plans found with topo templates

[Greg Martin]

Last month I searched and found a greatly detailed set of arch top plans from Georgia luthier supply online of course. Over the years Ive collected a few plan sets and each set had strong suits and short comings.This set is nicely detailed and comes with a topographical template layout , exactly what a new arch top builder needs to end up with a good arch and not settling for less than good or wasting expensive material. I glued the layout to 1/4" mdf and band sawed the pieces out . now I have a tracing template that can be used for pin routing or hand carving. Ill try to post some pics but they dont always work well for me .Just want to give a heads up . They offer electronic or hard copy plans as well as for cnc. just google Georgia luthier supply online. It worked well for me, I may not need to use the templates always, but its a great boost in the beginning.

[Michael Lewis]

You have to start somewhere, so a topo map can be good.

However, if you have a long arch template and three cross arch templates for the widest places in upper and lower bouts and for the waist, once those arches are established all that is left to do on the outside is to fair those arches into a smooth surface.

[Patrick Hanna]

Greg, if that solution seems like it's workable for you, then that's great. I am more aligned with Michael's thought on this. But we all need to find the solution that works for us individually. Let us know how it works for you. It might be helpful to some others. You might post a link to your resource, too, for the benefit of those builders who would like a topo map of their proposed arches. Let us know how it goes!

[Greg Martin]

hi its worked out great ! The top is carved and has f holes and the 3pcs maple back just got routed and is ready to finish carve.
Its a wonderful confidence builder. Will I always need to use it, probably not, depends how many I get to carve. I have large pics in the blog section of my site www.redtailguitars.com please check them out . I post new pics as process moves along.
Ive tried to post pics here, but they all seem to be to big. Thanks for your continued help

[Barry Daniels]

You have to process your photos through a program to resize the photo and reduce the files before they can be uploaded.