Official Luthiers Forum!

I have been asked to make a Niibori Alto guitar.
I have found quite a bit of useful size information and photos (that I can scale from) using the normal search engines, but I really would like a proper plan to work from if possible.
Anyone know of one?

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Not to worry. I produced my own plan (drew it up in Corel Draw).
From the plan, I made a marking template:



Please feel free to use this drawing if you'd like to make one or two, but if you're going to go into production, contact me first.

I'm cutting one in 1/4" acrylic right now. Photo in a bit.

Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I don't even know what one of those is....
I'm sure you'll rock it though!

Here's a quick pic of the template. I'll do a build thread for this one (possibly both here and on the AGF). Enjoy....



I'm also in the planning stages of a 6-string acoustic fretless bass for a client - that one should be fun also!

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Hopefully! It's going to have BRW back/sides, a really nice lutz spruce top, BRW bridge, and an ebony fingerboard.
Haven't worked out the other details with the customer yet....but I'm sure it will be a nice combo.

Here's a piccy of one I found online:



Cute little thing!

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I OK'd the shape and bracing with the customer yesterday, so got stuck into mold making tonight.

I made the outside mold from 3 slices of 3/4" ply by the standard method of pattern routing the first piece of ply to a laser-cut master template, then gluing the second piece of ply to the first and pattern routing the second piece to the first, then rinse and repeat for the third piece of ply. Here's a couple of piccies:



The acrylic marking template fits very accurately into the outside mold:



I've got a few things to tidy up on the mold and then it's on to the side-bender forms tomorrow night...

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Dave,
It is a nice looking guitar. Didn't know what one was either. Hope you post your build thread here, I would enjoy following along.
Thanks for the post.

Thanks mkellyvrod.

Despite the apparent lack of interest, I'll keep posting - might help someone - you never know.

I got a bit busy at work and with some honeydew jobs, so only got to work on the side-bending forms for this guitar this weekend.

I first made some templates out of 1/4" acrylic (laser-cut). These are exactly 1/8" smaller all the way around than the full-sized pattern.
The reason for this is to allow for the thickenss of the bending "packet" (the slats, paper, aluminum foil, and heating blanket) so that the bent sides will fit exactly into the outside mold when they are done.

I transferred the shapes to 1/2" plywood, marking exactly where the 1/2" diameter holes need to be drilled for the cross-tubes. After rough-cutting about 0.25" oversize on the bandsaw, I stuck the acrylic templates onto the ply with double-sided tape, one side at a time, and used a pattern routing bit (one of those lovely new huge Whiteside bits - I thoroughly recommend them) in my router table to flush the shape nicely.

I found some 0.5" steel bar in my local DIY emporium (not sure where John Hall et al get that nice galvanized thin-wall stuff from - I couldn't find that anywhere...?). I cut this up into 14 x 6" lengths for the cross-tubes. The 1/2" hole drilling and tube fitting was uneventful and I ended up with the two required side-bending patterns ready to go:



No more new jigs/templates/patterns required for now, so I'll get on with the soundboard and back/sides next.

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I'm really interested, please keep posting the build.

_________________
We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Of course there`s interest, Dave.
Besides, it`s too late to back out now!
Coe Franklin

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Definitely interested in watching this progress. Really sweet design. Thanks for psoting.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Dave, the interest is here - keep posting! I think the thin-wall galvanized pipe you're referring to is thin-wall conduit from the electrical section.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I also am interested. Keep it coming

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Yup!
Count me in too, looks cool!
For those too lazy to google:
"The six-string alto guitar or G Guitar is a smaller version of the classical guitar, designed to be fitted with lighter strings and tuned a perfect fifth higher, to B-E-A-D-F♯/G♭-B"

Thanks for sharing!

Sorry for the delay peeps....got a bit busy at work and haven't had much time in my workshop.

I did get the back and soundboard joined though. Here are some pictures:











I'll try to get the sides shaped and bent and the bracing on the back and soundboard done this coming weekend.

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

The back is quite lovely.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

That is a nice back set! Can't wait to see more.

Agreed on that back set - nice!
I can predict getting the compensation right on a short scale is going to be interesting...