece.

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A thin bead of glue is applied to the edge.

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And the two halves get pressed together in this jointing tool. The cross bars keep the pieces flat while the wedges push the pieces together.

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A string of pearls squeeze out, perfect.

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After the glue sets up overnight the joined sheet comes out of the tool.

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The back pieces also get sanded in the drum sander.

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These end up at about 110 mil thick.

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The edges are prepared in the jointer.

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And are joined in the jointing tool.

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A look at the seam.

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And after the glue has set the back plate comes out of the tool.

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Now the sides are reduced to about 100 mils thick in the drum sander.

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To bend the sides into shape I will heat them up with this heating blanket.

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The blanket goes into the bending machine and it heats up.

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First I press the waist into place.

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Then I roll the upper bout into place.

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And then the lower bout.

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I let the sides cook for about an hour at a reduces heat to set the shape.

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A funny shaped piece of wood.

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I put it in the side form until I am ready to apply the kerfing. Both halves of the sides get the same treatment.

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Now I do the same thing to the kerfing. Here I am placing the kerfing in the heating blanket.

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And I use the bending machine to bend them into shape.

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With the side pieces in their forms I draw the outline of the sides on the maple pieces.

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I then use my band saw to trim them to the lines.

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They go back in the forms getting ready to install the kerfing.

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I apply a liberal amount of glue to a piece of the kerfing.

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And then press it into place with a set of clamps.

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Lots and lots of clamps. This process presses the side piece firmly into the shape of the form, and the reverse kerfing will hold it there when we are done.

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Before the glue sets I clean up the squeeze out.

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And I use compressed air to clean the glue out of the kerfs.

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They set up over night.

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And in the morning the sides are quite ridged due to the reverse kerfing.