246.

6
9 23/32" 447.1
0" 17 19/32"
1.4 243.8 1.4
1/16" 9 19/32" 1/16"
86.1 80.7 75.6 86.2 118.5
3 13/32" 3 3/16" 2 31/32" 3 13/32" 4 21/32"

9/32"
7.0
246.6
9 23/32"

52.2 142.3 52.1

2 1/16" 5 19/32" 2 1/16"

Dark Line Indicates Outside

1/4"
6.2
Perimeter of Guitar. Light Line
Is Inside Of Sides.

12.3

5/32"
1/2"

4.3
1/16"
1.9
Dashed Lines Indicate Rough-Out
229.3 Line Of Brace Prior To Gluing To Top
9 1/32" Once Braces Have Been Glued, Scallop
3.1 223.1 3.2 According To The Curvature. Typical For
1/8" 8 25/32" 1/8" All Braces
D
C
B

9/32"
7.0
B 229.3
A

9 1/32"
51.7 125.9 51.7 Sand The Proper Back Arch On The
2 1/32" 4 31/32" 2 1/32" Bottom Of All The Back Braces. The
1/4"
6.6

Radius Should Be Exactly The Same

For All Back Bracing. This Is Best Marked To Cover Up The Center Seam Inside The Guitar Body And Give The
12.3

5/32"

Neck Block. This Is A Very

1/2"

With The Arch Template Joint Additional Strength Use A Strip Of Maple 3mm Thick. Run
4.4

Important Structural Element. Betwen The Braces And Round-Off As Shown. The Best Way To
1/16"
1.4

Construct From Vertical Grain Install This Is As One Long Piece And Carefully Cut And Chisel Out
Honduras Mahogany, Maple, Or The Channels For The Back Braces.
338.1 Same Species As Neck
13 5/16" Arch The Back Of The Guitar For Sound Reflectance Quality And To
8.8 320.4 8.8 Allow Some Tollerance For Humidity Changes. This Arch Should Be
11/32" 12 5/8" 11/32" Approximately 4 to 6mm Across The Wide Part Of The Back Plate
16.1
5/8"

14 13/32"
365.6
338.1
13 5/16"
Back Braces - Vertical And Fine

C 57.4
2 1/4"
223.4
8 25/32"
57.4
2 1/4"
Cedar Or Spruce #1 Quality. Cope
Out Ends Of Bracing.
3/16"
4.4

Back Material: Many Different Woods

13/32"
10.6

Can Be Used. For Bright Tones Go

1/8"
3.2

Back Block or Butt Block. Vertical Grain

With One Of The Rosewoods Such Honduras Mahogany, Maple or Other
1/8"
3.0

As Indian Rosewood or Brazilian Hardwood. Some Luthiers Shave This

Rosewood. Koa Is Bright As Is Zircote Block or Angle It Away From The Top
And Madagascar Rosewood. For As This Block Often Gives A Guitar A
Warm Tone Use Walnut. Most "Hump" In The Top And Can Cause
Traditional Acoustic Guitars Are Cracking.
358.3 Constructed From Indian Rosewood
14 3/32"
Or Mahogany. Some Great Rosewood
3.2 351.9 3.2 Sub-
1/8" 13 27/32" 1/8" stitues available now are Zebrawood,
Paduck and Bubinga
16.1
5/8"

358.3
14 3/32"
61.7 235.0 61.7
2 7/16" 9 1/4" 2 7/16"
5/32"

D
4.4
13/32"

3/32"
10.6

2.8
1/8"
3.5

Note: Make All The Back Bracing Longer Than It Needs To Be, Sand The Proper Back Arch On The
Leave Each Brace At Least 3/8" Long And Trim Back During Bottom Of All The Back Braces. The
Fitting Of The Back And Top Plates To The Guitar Sites. Radius Should Be Exactly The Same
For All Back Bracing. This Is Best Marked
With The Arch Template

Back Plate Layout & Brace Layout

Finished Back Plate: This back plate was glued up using the GoBoard Clamping Shaping The Back Arch On The Sides: Place the side contour template on each Finished Box: This photo shows the instrument box completely assembled, sanded,Fitting The Neck: After the body is constructed as in the photo on the left, it is Fitting The Neck 2: Prior to gluing the neck to the body, it is important to do a Headpiece Purfling and Binding: There are some tricks you can employ to get
Deck and Fiberglass Rods. The brace bottoms were arched with the Back Arch side and mark the back arch with a dry marker. and ready for the final step of the body construction - installation of the back plate.best to fit the neck to the body of the instrument. This allows the builder to make final check of the alignments. Install the neck and tighten it completely from inside the "perfect fit", when fitting and gluing these detailed bindings. If the curves are
Template together as one block and then cut apart on a band saw. Note how the channels are chiseled in the kerfed lining, ready to accept the backadjustment to the lateral and longitudinal axis and make appropriate adjustments the instrument body. Check the alignment in both directions. Also check the fit of rather sharp (as they were to the top of the headpiece here, it is necessary to pre-
This photo shows the sides placed in the inside form and blocked up about 1" with braces. to line the neck EXACTLY with the centerline of the top. Also measure the flatness the heel to the body. This should be a hairline joint. bend the purfling strip a bit. I did this on a hot pipe.
This method assures the builder that there will be a consistent arch across the small square shims. Place a pair of spreader jacks to fully clamp the sides into the of the fretboard surface of the neck to the top plate. This joint should be perfectly
length of the back plate. Also the center reinforcing strip was glued to the back in form and this will make the side fully conform to the inside form. When fitting the back, place the body inside an inside form and block the instrumentlevel and aligned. Make slight adjustments to the alignment by sanding the "cheeks" of the heel. A Also rather than mitering all the trims, it is far easier to butt them together. You will
one piece. Then the brace widths and positions were marked and cut with a razor up so the sides extend above the inside form at least 3/4" (19mm). I use pieces of 1" little bit goes a long way here and check your work often. never be able to detect this on a finished instrument. It also is a stronger joint and
saw. It is then easy to break the waste piece of the strip with a sharp chisel. The Use a sharp block plane to cut the sides down to the contour marks and follow up wood for this. The sides and kerfing then need to be shaped to accepted the archThis step is also important in that you can check the fit of the bolts to the neck and will resist pulling apart much better than a miter joint. Glue the purfling strips
braces were shaped after all the gluing was complete. with a sanding stick. After this step is complete, glue the head and tail blocks into form of the back. For this step use a crown sanding jig (available free on our website).the fit of the mortise joint. Note that we extensively cover this in our Guitar and separately and carefully butt each and sand flush. When you are finished gluing
place and finally fit the kerfed linings and glue them into position. Lastly the channels are cut into the kerfed lining (refer to details on the first sheet forUkulele Construction Handbook. the purfling, glue the binding and butt the joints in a similar manner. Sand flush.
more information on this).

Note For Detailed Guitar & Uke Construction Instructions

Refer To Our Book "Guitar & Ukulele Construction
Handbook @ http://shopglss.com
This Drawing or Drawings Are To Used For One Use Only Sheet Number
Date: Jan. 8, 2014

Georgia Luthier Supply

And Not Reproduced For Any Other Purpose Than
Construction Of This Particular Instrument, and a One Time

Gs4
Reproduction Only is Allowed Revisions: Dec 13, 2013

GS Mini Guitar Plan

Reproduction, Distribution or Sales For Any Other Use Is
Strictly Prohibited And Falls Under U.S Copyright Laws For
David VerBurg AIA c 2013 Unless Noted Otherwise,
This Sheet Size Is Metric A0 Size Overall Size is 1189mm x These Plans Are Drawing
841mm With 15mm Borders On All Sides. For USA Full Scale. They Are
Customers Print On Architectural "E" (36" x 48") Without Labeled in mm and
Resizing For 1:1 Printout.
Fractional Inches