[louieatienza]

Haven't posted much of all in this forum... I had built mainly electric guitars of Strat and Tele shapes. I had started building acoustic guitars about 6 years ago, but a few personal issues put that on the backburner. Last year I re-started exploring acoustic guitars again, with a little twist. Now I don't make every part on the CNC, but it does come in handy when I have to cut tops and backs. I also use CNC for my proprietary bracing ideas, as well as to slot my fretboards. Here are some examples:

Drednaught style guitar with narrower waist (for better playing comfort) out of Douglas Fir and East Indian Rosewood, with Maple and Walnut bindings, spalted Birch rosette



Parlor sized guitar, Western Red Cedar top, Curly Hard Rock maple carved back and bent sides, Philippine mahogany neck.





Fanned fret (multiscale) 000, Sitka Spruce top with figured Honduras Mahogany back, sides, flamed Maple neck

[bill south]

Very nice Louie! Wish I had the talent to make one of that quality!
Keep up the good work.
Bill

[louieatienza]

Bill, thanks! Have three very satisfied clients. Like anything it takes practice (or more correctly, better hiding mistakes) and the more you build the better...

[lancut]

Simply beautiful work. I can only dream to be able to do this..

[louieatienza]

Simply beautiful work. I can only dream to be able to do this..

Thanks! But no dreaming necessary, just practice!

[rusty999]

Love the bracing !! Is that your own design ? Lovely work !!

I'm new here and only just contemplating my first cnc to do exactly what you have done there. I build mostly acoustics but finding all that sanding and chiselling gets harder as you get older so looking for some easier ways to do it now
Regards
Rusty

[Kosh]

Very nice Louie!

What is your finish? Lacquer? If so, which brand?

Here is my blog site: AHS Band Boosters Guitar Raffle

Drop me a mail or something, I just got my CNC going for the same purpose, making parts for acoustics (necks, inlays, headblocks, bracing, jigs).

[louieatienza]

Very nice Louie!

What is your finish? Lacquer? If so, which brand?

Here is my blog site: AHS Band Boosters Guitar Raffle

Drop me a mail or something, I just got my CNC going for the same purpose, making parts for acoustics (necks, inlays, headblocks, bracing, jigs).

Nice work! I use a 2-part automotive urethane, ACME Finish1 from Sherwin-Williams. Need good prep work but after that it's two light coats and done. I don't even use polish, I work my way to 5000 grit 3M Trizact pad.

[CAMAUTO]

Awesome work, thanks for sharing!

I love the 5th picture down..........is that wood inlay around the sound hole??.......love the look of that.

Cheers

[louieatienza]

Awesome work, thanks for sharing!

I love the 5th picture down..........is that wood inlay around the sound hole??.......love the look of that.

Cheers

Thanks. It is actually rabbeted into the soundhole, or in other words, the soundhole has a ledge that the wood inlay sets into, and the wood inlay has a corresponding ledge. I then add purfling and binding. It serves a functional purpose as well, stiffening that area in conjunction with the small finger braces underneath. I believe strongly that any deformation or vibration at the soundhole is an energy leak, and hope that this directs vibrational energy back toward the larger soundboard area where it would help produce sound.

[Kosh]

Thanks. It is actually rabbeted into the soundhole, or in other words, the soundhole has a ledge that the wood inlay sets into, and the wood inlay has a corresponding ledge. I then add purfling and binding. It serves a functional purpose as well, stiffening that area in conjunction with the small finger braces underneath. I believe strongly that any deformation or vibration at the soundhole is an energy leak, and hope that this directs vibrational energy back toward the larger soundboard area where it would help produce sound.

I just posted a video of a proof of concept based on what I think Louie is describing. Turned out pretty well, so I'll be trying it on the two that I have in progress (almost ready to make the soundboards) :

https://youtu.be/rtOwYWi6ZoU

[louieatienza]

[QUOTE=Kosh;1846382]I just posted a video of a proof of concept based on what I think Louie is describing. Turned out pretty well, so I'll be trying it on the two that I have in progres... [QUOTE]

Close... though I start with a solid ring of wood, and rabbet the bottom of the outer edge, so that it sits in a rabbet on the ledge of the soundhole, like a circular ship-lap... I have a build thread on the Acoustic Guitar Forum, but I've been in the process of emptying my house and moving so haven't worked on guitars in about a year...

[fretman_2]

Beautiful builds!

[Larken]

wow. thats craftmenship !
How do you make the thin maple top and bottom ? How do you keep it a consistant thickness for wood that thin ?

[louieatienza]

wow. thats craftmenship !
How do you make the thin maple top and bottom ? How do you keep it a consistant thickness for wood that thin ?

The tops are all softwoods - spruce, fir... I also use western red cedar and sometime mahogany. The tops are not surfaced on a CNC, rather I rough resaw them on a table saw I modified to accept 12" blades and cut 8" wide boards in 2 passes. I then made a special platen for my 13" surface planer to clean the saw marks. They are then bookmatched, and profiled on the CNC. I do some thinning of the tops along the perimeter as part of my tuning process, along with the bracing.

For the back of the arched back guitar, the plate is actually thicker near the center, gets thinner near the perimeter, and then slightly thicker at the edge. This allows the back to move similar to a bass speaker cone, to produce a good low-end for such a small sized guitar.

[louieatienza]

Kosh,

Here's how I do my rosettes:

First I start by cutting my rabbet or ledge in the soundhole, using a jig I developed for my Dremel (and soon my trim router, because the Dremel's base frankly sucks:
Attachment 312626
Attachment 312628

I use the same jig to make my "insert", which has a corresponding ledge underneath:
Attachment 312630

After I glue this piece into the sound board, I use the router jig to cut a channel for the purfling:
Attachment 312632

Finally I glue the purfling in with CA, then scrape and sand flush.
Attachment 312634
Attachment 312636

Here you can see the "rim" from the back of the soundboard. This allows the hardwood (in this case mahogany) to protect the softer spruce and also add a different look. I also saturate the mahogany with CA to further stiffen it.

[aarggh]

That's a pretty fair effort getting that kind of accuracy from a Dremel!

If you ever find you need something with a bit more grunt, less runout and designed for a longer workload, the Proxxon units are just superb.

cheers, Ian

[Kosh]

Kosh,

Here's how I do my rosettes:

Ah, cool. Very similar to how I've been doing it. Except that I have a Bishop Cochrane router base for my dremel.

It does work well, but takes a bit of fidgeting with the tune the diameter just right, and not always consistent on the channel depth. I suppose you could achieve that with a template setup jig, but now that I've done it with the CNC, that's gotta be the way!

I like your soundhole "binding" like that, will have to give it a go too.

[fretman_2]

Beautiful work Louie!!!

[louieatienza]

Beautiful work Louie!!!

Thanks!