Top business

Gluing the top to the sides is a pretty straightforward business. The kerfing and the sides are notched to accommodate the brace ends. Then it must be ensured everything is lining up. Centerline of the top to the centerline of the heel and end blocks. If the centerline is missed, then the soundhole, for example, will be off. And believe me, human eye is pretty picky when it comes to symmetry... Asymmetry is OK if intended, but it's kind of difficult to explain to your customer (or yourself), why a soundhole of an acoustic should be 10 mm off to the bass side. Trust me. Been there...

Depending on the radius of the top, the sides and blocks must be shaped a bit to make a perfect fit. I do this using my top radius board and a BIG sheet of sand paper. With the rim in the mold, I sand the sides until they fit. Then it takes just some Titebond & gentle clamping power to finish the job.

The whole area is penciled to see when it's completely sanded
Here you see the end block is slanted - the gluing surface is the same in width as that of the kerfing's.

Here you can see one of the notches that take the top braces

The A-frame upper bout bracing fits in to the heel block

This turned out to be not so good method this time. Even thou clamped in the mold, the rim gave in to the clamping pressure and left some parts loose. So some sanding in between and re-gluing took place later.

Comfort point of view

Guitars have long been made exactly the same way. The shapes and sizes are time proven standards. Every now and then somebody has tried to re-think the construction of the guitar, sometimes with great success, sometimes with epic failures. I'm a tradition oriented guy, and try to construct my guitars with the classic shapes in mind. But. During this learning process I've stumbled through since 2008, I've encountered some interesting deviations of the tradition, ones that do little to the overall appearance, but enhance the playability and comfort of the guitar from the player's point of view.

The one's I've tried and liked so far are:
1. Soundport that directs part of the sound from the soundbox toward the players ears. Soundports divide people and real luthiers, but based on my short experience, I'm definitely for them.
2. The Manzer wedge shapes the sides of the guitar so that the treble side is deeper than the bass side, making the guitar sit easier on the lap of the player and slanting the top a bit more towards the player. This eases the probable right hand shoulder problems with bigger bodied guitars.
3. armrest/Ryan style bevel takes the sharp corner off from where the right hand curves over the side to the top. I've done two external armrests, and this is the first time I'm trying the integrated Ryan style bevel (go google for Ryan bevel and Ryan acoustic flutes to get the original idea). Below are a few pics of the "guts" that I think go into it.

I started be laminating scraps of cedar and redwood into a thick enough chunk. Then traced the inline of the side and band sawed to a rough shape

Further shaping was done with belt/disc sander. In finnish the pros call it "jeputtaminen". Something learned from my guitar building friend Miika

The about 45° is the backing surface for the bevel veneer.

Clamp well!

And here we are. The side is trimmed down a bit, and the top gets a little asymmetric. But playing comfort is increased in hours!

Just a little trick to trace down the Manzer Wedge outline. Kerfing is like a flexible ruler. Just don't glue it here!

Under the hood the bevel looks like this

Preparing for the back kerfing.

Proud apprentice peeking through

The subtle wedgines is roughly 15mm