Need help with quater saw cut

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com asks:

to cut it down the center (quarter saw ?) so that I have two pieces that are 1.25 inches thick. I will then hollow out the sides and glue them back together.

I have asked three local shops for assistance but none have been able to help since they would need a bandsaw with a 14" throat(?). Is it unreleastic to try to find a bandsaw this big ? Perhaps I should just route out one side of the block, and glue a back on to it.

The word you want is resaw.

Cutting height. Throat is the horizontal distance from the blade to the support that holds up the top.

brian

This is called resawing, if the grain is perpendicular to the cut as I think it will be for a guitar back, it will also be quarter sawing.

It can be done with a hand tool called a resaw. Resaws are typically frame saws. A small one is illustrated here:

If you can make a guitar, making the frame saw will be a piece of cake. BTW, do not use curly maple for the frame, DAMHIK.

There is also a newsgroup devoted to lutherie in the rec.music or rec.crafts hierarchy.

If this is your first guitar, maybe building something like a Strat copy would be a good way to get experience. The problem with making it hollow, and then gluing it together, is that your electronics will then be impossible to repair without cutting the guitar back into two pieces. Also, a hollow chamber of enough size to work in, will do dramatic (bad) things to your sustain...unless you're going for the semi-accoustic sound.

Also, if I understand what you're saying, you need to "resaw" this with a 14" height, Does that mean the finished guitar is 28" wide? I'm not clear on which dimension you're cutting here.

Dave Hinz

Thanks all.

No, the guitar will be 14" or less wide. My plan was to split the block (as you would open a book in the middle) and hollow it out then glue the sides back together. But I am hearing that this may not be such a good idea.

This is the second guitar I am building, and it has some odd options (headless - no headstock, and the neck is fanned fret). I was going for a chambered semi-hollow sound. I will re-think this body idea.

I use a chainsaw for doing cutting of trees into slabs, then plane them to the thickness I need.

You might ask the guys at rec.music.makers.builders. There are some very experienced guitar guys there. They will likely have some good suggestions for you but could also recommend a re-saw service if you need one.

Mike O.

Well - not quite Dave. Chambered guitars exist and they have great sustain. Not semi-accoustic either. Raw electric. I know - I have just such a thing.

Guitar tops and bodies are usually bookmatched, which means there's a seam down the middle and the halves are essentially mirrored. In other words, you resaw your piece, and then open it up like a book.

So it sounds like what you would want to do cut your piece in half to have two 7" wide pieces, then resaw those pieces to 1.25" thick, and glue up bookmatched halves for the top and bottom.

Jon

Almost - but not quite. Guitar tops are usually bookmatched (if a fancy grade of top is desired), but those tops are typically only 1/2" thick and go over a body that is somewhere around an inch thick and is one solid piece, not bookmatched.

, a hollow chamber of enough size to work in, will do

Mikes right if done correctly will improve sustain here's a site with a pic of one such body

you could make the guitar with bookmatched top, chambered middle( width could be glued up) and bookmatched back

I would bet there is SOME woodworker in his area that have a Bandsaw that will do 14+ inch resaw. However, how to find them is the problem. Posting in the MiniMax Yahoo group or the Laguna group would probably turn up some owners - most of whom would be easily convinced to do this for a small fee or gratuity

John

Right. Decide if you want cover plates on the front, or on the back. I like 'em on the back, so you can have the pretty wood on the front. The back _will_ get scratched up, so might as well have a hatch under the pickups and under the controls.

Take a look at how Rickenbacker does the semi-hollow bass body. Loverly sound, but more work than I'd take on for a second guitar. Maybe make this one a nice fiddleback maple solid body and get more experience? But either way, have fun with it.

Interesting. Who built it? I'd like to read up on it.

Dave