It is Finished!

After almost 6 months, I have just finished my last guitar while at school.  The archtop is finished.  I see all my little mistakes at the moment but over time I will continue to see the beauty and charm that I have created.

I am so grateful for the time that I have been here and more grateful for a wonderful wife who helped make this all possible.  I look forward to building some prototypes in the future and honing my skills.  I hope to make Remnant Guitars a worthy and admired name in the guitar world.

I will be taking on guitar repairs in the future, once I get back home and everything is all lined up.  If you have any questions on repairs or even thoughts about a guitar design, feel free to email the shop at: remnantguitarsandrepair@gmail.com for right now.

Get ready to hear more in the future and possibly a company blog.  Thanks for all of your feedback, comments, and support.  As more information comes to fruition on the future of Remnant Guitars I will post it on this blog.

Thanks and God Bless!

Another beautiful TKL case.  This one has a burgundy interior that plays well with the natural color of the guitar.

The back in all of its shiny glory!

Close-up of the grain and flame on the back.

Sides with ivoroid binding.

The top, all put together.  Tuned, intonated and ready to play.

Closer...

The bridge is floating on the top and kept in place by the tension on the strings.  The one pot on the pickguard is a volume pot.

In her case and getting ready to be graded.

She's a beauty, one in a million!

The Home Stretch

Well, getting down to the last week and half of class now.  It has been quite a journey so far.  Below are a couple of new photos of the archtop build.  This guitar should be completed by the end of this week for grading.

But wait, "don't you have another week" is what you are asking yourself.  Yes I do, I still have a design project to finish this weekend and then next week I have a practical test and a couple of lectures.  All in all though, I am ready to head home and start up this amazing adventure.

More pictures will be forth coming until the end of the term.

Here are a few of the ebony pieces that will be going on the guitar.  A tailpiece, a pickguard, and a truss rod cover.  This guitar will have a Kent Armstrong pickup attached to the pickguard and I am toying will adding a K&K pickup as well inside the body.

Finally glued together, soon it will be finished and all shiny.

Close up of the neck and body joint that is being glued.  They are connected with a French dovetail and shimmed for a tight joint.

Amp Cabinet

OK, so some of you have heard that the amp class at the school is going to start making the cabinets for their amp class.  Well, I was able to get in on the initial student build of these cabs.  It should be interesting to see how the cabinet changes the amps sound.

The cab is made out of maple and is finished clear.  The maple has some staining to it which you may see as gray in the photos.  The planks of wood are brought together using dovetail joints.  Enjoy the photos!

The maple starts as rough lumber.

After some cleaning and cutting, here are the sides of the cabinet.

Top and Bottom

The main box all glued up.

The baffle board for the speaker to attach to inside.

Hear are the boards for the back of the amp.

Here is the side all finished with a clear coat.

Tight dovetail joints will help this cab take a beating.

Can't forget the handle.

The back of the finished amp cabinet.

All finished with a wicker front.

Archtop Pictures

I know, I know, I'm a bit slow with the updates right now but I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the archtop photos thus far.  I am currently waiting for the guitar to off-gas from being sprayed last week.  The guitar will be finished late next week.  The guitar will be finished as a blond (natural) instead of the normal two tone burst the school usually does.  The finished guitar should be excellent.

Here is the wood.  I will make this a great guitar, oh yeah, I will.

Maple Sides

Close-up of the side

Getting the back ready to glue

Maple back

Spruce Top, very nice!

Spruce top under a different light

Adding pencil lines to the back so that when it is sanded I will know when it is even when all the pencil lines are gone.

Adding a piece to the spruce so that it can be placed through the thickness sander.

Close-up of the maple

The top has been joined and glued

Bending the treble side

Clamping in the cutaway

Bending the bass side

Spruce, up close and personal

Spruce has been leveled on the opposite side and the side that is showing currently will be duplicarved

Head block (left) and end block (right)

Blocks are made of mahogany

The maple back has been duplicarved and now I need to bring down the excess with...

...a finger plane.  These are fun to work with once you get the hang of them

Ebony fretboard

Fret slots preliminary cut

As you can see from the carved back picture above, the brown streaks are wormholes.  My piece had a bit too many so I get to carve my back again.

However, this piece of maple is SO much better

Putting together the sides, head and end block

Using scrap blocks to clamp the head block on so not to damage the mahogany

Same with the end block

Spruce top has been carved

The holes at the right and left on the wood are locating holes to hold the wood while it is being worked

On an archtop guitar, not only is the top and back carved, the inside of both pieces are also carved to certain thicknesses

Adding the x-braces to the top.  The f holes have also been cut out.

The side braces and kerfing have been glued

Close-up of the side braces and kerfing

Maple neck as well

As you can see, the neck has wings glued on to add enough room for the peghead

The bridge will sit on top of the top and is not glued on.  This device helps keep the bridge level as I  sand it to the contour of the top.

Peghead overlay with the inlay in place (say that 3 times fast)

Fitting the fretboard to a roughed in neck

The neck will be slightly angled as well as it needs to conform to the tops contour

The fretboard is being glued tot he neck

Adding the binding to the peghead

Looking nice!  Closer to spraying the finish

This neck just radiates a bright, almost white color

The peghead with inlay, binding, and the tuner holes finished

The f holes have been slightly rounded to help the finishing process

A couple coats of vinyl to start the finish process

You can start to see the flame of the wood coming out

This is the saddle piece the will sit on the bridge.  Made of ebony and fun to carve.

You can see the angles that are carved into the saddle.

Saddle and bridge

A view from above