Making the Bridge

My bridge is always ebony.  I am currently using ebony from a board I bought from Craft Supplies in Derbyshire.  Goodness knows how long ago Craft Supplies ceased trading, but however long that is, I’ve had this ebony longer.  It is beautiful; straight grained, very black (although I personally don’t mind some lighter figure), and even and creamy to work.

Because the bridge is to be fitted to a curved soundboard, it must be curved to fit.  As the soundboard curve can vary slightly from guitar to guitar, the bottom of the bridge has been shaped to fit this MS soundboard.

Only the outer two holes go right through the bridge; these are used to locate the bridge when gluing.  The middle four are blind so that  they don’t fill with glue during gluing.

Fitting the neck

Now I’m getting to the stage where it all starts looking like a guitar.  I’ve built up the neck and head, shaped the heel (and stamped serial numbers on the inside) so it’s ready to fit.

First I have to cut the body to give access to the neck.  Below the body is ready to receive the neck, the neck ready to go into it, and the wedges I drive in to hold it very securely in place are lying alongside.  The red strap will be tightened to hold the neck in place while I apply glue to the whole assembly and drive in the wedges.

Routing for binding and trim

Binding is a complex operation.  I use a StewMac routing system, whereby the guitar body is fixed to a carriage which allows me to move it around against a stationary router.  This can move up and down to allow for the rise and fall caused by the curved back and front.  Photos right show the stepped ledges for the binding and trim of both back and front.  The different depth ledges are achieved by fitting different size bearings the body is pushed against.

Fitting tail trim

The sides are joined to the tailblock leaving a space for the trim.  While routing, this space is occupied by a piece of scrap wood of the correct width. Photos right show the sequence.

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Binding

With the tail trim in place, I can bind back and front, photos above show the result.  This after several more operations.

When first fitted, the binding needs trimming level with back and sides, and at the same time I scrape off the shellac lacquer.  Then the binding must be sealed to ensure all gaps, however invisible, are filled, and then scraped back again.

The trim on this guitar is not my standard MS trim, but is black Rocklite binding with arrow-head and red pinstripe top trim and my favourite red/gold/green purfling around back and sides.

Finally back, front and sides are sanded smooth.  The body is now ready for its neck.

Joining back, sides and soundboard

Now the back and soundboard are ready, it’s time to join them to the sides.  First I scribe and shape the sides to accept the curve of the back, then the previously shaped one piece spruce lining is glued in place and sanded smooth.  I cut notches  cut in the lined sides to accept the braces, and glue the back on.

Then I shape the sides  to accept the top, fit the top lining and apply a light coat of lacquer to the inside of the body. Then I fit the soundboard.

The last process before binding is to apply a coat of shellac lacquer to the back and sides.  This serves two functions; it prevents grain being pulled from the rosewood when the binding tape is removed, and also fills the grain to some extent.

Preparing lining and bending sides

Shown right is my old Fox bender, still heated by filament light bulbs instead of the electric blankets more commonly used these days.

I don’t often use the Fox bender for sides these days, I get better results hand bending (on an electrically heated bending iron), then fitting them in the mould and putting this on the stove overnight, as shown below. But because the mould was in use, on this occasion I used the Fox for the linings (mine are solid spruce) though these were also finished on the stove.

When hand bending sides, I prefer to damp the wood first, but Brazilian rosewood varies so much this isn’t always sufficient. I had to soak these sides overnight before I could bend them on the heated hand bender.

Linings are so thick they require several days soaking before being bent to shape.

After hand bending, wetting the sides and leaving them in gentle overnight heat fixes the shape

When I’m happy the sides are perfectly shaped, I trim neck and heel joins and glue them onto blocks (shown right); laminated spruce for the tail block, solid mahogany for the heel block. At the tail I leave a space for the centre inlay of black and colours to fit into after routing the binding grooves.

Now the sides are ready to be scribed to the curve of the back and have the back linings fitted.

Very early days

Now the 12 fret New World is with Dave Wilson, I am starting a Martin Simpson model.  I like to build one guitar at a time, this way I can concentrate on it without being distracted.

Having joined and thicknessed the back, sides and soundboard, I’m ready to start.  Here the spruce cross-grain centre back reinforcement strip is in place and gluing in the go-bar jig.

The Brazilian rosewood is recycled, having been used in early forest settlement houses for various furniture items.  It’s lovely but has some ancient worm holes.  I’ve filled these, and they blend in with the overall grain figuring; they add character and I personally love that this is recycled wood.

The trim on this guitar is not standard MS.  Instead of the MS red/white/red purfling, I’ve used my much loved red/gold/green.  The binding will be standard MS black Rocklite.

The position of the back braces is marked in white.  The centre reinforcement will be scribed and cut away to receive them.

Fretting and making the bridge

The last work before handing over to Dave is first fretting the fingerboard and then making the bridge.

Fretwire has undergone changes in the time I’ve been building. When I started, nearly 50 years ago now, nickel silver fretwire was considered the best available; I used it for several decades without giving it much thought.

I’ve learnt since it doesn’t actually contain any silver but is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, and these can be combined in different proportions, so giving the metal different qualities.

In the early 2000s it became clear the Jim Dunlop nickel silver fretwire I’d been using for years wasn’t as hard as it had been. Not only were instruments needing re-fretting much sooner, but also leveling and re-profiling frets was noticeably easier and quicker; other makers were making the same complaint. But when Dunlop was approached and asked would they go back to the earlier nickel silver, they said there had been no change; it was the same now as it always had been. Clearly not the case.

Stainless steel frets have been discussed and used by some makers for many years, and while they are very hard had the reputation of being difficult to fit to a cambered fingerboard.  I was on the point of trying them when another option appeared. Jescar Gold fretwire (it has a very faint gold tint) is as hard as stainless steel but easier to bend to the fingerboard camber.

Since then I’ve used it exclusively, on both mandolin family instruments and guitars. I can’t say exactly how long this is, but it’s several years, and in this time I’ve had none back for re-fret and seen no dinted frets even on well played instruments.