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How many of you have ventured into archtop carving? Just curious… I kinda want to try it but know how it will probably turn out haha


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Archtops are a lot of fun to make, and because they operate differently than other guitars there's a whole new world of voicing. You can make one, string it up in the white, and then work the recurves to see how things change. Even after the finish is on, you can still tweak the sound with different bridges and tailpieces. I would encourage you to make one.

Here are a couple I made:

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So far in my endeavor to build an arch top I bought 3 top sets of Euro Spruce and Benedetto's book but that's it. Way to daunting for me at this point and I need to have some time to try it too.

I've got the book and since I carved a mandolin a while ago I'm not too worried (just a little - ha), just figure it will be more of the same. But ... that mandolin took me a lot of time and I know an arch top will take a lot more so I just haven't been ambitious enough to jump in yet.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Have no fear. Then again, I don't fear anything, so it is easy for me to say.

I do things backwards, and start from the inside. The arches on the inside are close to an inch away from the outside of the form. You can always move them out, but if the are too far out, you don't get any recurve, the area where it changes from concave to convex. That is the part where it flexes around the edge. I figure that the inside is the arch, the outside is shape of the arch with thickness added. I use an 18" chain from Walmart to check the arches, but a curved plane puts them in automatically. I made a big one, but the curved bottom Lie Neilson is the one I use for shaping. It will barely fit in a violin or viola, and even on the archtop I'm doing now, I needed the big brass finger plane in some spots. On the outside the finger planes are a must.

I use scrapers for all the finish work. You can move them in different angles and smooth up high spots. Hands and fingers help too.

I don't have any sort of work holding like Ken Parker uses. Set it on the bench. Hold it on my lap. He uses gouges, and I just sharpened one up like he does, and it might work. I've never had any luck with them. The problem I always get is that the bench walks across the floor! Or the wood wants to split further than I want it to go. The planes aren't as aggressive. Maybe the different edge profile helps. I would defiantly watch Ken's videos. Archtoppery.

I rough things out from the inside first, and then the outside, and it is thick everywhere. Then I have a better idea of the shape. It is still too thick to have much movement, but from using the planes on the inside, you know where it would be stiffer; tighter arches. The bigger the arch the weaker it is. To increase crossgrain stiffness, you can use tighter curves on the sides with a heavier middle. Then thin the middle down if it is too stiff later.

On the last one, I got the shape I liked on the outside, and did all the thinning on the inside.

I don't ever have a plan; on archtops, or on my cello, and just go with what looks, and feels good. Even on violins I try to find what the maker was doing, and start with that. I used the Montagnana violin system; at least what I think it is; to make the 13" archtop. Basically the tightest arch that you can put in it. The Cello is only 17" wide, but it is almost 30" long, so it fills up a lot more of the bench.

But I'm not normal. EVERYONE does the outside COMPLETE, and then thins it out. So you can do anything that you want.

Like Josh said above, you can string it up in the white, and thin it if it needs it. If you have the arching on the inside correct, you are just changing the stiffness, the aching is still there. You can work on the inflection point, make them all in a nice curve, and stiffness, to make it responsive.

I always say that I will do that, and never do! But they aren't usually real stiff.

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Why be normal?

My last winters guitar project was a 16 inch carved archtop inspired by the original L5's. It was the one style of guitar I hadn't built and I thought it would be a fun challenge. One of the interesting parts of the whole operation was to use Alain Lambert's spectrum analyzer as I did the carving to help me understand what my ears were telling me. I did make a carving cradle for the top.

Got pictures and a build thread at a different forum, can share if anyone is interested











I more or less followed Benedetto's arching and thicknesses for his 17 incher, X bracing rather than parallel. The back is a pressed laminated mahogany plate that I happened to have. Guitar has a loud punchy voice, very different from all the flat tops I've built. After six months its starting to find its voice (and I'm starting to learn to play it).

I have built nothing but for the last ten years. They’ve all been very experimental, but the third one (of a dozen) is my daily driver. Sounds great when practicing at home acoustically and even better plugged in. Later ones I built either were a step too far in my experimenting or basically fancy electric guitars.

It is different construction and the acoustics are much less well understood or documented. There is no Gore book laying out detailed procedures for getting the sound you want. That said, it is a ton of fun a you end up with a very sexy guitar! I absolutely recommend doing one (or a dozen). They’re great.


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My first four guitars were archtops before building a few flat tops. I've now built a dozen archtops including two bass archtops and a tenor ukulele. They are not as daunting to build as one might think in comparison to flat tops, just a bunch more carving! Once you figure out the drilling depths as detailed in Benedetto's book, it goes pretty quickly. I did use a Kutzall disc when carving the 20" wide plates for the bass ones though as the amount of hand carving was getting pretty tedious, especially on the maple. I did dovetail neck joints on the first three and then switched to bolt on necks for a number of reasons.

Very nice with some D'Aquisto influences! I've made a couple of his style of sliding wedge bridges and quite like them. Here's the first one I made that's similar to yours.

You guys are killing it!
Really great looking instruments!
Thanks for sharing.

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Wah

I love the one I made too, just a whole lot of waste that's just dust. I second using the kutzall wheel with a side grinder to make short work when you "hog out" the inside. I got my top from Brad Goodman, thanks Brad.

I was talked into my first about 10 - 12 years ago. I got the Benedetto book and DVD set and it went well. I used a combination of hand carving and power roughing in with routers and die grinders. Messy!!

I have made about 12, probably half laminated which has a lot going for it if you are playing plugged in most of the time which most are. I bought plates from Acme until they shut down and then Steve Holst.

I used a bolt on neck on all. The Cumpiano barrel nuts are great as they self align with the higher neck angle.

I am hooked on them.

Here is a 15” laminated instrument I made for a well known jazz musician in Minneapolis and it’s his main gigging axe.

Go for it!!

05A0D971-84A4-43BA-9750-4AD6EA4A6DAF by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I have built about 50 Archtops.
Here’s one I’m just finishing up now pretty basic but that’s what the customer wanted.



Here’s some I’ve built in the past.






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I’m glad you made that top into a nice guitar. Those were really nice Adirondack red spruce tops.
I just used the one I had from the same batch. I just showed in my post of the unfinished one.


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Some beauties Brad. Love that quilted maple. I made one archtop using it and it was sure chippy and a bear to carve. Worth it though.

Thanks.
Aside from the tremendous time savings( 2 hours start to finish) and wear and tear on my body, my "method" of carving the plates using only the lancelot carver,36 grit on the 4" grinder and festool 6" sander there is no chip-out to contend with.

Makes total sense. I definitely used the Kutzall disc and abrasive discs on aa mini grinder a lot more for the last few I made. Done outside as it's definitely a lot messier than hand planes.