Use of a Hot Bending Iron Source: Guitar Building Articles/Guitar Sides A hot iron used for bending guitar sides is the most traditional and claimed by some luthiers as the best method to bend sides. The wood is heat up and when water is added, it turns to steam and the wood becomes much more [...]

Bending Guitar Sides Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Sides The Art of Bending Guitar Sides This article is intended to act as just an overview of each of (3) methods of bending guitar sides that are available to you. I know that there are additional devices and method that are available an if you are [...]

Fox Side Bending Jig from LMI Source: Tools & Materials The Side Bending Jig is probably one of the best tools to advance efficient guitar building that has come along in quite a few years. If you currently bend your guitar sides over a hot iron, boil the side and clamp them on a form [...]

Guitar Bridge Plate Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Top The guitar bridge plate is a plate or a thin layer of wood, often a bit thicker than the top plate of the guitar. This plate offers additional structural support directly beneath the guitar bridge and give the top additional structural support to help distribute the [...]

5-Minute Epoxy Source: Tools & Materials Believe it or not there are some definite tricks to gluing parts of the guitar correctly. If you get too much glue on your wood guitar parts, it will at a minimum, give you a messy cleanup chore and possibly a poorly glued or structurally insufficient joint. Glue is [...]

Wood Dent Removal Source: Guitar Making Tips It WILL happen. You treated it with care for many hours of your time, just when you least expect it you put a dent in the $160.00 prize Adirondack top that you have had aging in your shop for 2 years. “How could this happen, when I was [...]

Guitar Soundboard with Bracing Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Top Tools and Materials Required: Go Board Gluing Tool Titebond III Glue Fine-Toothed Japanese Pull Saw

Shaping Guitar Braces Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Top Tools & Materials Required: Wood Chisel Set Violin Finger Planes Lie-Nielsen Low Angle Block Plane Flat Sanding Stick Curved Sanding Stick Adhesive Sandpaper 220 Grit There are a couple of different approaches to gluing bracing to the plates of your guitar. Some luthiers’ glue the braces [...]

Gluing The Back Center Strip Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Back The Back Center Reinforcement Strip There are several schools of thought about in what order you glue the back braces and the back reinforcement strip. Tools & Materials Required: Fine Toothed Dovetail Saw X Acto Saw Go Board Tool 2-Part Instrument Epoxy Glue Titebond [...]

Guitar Back with Bracing Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Back Tools and Materials Required: Go Board Gluing Tool Titebond II or III for Domestic Hardwood 2-Part Epoxy for Exotic Hardwoods 1/2″ Chisel for Glue Cleanup Acetone for Epoxy Cleanup Rubber Gloves for Acetone Respirator for Acetone Cotton Cloth The biggest trick in bracing the Back [...]