Penny Guitars

I decided that I wanted to experiment with the classical a bit by using a bolt on neck. I gather from what I have seen and read that classical guitar builders are attempting to transfer vibrations from the neck to the sound box. Anyway, I want to be able to remove the neck later for further experiments.
So here is the classical sound box covered in rubber bands while the glue on the back is drying.

I have trimmed all the waste off the steel string sound box and rubbed it down a little with just a 120 grit for now. I use a limited range of grits for running down and the grit I start with depends on the wood and its state. So I keep a stock of 40, 80, 120, 400 and 1200 grit.
Next thing to do with the SS guitar is to route the edges and fit the holly bindings, I think the white holly separating the back from the sides will look awesome, especially as the rosewood is quite dark.
But, here is what it looks like prior to the bindings.

As soon as the glue has set on the CL guitar I will trim that down and give it a quick rub down. I use a spokeshave to trim but the rosewood is quite tough stuff and takes much more time than the mahogany on my first guitar took.

So the next job will be designing and cutting the headstock for both guitars.

I have to add… Making a guitar is great fun and very exciting, normally when I do stuff the novelty wears off pretty quick but that doesn’t seem to be the case with guitar making. I am already looking forward to making the next two guitars.

I have managed to put the steel string sound box together, the whole process went fine after doing just one dummy run. When doing this kind of thing dummy-runs are very important.These heavy duty rubber bands are an excellent method of holding down the back while it dries. After spending the whole night like this here is the sound box completed.It now requires trimming the front and back to the shape of the sides and then routing around the edges for the binding, I am going to use holly binding again, I think the contrast between the rosewood and holly will really bring this guitar to life. I need to get more work done on the classical guitar next.

A point to bear in mind here is that I do not use a mold to set the shape of the guitar. The shape of this guitar is governed by how accurately I bend the sides, so in effect all the guitars I make are unique when it comes to shape.

As can be seen the sides are bent into shape and the necks are both made but obviously require carving. I have fitted the truss rod into the steel string neck. The classical does not need a neck because the loading from nylon strings will not put any excessive stress on the neck like the steel strings do.

At the moment I am fitting the kerfed linings to the sides and will make the complete sound box for the steel string guitar. The classical needs the head block part of the neck to be made before the sound box can be put together. I will be completing the classical neck before putiing it all together.

I held the shape of the sides by attaching each side to the template while the glue dried. The kerfing is held in place by clothes pegs reinforced with rubber bands.

I am not getting as much done each day as I intended, so if all this appears to be going a bit slow then it is down to me feeling tired.