I am building a WCG model guitar for Vaughn F. This guitar model is a full sized guitar based on drawings by William Cumpiano. Vaughn has chosen black walnut for back and sides. The walnut is from a tree removed from a construction site in Emmett, Idaho.
Thinning, cutting and marking the sides for bending.
Bending sides
Both sides in the building mold:
Heel & tail blocks fabricated and ready to be glued to the sides:
Gluing heel and tail blocks:
Installing linings for more glue surface area between sides, top & back:
Side crack stop reinforcement maple strips installed:
Routing heel end graft - Material to match bindings will be installed here.
Both top and back are sanded to accept the domed back and sides. 15' radius for the back and 30' radius for the sound board:
The joint edge of each back half are trued with a jack plane for perfect fit when glued
The back is joined with a Gibson style back strip
Interior back reinforcement installed and cut for back braces
Brace wood for back and top are cut from hand split billets. Thinned to proper thickness
Each brace is then contoured to the radius of the back (15') or the top (30') using a special jig on my jointer:
Braces are glued to the back using fiberglass kite rods to apply pressure
Shaping back braces
Back braces shaped and ready to mate with sides
Glued on with pressure from kite rods
Trimmed and awaiting soundboard
Joining the Western Red Cedar sound board
Marking top for brace location
Carving X braces
Gluing the other braces
Carving braces
Braces carved and top voiced - ready for attachment to sides & back
Soundboard installed
Cutting binding channels
Installing b/w/b purfling for end graft
Gluing bindings, purfling and pau abalone
Bindings purfling & shell scraped and sanded
Glue up of neck & peghead
Neck with truss rod installed
Initial neck set
Ebony fret board slotted for 25.4" scale
Attaching fret board to neck
Neck shaping
Drilling holes for tuners
Inlays arrive from Vietnam
Cavity cut for eagle head and ready for installation