Skipper Custom Instruments

Custom Dreadnought Guitar Photos

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This one's "in the box." A gorgeous guitar with killer sound.

Construction Photos

This dreadnought guitar features an Adirondack spruce top and East Indian rosewood back and sides. After the plates are joined, a recess is cut for the backstrip, and it's clamped into place with go-bars. Aluminum bar stock provides a clamping caul that is flexible enough to follow any variations in contour, but stiff enough to apply even pressure along the strip's length. After the glue has cured, the backstrip is scraped level with the surrounding rosewood.

The back is cut to shape, and the inner reinforcing strip is glued into place. While that's curing, the sides are bent. They are moistened and wrapped in paper, then placed with a heat blanket in a bending form between two layers of stainless steel. After they've cooled, they're removed and placed within a mold for drying.

Meanwhile, I've glued up the headblock, and shaped the back's reinforcing strip with planes and sandpaper. The strip is cut away for the back bracing, and the braces are glued in place. The ribs are removed from the forms and glued to the head and tail blocks.

The neck blank is built up from mahogany. The kerfed linings are formed first on the table saw and drum sander, and then are slotted on the bandsaw. They're glued to the rib assembly with hot hide glue.

Rib reinforcing strips are fabricated from the same material as the back and sides and glued into place. The rib assembly is placed back within the external form, which will hold everything in alignment while the soundbox is assembled. The top is leveled on the drum sander. The rosette channel is routed using a precision jig, and the rosette segments are glued into place.

When the glue is dry, the rosette is scraped level with the top, and then the top is taken to final thickness and the sound hole is cut. The bracing pattern is laid out and the braces are shaped and glued to the top. Meanwhile, the back braces are planed to their final dimensions, and the rib assembly is carefully shaped to the arch of the back and top.

The kerfed lining is notched to precisely receive the braces. The top braces are carefully shaved as the top is tap tuned for maximum performance. The mating glue surfaces are coated with hot hide glue, and that's allowed to completely dry before the parts are assembled.

When everything is perfectly aligned and clamped, steam is injected into the joints to reactivate the hide glue and permanently fasten the parts together. The overhanging edges are trimmed flush, and the maple bindings are bent over a hot pipe. The maple end graft is installed, and the body is routed for bindings.

The bindings are glued with hot hide glue and held in place while curing with heavy paper tape. The mother-of-pearl and abalone inlay is first cut with a jeweler's saw, then recessed into the ebony peghead overlay. The neck is routed for the truss rod and carbon fiber reinforcement and fitted to the neck, and the inlaid overlay is glued to the peghead.

The back of the peghead is thicknessed, and the volute is roughly defined. The fretboard is radiused and slotted and cut to shape, the maple bindings applied, and the slots for the carbon-fiber are routed to match the neck slots. The reinforcing bars are glued in place.

Shaping on the neck begins with hand tools and templates, and the volute is brought to its final shape. Recesses are routed into the guitar's body to receive the fretboard reinforcing rods. The fretboard is glued to the neck. At this point, the guitar is ready for final sanding and finishing.

When the sanding is complete, the bridge is precisely located and the area where it will sit is masked off from the finish. The neck mahogany is stained to be more compatible with the rosewood. A slight aging toner is applied over the entire surface, and the guitar is given a coat of vinyl sealer. The following day, pore filler is applied to the rosewood and mahogany. After drying for 24 hours, the instrument will again be sanded and another coat of vinyl sealer will be applied. After yet another sanding, successive coats of lacquer are applied and allowed to dry overnight.

When the lacquer has built to just enough thickness to level the surface, the entire guitar is sanded flat and the final coat is applied. Now the finish will cure for approximately 14 days before it's rubbed out and set up. After the curing period, the finish is wet-sanded level, then to 4000 grit. Then it's buffed on a dry flannel wheel with successive grades of Madernza compound.

The neck and bridge are attached to the body, the lable is glued inside, and the pickguard, nut, saddle and bridge pins are fitted. All that remains is final setup and tuning.