DIY Network

Handmade Guitar, Part 1: Introduction and Wood Selection From "Handmade Music" episode DHMM-101

	The Martin D-28 -- the "gold standard" of acoustic guitars.
	Luthier John Arnold could be called passionate when it comes to the quest for the perfect guitar sound. For this series, he located and harvested a red spruce tree for the creation of guitars like those used on the classic Martins.

In this episode of DIY's Handmade Music, host Jeff Wilson introduces viewers to the world of vintage luthurie. We see how stringed-instrument builders (luthiers) mix contemporary materials and "old school" know-how to create guitars that resemble -- and sound like -- beloved vintage guitars. Over the course of the guitar-building series, we see an elegantly built vintage-replica guitar built from the ground up -- literally.

In this first of four episodes focusing on guitar-building, we learn that the "gold standard" for bluegrass pickers is the famous Martin D-28 guitar built in the 1930s and the early 1940s. Viewers find out how master guitar-builder Lynn Dudenbostel crafts new guitars that meet the high standards set by the great luthiers of yesteryear. Also in this first episode, viewers also are introduced to two luthiers -- John Arnold and Ted Davis -- whose passion for replicating vintage guitars borders on obsession. Arnold and Ted know that reproduction of vintage requires a specific type of wood: red spruce. Martin Guitars used this particular type of wood to build tops for the famous D-28 during the golden era, but during World War II the aircraft industry depleted the supply of spruce wood so guitar manufacturers switched to alternative wood. Today after sixty years of growth, the red spruce tree is once again available for selective harvesting. For John and Ted, it's been a long time to wait for the revival of great sounding guitars.

This episode follows the men on a quest to harvest one red spruce tree. When it's located and cut Lynn Dudenbostel begins creating a guitar using the wood supplied by John and Ted. If Lynn does his job well, viewers will be treated to a sweet sound not usually produced by a new guitar. This show follows the construction of the guitar's top and back including the precision carving of brace wood.

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Figure A

The Legacy of Red Spruce

The vintage guitars of the 1930s and early '40s had a material advantage over the manufactured guitars of today. They were made from a type of wood unavailable to builders for more than 50 years. "The most desirable instruments made by Martin," says Lynn Dudenbostel, "had tops made of Eastern red spruce. Until the past twenty years or so, that has been to builders. During the war, spruce was in high demand for building aircraft, and instrument builders had to seek other alternatives."

Now that red spruce is available again in limited quantities, the distinctive sound of the vintage guitars can be recaptured. Luthier John Arnold took DIY along on his quest to find a red spruce tree for use in building guitars. That quest took John to the mountaintops of West Virginia where this unique type of timber can be found (figure A).
Locating a tree for harvest on private land is the biggest challenge. John was able to locate a mammoth 300-year-old spruce (figure B), and was able to negotiate with the land owner on which it resided for harvesting the tree.

Given the large diameter of this tree (figure C), there is raw material in this spruce for hundreds of guitar tops.

Figure B

Figure C

	Figure D
	Figure E

Once he gets the raw lumber back to his workshop, he uses an ax to remove the bark from quartered sections of each piece. A template is then used to ensure that each piece is large enough to make half of a guitar top (figure D).

Using a band saw, John shaves away a thin section from the log to create half of a guitar top. The next thin section will form the other half, so that the two halves will come from book-matched slices of wood (figure E). The practice ensures that the grain patterns will match when they are joined together to form the top of the guitar.

Master luthier Lynn Dudenbostel crafts new guitars that meet the high standards set by the great luthiers of the original golden era of instrument making.

Building the Guitar Top

Materials:

Red spruce stock
Template
Band saw
Block plane
Clamps

Safety Alert: Always wear safety goggles or safety glasses when
working with wood, power-tools, saws, drills, routers, etc.

	Figure F
	Figure G

With the wood procured, the work of the luthier begins in the process that will ultimately produce a visually and acoustically accurate replica of the Martin D-28 guitar (figure F).

Steps:

• Using book-matched slices of spruce like these, luthier Lynn Dudenbostel takes the first step in the process of building a guitar. He creates one top from two mirror-image pieces of wood. After planing the edges of each piece smooth using a hand-plane, he applies glue to the two edges that will be joined together (figure G).
  
• After glue has been appied, the spruce pieces are joined using a fixture made from rails and clamps (figure H). The distance between the rails is slightly less than the width of both pieces. This method applies constant and equal pressure to both sides to join them together precisely.

• Once the glue has dried, Lynn uses a template from a vintage guitar to outline the body's shape onto the edge-glued spruce. At the band saw, he then cuts along the outlined pattern -- slightly outside the line -- to reveal the guitar's top (figure I).

  Figure H

  Figure I

  
  

  Host Jeff Wilson, standing on the stage at the famous Ryman auditorium in Nashville, holds the legendary Martin D-28 guitar -- considered special because of techniques and materials used in the golden era of guitar making before World War II.

RESOURCES :

Kentucky Thunder
For more information on the band that appeared in DIY's Handmade Music, Kentucky Thunder -- and to hear streaming audio and download samples of their music -- visit the website for Skaggs Family Records, www.skaggsfamilyrecords.com.

GUESTS :

Lynn Dudenbostel, Luthier
Dudenbostel Stringed Instruments
Knoxville, TN

John Arnold, Luthier
Newport, TN

Ted Davis, Luthier
Loudon, TN