



Except, I don't like classical guitar music much, and really dislike folk music.





Then over Christmas I saw and heard a really nice acoustic archtop jazz guitar.





So I'm going to build one. Or two.





I'm basing the design on Bob Benedetto's beautiful archtops, and using his book and plans.





Which woods to use?





I'm not buying luthier tonewoods. But I found a really excellent board of almost perfectly quarter sawn 5/4 Western Red Cedar at one local hardwoods dealer, and a beautiful 10/4 board of African Mahogany at another. The tops won't be bookmatched, but the backs and sides may be. I also bought hard maple for the necks, and a really highly figured ribbon maple I'm going to try to use for banding.





Lots of stuff, inevitably, will come from StewMac.





What I hope to learn





I really want to learn to make, sharpen and use curved edge tools including planes, gouges and scrapers.





And I'm really looking to test my patience and standards with an unusual, high-visibility project.





Timeline





My shop is great for this project during the Winter, but by the end of Spring it will be too humid. Also, I've got 2 other projects lined up: the Chicken Palace (starting mid April, I think) and Front Stone Wall #2 starting mid May. So, I'll be doing this pretty much full time this Winter.

















For about 30 years, I've wanted to build a guitar.