One Method of Making A Cutaway Guitar

After you have constructed several steel string guitars, the time comes to attempt to build a cutaway instrument. There are two styles: (1) the Florentine or “sharp” cutaway (which features two side pieces joined at the point of the cutaway) and (2) the Venetian or rounded cutaway which involves one side bent to shape, either by hand or by machine, producing a rounded horn.

I have seen many instruments made in the Florentine fashion but I have never seen any written explanation of how it is done. I suspect that most builders leave one side shorter when bending and then deal with the “floppiness” of the sides until the cutaway piece and back and top are added. I could never bring myself to construct like that, so I necessarily devised a method in which all parts of the “box” are completely stable throughout the building process. The resulting technique is essentially foolproof. Anyone who has built at least one non-cutaway instrument can successfully complete a cutaway. Several friends and aspiring builders have built beautiful and functional instruments from my explanation, so I think it has some merit. Therefore, I thought it might be useful to explain my method in detail, along with photographs to further clarify the process.

The basic method involves constructing the guitar initially as a non-cutaway instrument, and then cutting the cutaway out with a bandsaw, and finally fitting the cutaway portion to it. First, bend the sides, glue the blocks, kerfings or bandings and then attach the completed top and back. Now STOP!. Do not attach the binding! Your instrument at this phase should look something like this.

It is ready to become a cutaway instrument.

Next, design the cutaway itself, keeping in mind how the finished cutaway will interact with your neck once it is glued in place. If your neck has a triangular heel, most likely there will be a ledge between the heel and cutaway. Although not particularly elegant, Martin and Taylor do it that way!

I prefer the neck design that is flush with the cutaway rather than leave a ledge. There should be a smooth transition from neck to cutaway, easing the player’s ability to navigate the upper frets. After selecting the neck design you are going to use, you must draw the cutaway on the back of the guitar. Make sure your drawing actually removes a small portion of the neck block to provide a gluing surface for the cutaway piece. If you can design it into your bracing pattern, make the other end of the cutaway butt up against your top cross brace for added strength and stability.

If you are striving for a smooth transition from the neck to cutaway, your design must take into account the thickness of the cutaway piece that will be fitted and glued into the body of the guitar. Therefore, once it is glued in place the cutaway will be flush with the neck joint.

The next step is the most frightening in building a cutaway instrument! Take the completed guitar body, with the cutaway drawn on the back of the instrument, to the band saw. Place the instrument top down (it is relatively flat) and, using your drawing as a guide, cut out the cutaway portion of the instrument . Once you have finished you will have a guitar with a gaping hole in it and the piece that you removed .

 

Use the piece that is going to be thrown away as a template to bend another piece to the appropriate curve so that it will ultimately fit into the hole in the guitar .

Next you must prepare the guitar body to accept the new curved piece. Essentially you are doing nothing more than constructing the side piece to fit the top and back rather than the other way around. The first step is to make a piece to fit the “sharp” horn of the cutaway. This is nothing more than a long triangular piece of mahogany or spruce that provides strength and stability to this joint. Kerfing or banding must be made to fit the rest of the cutaway and glued into place.

Now retrieve the piece you bent earlier for placement and gluing into the guitar.

Check the fit of the piece until it fits the curve of the cutaway snugly. Then glue it in, using heavy rubber bands to hold it in place. Once the cutaway is glued in place you must have binding that will ultimately cover the joint at the horn of the guitar. This is an area that is very difficult to rout with a router. The solution is to glue the binding strip at the end of the horn and butt the cutaway piece to it.

Once the piece is glued in place as shown in your guitar is now a cutaway instrument ready to be completed in the conventional manner! Good luck and build great instruments!

This article was originally written for and published in GUITARMAKER, the quarterly journal of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (ASIA).