Acoustic guitar do-it-yourself drawings. Acoustic guitar with your own hands. The right way to learn guitar

Serial production of guitars began in our country in the middle of the twentieth century. First by making these popular musical instruments semi-handicraft artels were engaged (in Shikhovo, Moscow region and in Leningrad). Then Lvov and Chernihiv factories opened in Ukraine. Their production capacities were very small, and the technologies used were practically the same as modern ones.

Since the 60s, the production of guitars began to develop at a rapid pace, which was associated with the growing popularity of these musical instruments among consumers. To organize mass production, special equipment was developed. True, in order to optimize the process and reduce the cost of the finished product, unnecessary details, decorations and quality had to be sacrificed: even guitar necks were made from bent plywood.

Guitars were made in Izhevsk, Ivanovo, Sverdlovsk, Vladikavkaz, Borisov, Kuibyshev and other cities at guitar and piano factories. Nowadays most of these companies no longer exist. The remaining factories are far from being in the best condition (Borisov, Arfa, Etude-Ural, Vladikavkaz). Their products are not of high quality and variety of assortment, and the technologies used have practically not changed over several decades.

The only domestic manufacturer that was able to start mass production of guitars of European appearance and competitive quality (and the corresponding price category) is the Renome factory, which appeared in 1996 in Lviv. A small factory "Lada" from St. Petersburg also belongs to the new manufacturers. She produces guitars with a plastic body. The Moscow firm "Muzdetal" has chosen its niche in the market and assembles guitars from parts produced at various factories. There are also individual craftsmen who are almost manually engaged in the manufacture of guitars to order.

Materials for making guitars

The sound a guitar makes is largely determined by the type of wood it is made from. The neck of the instrument is usually made of maple, and its fretboard is also made of maple, rosewood or ebony. For the production of the body (deck) of the guitar, it is used a large number of types of wood. The difference is expressed not only in price, but also in a different sound. The most popular guitar body material is alder. Spruce is used most often for the production of semi-acoustic electric guitars. This material provides a smooth sound, but it also costs much more than alder.

The most sonorous guitars are considered to be instruments whose bodies are made of maple or ash. Walnut wood is used to make high-quality expensive acoustic guitars. However, in the production of electric guitars, walnut is used only for the production of fretboards and for veneered bodies. Poplar guitars are not of high sound quality and are used, in most cases, to learn how to play these musical instruments. Mahogany provides the most best sound bottoms and is used to produce guitar bodies for "heavy" styles.

In addition to these types of materials, exotic tree species are used for the production of musical instruments (for example, paduac, koa, bubinga, etc.). To protect the instrument from environment and mechanical impact, a pure polyurethane two-component industrial varnish is used. It has good covering ability and strength properties. In addition, it does not affect the sound of the instrument. True, this applies to semi-handicraft production. And with in-line production, the thickness of the varnish can reach up to one and a half millimeters (with optimal thickness 1.5-2 tenths of a millimeter), which "fetters" the sound.

Components of a guitar

An acoustic guitar consists of the following components: body (top and bottom decks, sides, nut and heel), neck, fingerboard, frets, stand, peg mechanism, etc. The neck body of expensive guitars is usually made of maple radial cut. Such blanks are distinguished by higher sound qualities and more long term operation compared to tangential sawing, which is used in mass production. The latter is cheaper than radial sawing.

In factories, the neck body is made of several parts, which increases its rigidity and leads to a deterioration in sound quality. Craftsmen who produce guitars in a semi-artisanal way make the neck body from a single piece of wood. The pen (heads) in budget factory guitars are glued with oblique gluing in the third fret area. Experts believe that although this method is more cost-effective in mass production, it has its drawbacks: from this point of view, the sound of notes deteriorates and the reliability of the instrument decreases.

An anchor is used to maintain optimal neck deflection. IN classic version the anchor is a rod made of elastic steel. In most cases, overlays are made of expensive woods - ebony or hornbeam. Lim and wenge are used for budget line instruments. As a rule, frets for factory guitars are brought from Belarus. Minsk frets are characterized by good wear resistance and high profile quality.

Earlier guitars Russian production were made with a lifting bar on the screw. This design is still used in budget models with metal strings. For domestic musical instruments, brass or bronze strings of medium tension with a twisted third string are used. The disadvantage of copper, brass, and silver-plated strings is that over time, if the guitar is not played, they can darken. Thin strings with windings quickly break on the fret and stall. In all these cases, the strings will need to be changed afterwards.

Production of electric guitars

Let's take a closer look at the process of semi-automated production of electric guitars in a factory. First of all, blanks are cut out of wood. They are given the desired thickness. As a rule, it is from 5 to 10 cm. Then the blanks are marked and sent to the drying chamber. This stage is very important, as raw wood deforms when it dries. IN drying chamber the blanks are kept until the moisture content of the wood drops to 6%. This takes a lot of time. Drying can take several months (but on average, two).

When the tree is completely dry, the blanks are glued together. For this, glue is used water based, which again impregnates the wood with moisture. Therefore, the glued blanks are again sent to the drying chamber, where they remain for another two months. After being removed from the drying chamber, the workpieces are fixed on a gripping device. An automated punching machine, using alternately eight different nozzles, gradually cuts out the shape of the body from the workpiece.

Electro-acoustic models have voids in the body, so their production takes more time. Then the surface of the case is carefully sanded by hand, and the edge of the case is cut at an angle of 45 degrees with a steel blade. After this procedure, the surface of the case is again processed with a grinder. Then inserted into the wood metal mounts, into which the bolts connecting the body and neck will be screwed.

To make the neck, a block of mahogany or hard maple is cut into two pieces using a diamond drill. On one side of the neck, which will be the front, a thin sheet of maple plywood is glued (its thickness is only 1.27 mm). Then this part of the neck is turned over and glued to the second half.

Thus, the direction of the wood fibers is changed, resulting in a strengthening of the structure of the fretboard, which allows it to hold the stretched strings. Maple plywood, which is glued to the joint, not only masks, but also strengthens it, increasing the life of the guitar. The glued components are clamped in a vise for three hours until the glue is completely dry. An automated punching machine carves out the shape of the neck and the groove along it. A steel anchor is then placed in this recess. Anchor is needed in order to straighten the neck, which bends under high string tension.

The next step out of black, rosewood, maple or rosewood, the fretboard is machined. It is glued over the anchor. The whole structure is placed in a vacuum press, which draws out the air, turning all the components of the neck into a single whole. After the glue has dried, the neck is again placed in an automated cutting machine with 22 nozzles, with which the final shape is cut.

Then 22 incisor saw machine simultaneously cuts grooves for 22 frets – metal sills on the fretboard. The back side of the neck is processed on a grinding tape machine. Then the frets cut into the neck. They are made from nickel and lead. At the bottom of each there are cloves with which they are fixed in the wood. At the end of this production step, the neck edges are finished on grinding machine, the ends of the nut are cut off in the same place and the edges of the fretboard are rounded off. Using a screen printer, the manufacturer's logo is applied to the case. Paint under the influence of ultraviolet dries in a matter of seconds.

First, the body is covered with a special compound - a sealant that closes the pores. This reduces costs paintwork materials and extends the life of the coating. And then 22 layers of stain and varnish are applied to the body, which protect the wood and give finished product attractive appearance. After one and a half months of being in the drying chamber, painting and varnishing, the body is processed on a wet sandblasting machine. It is polished to a mirror finish and rubbed with paraffin.

Each nut on the neck is painted with a marker and rubbed with finely grained sandpaper. On protruding irregularities, the paint is erased, and the protrusions themselves are immediately smoothed out. But since sawing smoothes, among other things, the edges of the sills, they are then also rounded off with a special file. At the next stage, the sills are processed with even finer-grained sandpaper to remove traces of file processing. Finally, the fretboard is moistened with oil. On the one hand, oil creates flat surface and provides an attractive appearance to the wood, and on the other hand, it protects the material from cracking when it dries.

To straighten the neck, the truss rod is twisted with a hex key. The deflection of the neck is measured with a special device. When the needle reaches zero, the bar straightens out. Six tuning keys are then placed on the neck, one for each string. Depending on the model, the keys are covered with gold, nickel or black paint. Using a digital meter, the height of the nut and nut is measured from thin plastic plates with six string grooves. The neck is then attached to the body of the guitar.

In the production of electric guitars, the next stage of production is to install electronic components in the body. This process begins with welding the control knobs for adjusting the volume and tone to the pickup selector. In guitars of some manufacturers, one pickup is installed above the saddle. It has a magnet and a coil for each string. P

On the template, holes are drilled in the body of the guitar to install the nut. It is fastened with screws, a pickup is installed above it, and then a body and neck pickup. Then a tremolo is attached to the body - a lever mechanism with a set of steel springs that temporarily loosen the strings. After that, volume and tone adjustment knobs are installed in the case. Then the pickup selector and the connector for connecting the cable to the amplifier are screwed on.

To check the build quality, each pickup is tapped, and finally, strings are pulled onto the guitar: steel strings are fixed on the rear nut, pulled through the front nut and screwed onto the keys using a drill with a special nozzle. The finished guitar is sent to a fully soundproofed room for testing. There it is tuned using a digital tuner and a test run is arranged. Finally, a guitar that meets the specified standards is packaged and transferred to the warehouse.

Production of acoustic guitars

The production process of acoustic guitars looks somewhat different. With the help of a press weighing 30 tons, which cuts out the shape according to the template, the components of the body of the future guitar are made. After that, a resonator is cut out in the deck. Its dimensions may vary, since the sound quality of the instrument depends on them: larger diameter holes, the stronger the upper notes, the smaller - the stronger the bass.

A wooden socket can be decorated, depending on the model, with inlaid or (in a budget version) paper stickers. Then the sides of the body - shells are made. To do this, long thin strips of wood are immersed in boiling water for about 15 seconds, and then they are placed on a heated press to make a bend. The press heats the wood from below and from above for one minute.

Both sides are connected with mahogany or poplar slats. One is glued on the bottom side, the other - on the top. Then craftsmen glue and assemble wooden frame, with which the shells are attached to the upper and lower decks. Notches give them elasticity in bending. manual machine carefully make notches on the frame, to which four wooden brackets are then attached, securing the lower soundboard of the guitar.

Correct location The brace allows the top of the guitar to support string tension and equalizes the frequency of the sound by controlling vibration differently at different points. After the vacuum press fixes the staples in certain places, the upper and lower decks are glued. The assembled body of the guitar is sent to the press, and then to a long drying. To protect the edges of the guitar, plastic tape is glued to them. The body is polished and transferred to the machine with a special sensor that determines the exact angle at which the neck and body of the guitar will later be connected. The angle is of great importance as it affects the quality of the sound. The machine drills holes and carefully polishes the parts.

Then they are varnished in 4-8 layers, depending on the finish. On the fretboard, which is made of other types of wood (for example, ebony or rosewood), metal frets are fixed. In the fretboard, as in the production of electric guitars, a recess is made for a metal rod - an anchor. The fingerboard is glued to the neck and placed in a vacuum press. After the glue dries, pegs are installed on it, on which the strings are subsequently wound. The anchor is inserted into the hole on the body along with the neck. The neck is then bolted on and clamped until the glue dries. The headstock, which is located at the upper end of the neck, is made from a single piece of wood and covered with a thin plate (usually rosewood). Two are sawn in it longitudinal holes, each of which is crossed by three pegs with a screw mechanism.

At the next stage, the stand is glued, fixing it with temporary bolts and a clamp. The plastic nut that holds the strings is glued to the neck. After that, a saddle and pegs are attached, which fix the strings on the stand, and the strings themselves are stretched using a special device. It takes about three weeks to make one guitar. This is how long it takes for the glue to dry completely. Experts say that the older the guitar, the better it sounds.

Of course, each musician has his own characteristics and preferences. They relate to the width of the neck, the material from which the instrument is made, its processing, the diameter of the resonator, etc. Since it is impossible to take into account all these wishes in the factory production format and expand the lineup by changing the individual characteristics of the instrument, many domestic and foreign manufacturers prefer to open small workshops in which guitars are made almost by hand using necessary equipment and tools. These guitars are much more expensive than factory models.

At least 400 thousand rubles will be spent on the purchase of equipment necessary for organizing the production of guitars. The biggest difficulty is finding masters. It is rather difficult to find people who are well acquainted with all the nuances of making musical instruments such as guitars. And it will take a lot of time and money to train newcomers. The payback period for the production of acoustic guitars is from two years.

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If you have been playing electric guitar for a long time and want a good new tool but can't afford it, then you must have wondered " how to make a guitar with your own hands at home?".

Here is what you will need: material (wood), organic glue (bone, hide or fish) or quality carpentry, pickups, batteries (if there are elements that require power), nut, volume controls (and others - at your discretion), graphite spray , paint, varnish.

The wood must be dry and free from defects such as cracks and knots.. You can order on the Internet specifically for the guitar deck and neck, or you can do without budget option: disassemble unnecessary furniture made of strong, dried wood.

The type of wood will affect both acoustic and mechanical properties tool.

Making a neck at home is quite difficult ...

The neck is quite difficult to make, therefore it is better to order a ready-made or find a used / broken guitar.

How to choose an acoustic guitar for beginners

Also to you need a manual cutter with a set of cutters, sheets of different sandpaper, a plastic (acrylic or wooden) deck template.

You can choose the shape and dimensions of the deck yourself and make a drawing in a special program, then take it to a company that produces advertising boxes from acrylic. You can take drawings from a finished electric guitar or find it on the Internet.

Guitar Pretreatment...

The first step is to process the material. If you have ordered a new beam, you can immediately start processing and gluing the deck.

If you are making from used material, then you must first remove the varnish / paint. If you have several thin boards, then they must be glued, put on clamps and wait two to three days until the glue dries.

Glued blanks must be planed with a planer to make a good, uniform glue line. On the resulting plate, you need to fix the template and cut out the deck blank on it.

This can be done using a pattern router or with a stock saw, followed by milling. The rounding of the edges of the deck is already done manually using sandpaper or using a special cutter.

What strings are best for acoustic guitar

Also on the deck you need to cut cavities for electronics. First you need to outline the exact location of the parts, then carefully cut everything out. Cavities also need to be processed sandpaper to keep them even.

Making a guitar neck...

When the deck is ready, you can start making the neck. The manufacture of the neck is practically the same as the manufacture of the soundboard, the difficulty is only to install an anchor in it.

For this in the neck you need to do longitudinal groove under the anchor, install it, and glue the fretboard on top. On the fretboard, you need to make marks for setting the frets, then carefully make cuts with a thin cloth.

Frets are hammered into the neck slowly, carefully, at the same depth on all sides and fixed with quick-drying glue.

Once the frets are set, they need to be sanded down.. They need to be at the same height so that the guitar doesn't "get along". You can check this by placing a long metal ruler on the frets along the fretboard.

Painting the guitar...

The next step is painting. Before painting, the guitar must be perfectly flat and dry, without cracks or scratches, sanded and polished with fine sandpaper.

Guitar tuning - all ways to tune a guitar

It is better to paint with a spray gun(spray gun). It is necessary to apply several layers of paint, drying thoroughly after each so that bubbles do not form. After painting, you need to varnish.

Please note that if the guitar white color, then the varnish must be completely transparent. The varnish is applied gradually in several even layers, or in one relatively thick layer. After drying, the varnish can be sanded and polished to a glassy sheen.

Now you just have to install the electronics correctly, put the tuning pegs, string holder, nut and strings. It is important to remember that the varnish dries very slowly and the guitar should not be touched for some time before installing the electronics.

This completes the creation of the electric guitar, and you can enjoy your new instrument!

A brief popular overview of classical guitar construction with elements of technology.

Article from the "How it's done" series. Especially for guitarists and those who don't know yet.

Instead of a short introduction

concert guitar- this is a full scale guitar (650mm scale, and now there is a tendency to increase the scale up to 660mm), made entirely of solid wood without any imitations. If the overlay is black, then it is ebony. That is, a concert guitar is not only the size of a guitar, but also the quality and class of components, and a regulated scheme for assembling them. And all this for the sake of the appropriate sound in the concert hall.

Depending on the wizard, the assembly order, shape, color scheme can vary considerably. There are no hard and fast rules in guitar making. The shape of the head, body, stand, type of edging, type of other decorations, varnish, color - all this can be chosen by the guitar master, combined in his own way. Of course, there are some limits, but in general everything is quite liberal.

Array Guitar Made entirely from solid wood. To put it very roughly, but for sure, the guitar is made of thin plates wood, thickness about 2.5mm.

Wood harvesting. One way or another, the tree is harvested first. Today, the guitar luthier does not have to participate in the whole cycle of the preparation himself. There are special enterprises that find wood, saw it correctly in a guitar style, dry it in a natural way, i.e. without any heating and steam treatment. The material is aged for several years, after which it goes on sale sawn in a special way.

What do they look like blanks for guitar, i.e. what kind of sticks do they have that will become a guitar after some time?

Guitar deck- these are two identical halves, not only identity is implied overall dimensions, but also the pattern of the layers, the grain of the wood. .

The photo shows two halves of the deck blank. In this form, they are sold at procurement enterprises.

To make the workpieces the same, when sawing they are cut off one after another from the workpiece bigger size. Also, with such sawing, the uniformity of the soundboard is naturally observed. physical characteristics. After all, even if you pick up visually identical halves of the deck cut from different blanks, they will not be the same in terms of internal physical properties close, but not the same. Yes, and why do this if you can combine the halves of the decks by folding the sawn-off blanks one after the other.

Typical deck material is spruce and cedar various types. There are other breeds, but they are not so common.

Of course, some craftsmen saw their own blanks. Buying unsawn material is cheaper, but this is not the only reason and the subject of a separate discussion. Each master chooses the material himself.

The halves of the deck or bottom are glued together, the excess is cut off and displayed on required thickness. Glued to the deck acoustic system. One of the most successful systems is the "fan" system, consisting of several thin springs - radial sticks of spruce or cedar.

The springs converge to the outlet forming a kind of fan.

The acoustic system is necessary to evenly distribute the load and vibrations on the deck, transmitted by the strings.

Other deck speaker designs

Thanks to the Internet, you can find a lot of the most diverse and even bizarre acoustic systems for guitar deck.

Already a common option has become a system in the form of a lattice. The material of the grille springs is as light as possible, but a carbon fabric ribbon is glued on top of them, which makes them quite rigid.

Or here's an option.

Double deck construction with Nomex

Today everyone has already heard about double decks, a topic on the forum. The bottom line is that the soundboard is formed from three layers, two thin outer layers of ordinary material for the deck and an inner layer of a special honeycomb structure called Nomex, Nomex. The deck is strong and very light.

Guitar rosette and edges

The rosette of the guitar is made of multi-colored veneer, cut and glued in a special way. The bottom line is that a package is formed from veneer in such a way that at the end it has a pattern, an ornamental element. The package is cut like a sausage and the whole ornament is already formed from these elements.

Self external edging, i.e. the strip of wood that runs along the corner of the guitar is made from solid wood. The edges perform both a decorative function and cover the ends of the deck and bottom from harmful effects, such as moisture, and serve as additional components in the strength of the hull. Of course, the edges are also elements of the decoration of the guitar and are often complicated. different kind stripes of ornaments. The color contrast with the soundboard or body of the guitar is used.

The bottom of the guitar or the lower soundboard is made in the same way as the upper soundboard from two identical halves glued along the axis of symmetry. WITH inside this seam is glued with a strip of wood for strength.

Across the bottom, as well as on the deck, rips are glued, necessary to give the body of the guitar sufficient strength. Rips are stronger than springs and are also made of spruce.

There are also plenty of rip designs. For example: grooves are made in the rip like arches. Rips are different in size, their number also varies.

guitar sides are also symmetrical halves. The material of the bottom and shells, as a rule, is the same. This rule must be observed unquestioningly for professional guitars. Moreover, the texture of the material of the shells and the bottom should also match, not only the name. Appearance of the same type of wood decently differs from workpiece to workpiece, both in saturation from light to dark, and in the color and texture itself.

How do shells bend? Wood tends to bend when heated with a certain amount of moisture, and if the shape is fixed, cooled and dried, then the wood will retain this shape. The material is soaked, heated and bent to the shape of the guitar, then cooled and dried.

When talking about the material of manufacture of a classical guitar, it means the material of manufacture of the bottom and sides, since the soundboard is mainly made of spruce or cedar. If you hear that the guitar is rosewood, then its body is made of rosewood, but not the soundboard.

Vulture consists of several parts. In the classic version, it is customary to glue the headstock separately, rather than cut a club-like shape from a single piece. The heel is also glued separately. The very body of the neck, where it rests thumb, is called the neck of the neck.

The function of the fingerboard is not only to hold the strings, but also to be a convenient intermediary for a person. In order to make it convenient to play on the neck of your guitar, in addition to an ergonomic shape, it is also necessary to have normal string heights above the fretboard, or rather above the tops of the frets. String heights can vary, depending on string tension and the guitarist's picking technique.

The neck itself should have some, if not noticeable, deflection. A flat neck is also allowed, but a bent neck allows you to lower the strings a little lower and not crackle on the bass in the first positions.

A brief diagram of the manufacture of the neck. A blank is taken, the future neck is sawn in half lengthwise. One side is turned over and the halves are glued together through the vein. The role of the vein is both decorative and providing strength.

Subject to certain angles (15 degrees), the future head is glued.

A rosewood or ebony board is glued to the top of the head, often also from the bottom, in order to hide the neck-head gluing seam, this also strengthens this neck knot and decorates it.

Grooves and holes for peg mechanics are made. The head is given its final shape.

From the other end of the future neck, the heel is glued and cut out.

The neck of the work of Nikolai Ivanovich Yeshchenko in his workshop

The heel of the guitar can be Spanish or under dovetail. There are two options for the assembly sequence of the entire guitar.

Anticipating your question, I will answer that the way that the master does better is good.

Spanish way

The Spanish design of the guitar is based on the fact that the upper knuckle and the heel of the neck are one, i.e. the klz is a continuation of the neck and heel. In place of the imaginary border between the neck and the pseudo-lock, a groove is made into which the shells are inserted.

This design feature requires a special guitar gluing sequence. The Spanish assembly is performed in the following sequence:

• A deck with springs and rips is formed; installed on a special desktop - solera.
• A neck is glued to the deck, which is also fixed to the solera.
• The shells curved in the form of a guitar are glued.
• Counter-shells are glued to the shells.
• Finish assembling the hull bottom. On the very first photo of the article, the guitarjustjust waiting for the bottom to be glued.
• Next, the fingerboard, neck processing, bridge and finish.

European way

The design of the guitar is such that the neck is glued into a ready-made closed body, that is, the soundboard, bottom, sides - everything is already together. The neck is glued into the kletz with the help of a dovetail groove. Other ways are also possible.

It also often happens that the body of the guitar is finally closed by gluing the finished soundboard to the finished semi-body. In the photo you see the finished semi-hull and deck.

The inside surfaces of the body and body are covered with a thin layer of lacquer to protect the guitar from sudden changes in humidity.

Kletsy- bottom and top. The top ring is like this wooden form, which is visible through the hole, if you look into it at an angle towards the base of the neck, the lower dumpling is not visible without a mirror. A neck is glued into the upper dump according to the European assembly. Klets are needed to stiffen the body. The Spanish construction of the guitar, as you understand, also has a top end, but this is a single unit with the neck itself.

counter-shells- this is a strip of wood that runs along the gluing of the soundboard-shell, bottom-shell to strengthen the gluing and the entire body of the guitar as a whole. They are solid, they are with cuts, and it happens that they are completely recruited from individual chopiks.

Fretboard made of heavy-duty wood to strengthen the neck, and also to ensure that the outer surface of the fretboard must be very wear-resistant and not wear under the fingers. An absolutely aesthetic moment - any dirt is less visible on black.

frets must be processed in a special way, hold tightly without hesitation in the cut, not protrude at the ends, the tops of the frets must be in the same plane.

guitar stand made of dense material, rosewood or a tree similar in density to it. The stand itself must be rigid so that under the tension of the strings, it does not unnecessarily sag. Gluing the bridge is the most responsible gluing on the guitar. The load on the stand is very large.

Nuts and Nuts guitars are usually made from bone. But today there are many new synthetic substitutes.

Important technological process in guitar making is varnishing. Each master himself chooses the method of application and varnish for his guitars. There are enough varnishes. Synthetic varnishes and organic varnishes, and today you can also find a guitar coated with special drying oils, such as tung oil.

The idea to start making musical instruments visits many musicians, including guitarists. Of course, it is difficult to expect that the first time you get a masterpiece that will sound great in two or three hundred years. But all great masters started somewhere, so why not try? How to make a guitar with your own hands will be discussed in our article.

What is a guitar made of?

Before you make a guitar with your own hands at home, you need to understand what exactly you have to do, that is, figure out what this instrument consists of. At first glance, two parts are visible:

• frame;
• neck.

Frame

If we take a closer look at the case, it becomes clear that it is not at all hollowed out of a single piece of wood, like some other instruments. From the outside you can see:

• lower deck - solid or in two parts;
• upper deck - a plate with a round resonator hole, decorated with a rosette, that is, with an ornament;
• shell, which connects both decks;
• stand - a small plate on the top deck;
• nut - an elevation on a stand.

The stand serves to fasten the strings, and their height above the top deck depends on the saddle. There are springs inside the case. These are wooden strips that provide strength to the case and the necessary vibration. They are:

• transverse;
• fan-shaped.

If you look inside the guitar, you will also see a footer - narrow plates that are glued along the centerline of the lower or upper deck. However, not all models have these details. On the side there is a button - it serves to attach a belt and play while standing.

Important! The resonator hole has another name - the voice box.

Vulture

Upon closer inspection, it turns out that the neck also consists of several parts:

• heads;
• pens;
• overlays;
• heels;
• nut and frets.

In the upper part there is a head on which the peg mechanism is placed. Strings are attached to it, in turn. The overlay is divided by metal strips into unequal segments - they are wide at the head, and the closer to the outlet, the smaller the distance.

Important! The metal strips are called nut, the spaces between them are called frets. Some frets have dots or stars. Most acoustic guitars have the fifth, seventh, tenth, and twelfth frets marked this way. Sometimes marks are placed not in the central part of the neck, but on top.

The neck also has a heel, with which it is attached to the body. Expensive instruments have a glued neck. On cheap mass-produced instruments, it is fixed with a screw. This screw adjusts the distance between the fretboard and the strings.

What is a guitar made of?

For body and neck apply different materials. The body can be made:

• from wood;
• from plywood;
• from plastic;
• from metal.

Tree

Expensive models are made from quality wood, while for different parts different breeds are used.

Important! If choose good material and properly store the instrument, the guitar will last a very long time, and the more time passes, the better it will sound.

Plywood

You can also see cheap plywood tools in stores. To get from such a tool good sound, you need not only skill, but also a lot of luck. As an option for beginners, you can try to make a guitar with your own hands from plywood. But we must consider this approach solely as a training assembly stage for the subsequent manufacture of a tool from expensive wood.

Important! Plywood decks quickly crack, the springs fly off, and the instrument is deformed.

Plastic

In Soviet times, the Leningrad factory produced plastic guitars, popularly called "trough". Some models were made entirely of plastic, while others had a wooden top.

Important! It was believed that plastic is more durable than wood, but it turned out not to be so.

Metal

Finally, metal guitars can be classified as exotic. They gave a strange sound, vaguely reminiscent of a banjo. They were made specifically for tourists, because on a water trip it was a universal household item, which, if necessary, could even be rowed. Musicians, however, loved such artifacts much less than watermen.

Important! For those who are going to make a guitar with their own hands, which you can play, it is better to abandon the exotic and choose something more traditional for your product.

What breeds are suitable?

To make a guitar with your own hands, not all wood is suitable. At the same time, different parts of the body are made of different breeds.

Upper body

Conifers are suitable for the top deck:

• resonant spruce;
• cedar;
• pine.

Expensive models use resonant spruce and cedar, classic guitar materials. The blank will cost a lot, you can not get it everywhere - boards of the required size are not found in every carpentry workshop. However, in online stores to find desired material possible, and even already in the form of almost finished fragments, which only need to be finalized and put together.

There are several varieties of spruce:

• German;
• Sitka;
• ordinary.

Important! The combination of spruce and cedar also gives an interesting effect. For cheap models, pine is also used, but such an instrument sounds worse.

Bottom deck and sides

These parts of the guitar are usually made from the same type of wood. It must be solid, so most often used:

• rosewood;
• maple;
• Red tree.

An instrument with a maple back has a sharper and more ringing sound than the other two. But if the material is well dried and processed, only high-class professionals will notice the difference.

Important! Boards can be found not only in the workshop. If, for example, the neighbors threw away the old piano (and this often happens now), do not pass by, but remove everything from it wooden details which are suitable for the manufacture of many musical instruments.

Vulture

It does not affect the sound quality as much as the body, although musicians believe that the instrument has no small things. But the acoustic properties in this case recede into the background, the main thing is the ability to keep the shape.

Therefore, in order to make a guitar with your own hands, or rather its neck, hard rocks are used:

• maple.

The overlay, among other things, should be beautiful. Therefore, the most popular materials for its manufacture:

• ebony;
• rosewood.

For decoration

A beautiful instrument is a pleasure to hold. Therefore, professional craftsmen in every possible way invent, trying to give their products a unique look and grace.

Most often, in the course of making a guitar with your own hands, the following are used:

• thread;
• inlay.

The carving on the case, of course, is more than a dubious matter. It reduces strength and greatly affects the sound quality. Therefore, only the head of the neck is decorated with carved ornaments.

As for the inlay, it can be both on the fretboard and on the body - for example, around the rosette. To do this, you can use pieces of wood of different species. Strokes are used to mask the seams.

Let's start making a guitar with our own hands

So, you still decided, despite the fact that far from any materials are suitable? Well, then, we must try. But it is advisable to plan work in advance. To make a quality guitar with your own hands at home, it will be something like this:

1. Choose the type of guitar.
2. Find the right drawing.
3. Transfer it to a tree of the selected species.
4. Learn the process.
5. Find and prepare a room.
6. Prepare your tools.

Drawing

There is no point in developing a drawing on your own - a person who has taken up business for the first time is unlikely to cope with such a task. But there are many books on the manufacture of musical instruments - there you will find the necessary drawings. Now this stage has been greatly simplified, because for the search you need only two things - a computer with Internet access and a printer on which you can print patterns. IN last resort you can take the finished guitar and just circle it.

Technology

As for technology, you immediately need to think about how you will bend some wooden parts. This is the most crucial moment. An electric heater will help you a lot.

room

This is very important point! And it's not just about comfort. For materials needed special conditions. The room must be:

• warm, but not hot;
• with good lighting;
• with good ventilation;
• must be dry.

Important! Humidity in the workshop should not exceed 50%.

Choosing a board

If you decide to make blanks yourself, and not buy in the workshop, you first need to choose a board. Regardless of which type of wood you prefer:

• the future deck should be without knots;
• the fibers should run parallel and not make sharp bends.

It is very good when there is an opportunity to see a lot of boards. If you like a few, tap them and listen. You should choose the one from which you like the sound.

Important! Along with the blanks in order to make a guitar with your own hands, you need to buy strings and a peg mechanism.

Cooking Tools

Electrical and hand tools it is better to prepare immediately. You need:

• jigsaw;
• manual jigsaw;
• electric drill;
• Sander;
• milling machine;
• compressor unit;
• spray gun;
• jars with varnish;
• plane;
• sherhebel;
• skobel;
• large clamps;
• pliers;
• wire cutters;
• hammer;
• crosshead screwdriver;
• sharp knife;
• files.

Important! Why do we need two jigsaws at once - manual and electric? For different types works. With an electric jigsaw you will cut out the details, but for cuts on the fretboard, as well as for another fine workmanship, more suitable manual.

A novice guitar maker may not know the names of different carpentry tools, but he will need several planes - for rough and fine processing.

We complete the tool

A jigsaw without a saw will not work, as well as a grinder without tapes. Therefore, immediately take care of the components. You need:

• wide and narrow files for a jigsaw: the first is for straight cuts, the second is for contours;
• ribbons with different grains for grinder- for rough grinding, for eliminating scratches, for fine processing;
• straight and edge molding cutters for a milling machine;
• drills for metal 3, 6 and 9 mm;
• wood drills 12, 19, 22, 26 mm;
• concrete drill 8 mm.

First stage

So, you have boards, you have chosen the type of guitar and even printed out a drawing. It's time to start cutting. You need to start by gluing the body, and the first thing is to fit the two boards for the bottom deck so that they turn into one. This can be done in several ways.

Option 1:

1. Connect the pieces by clamping them in clamps with a “sandwich”.
2. Plane the surfaces as if you had one plane, not two.
3. Glue.

Option 2:

1. Clamp the pieces with clamps in the form of a shield.
2. Walk along the joint with a milling machine.
3. Glue.

Option 3:

1. Treat each piece separately.
2. Glue them.

Important! The next step is to cut the workpiece along the contour with a jigsaw. And here it is very important to look so that there are no knots.

Second phase

Glue the footer and springs to the bottom deck. The footer is strictly axial, three springs are strictly at right angles to it. It turns out something like a “chest” with a spine and three ribs.

Top deck

It is better if it is from a solid board, and not from a composite one. Although some masters prefer a different option and make the top deck the same way as the bottom. But when the strings are already taut, there is tension in the upper part, and the seam can quickly burst.

You need to outline the outlet. Its center is at the narrowest point of the guitar. A resonator hole is cut in the middle of the socket. There are also springs on the inside of the top deck. It's time to glue them on.

shell

Perhaps the most difficult parts are the shells. They need:

• carve out;
• cut out;
• bend;
• glue.

And if there are usually no problems with cutting and primary processing - they, just like all other parts, are hewn with several planers and sanded with sandpaper, then with giving the tree desired shape some difficulties may arise. That's why:

1. Wet the workpiece well with warm water.
2. Put it in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.
3. Warm up the part to a temperature slightly above 100ºС.
4. Bend it into shape.
5. Let cool - the workpiece will retain the bend.

Vulture

Glue the heel and the handle of the neck. This will not be a problem, the main thing is that the connection is strong.

Important! It is not necessary to cut a groove on the body in advance, this can be done later, when it is time to assemble all the parts together.

But with the head you need to decide right away. She may be:

• straight;
• inclined.

Oddly enough, the second option is simpler:

• If you are making a straight head, you will need more retainers, otherwise the strings simply will not press against the nut.

Important! The direct version is made together with a handle, from the same piece of wood.

• When tilted, you can do two things. If you do not need to save wood, cut the neck in one piece from a whole piece. But you can also glue it from two or even three parts. There are firms that make composite necks - from two or three longitudinal layers.

Important! The slope must not exceed 17º.

Kernel

An anchor rod is glued into the neck. It gives the part the necessary bend and increases strength. To make a guitar with your own hands at home, the rod can be glued in two ways:

• under the lining, that is, in the upper part;
• from the back, closing with a decorative plate.

Important! For the rod, a channel is made along the entire length of the neck.

Assembly

When all the parts are prepared, that is, cut, polished and equipped with all the necessary details, you can start assembling.

Important! It is best to glue with casein glue, sometimes fish.

Operating procedure:

1. Glue the shells into one piece.
2. Put them on the bottom deck.
3. Glue the top deck on top.
4. Dry the entire structure thoroughly - it is necessary to clamp it properly.
5. Mark and cut the notch for the neck.
6. Glue on the neck.

Important! After that, it remains only to cover the guitar with varnish, make inlays and string the strings. As for the stand, it can be glued both before assembly and after.

Now you have a complete understanding of how to make a guitar with your own hands at home. We hope that this technology did not seem too complicated to you, or, even if it was, your desire turned out to be stronger than the fear of doing something wrong, and you did an excellent job!