Photo Courtesy of StewMac Making Guitar Linings Source: Guitar Building Articles – The Guitar Sides How to Make Guitar Linings: Although you can purchase guitar lining rather inexpensively, I still prefer to make my own. That way I have complete and total control over the wood that is used, how it is cut and the [...]

Photo Courtesy of LMI Types of Guitar Linings Source: Guitar Building Articles – The Guitar Sides Types of Guitar Lining: First of all let’s clear up the terminology here. Some refer to these as Linings, and some refer to them as Kerfing. Neither is wrong, but I will always refer to them as linings because [...]

Guitar Side Spring Back Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Sides Guitar Side Spring-Back: You will hear me preaching over and over again that we shouldn’t introduce stress into the guitar at any point. This includes the clamping procedures for the top plates, back plates, guitar necks, purfling, binding, braces etc. This means that you have [...]

This article takes you through the different steps in properly shaping and gluing a guitar head block for Classical and Acoustic Guitars.

The Head and Tail Blocks Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Sides Tools and Materials Required: Wood Rasps Sanding Sticks 120 Garnet Sand Paper Feathering Disc Adhesive (2) Large Cee Clamps Wood Clamping Cauls Waxed Paper Dovetail Saw -or- Japanese Pull Saw 1/2″, 3/4″ Chisel After you remove your sides from the Side Bending Jig, place [...]

Ultimate Guitar Side Bender Source: Guitar Building Articles/Guitar Sides Side Bending with The Bending Jig: This is probably the easiest way you will ever bend sides for you handmade guitars. The only drawback with this method is the labor that is involved to make the jig and all the different forms you will be needing. [...]

Bending Sides by Boiling: Bending your guitar sides by placing them in boiling hot water is a method that has been used for many years. When my father and I began guitar building this is the method that we utilized exclusively. If you want to get into guitar building at a minimal cost, this is [...]

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 [...]