Carving plates - first music

[Brian Evans]

Carving plates is the essence of making archtop guitars. You start with that 1" thick heavy chunk of hardwood or that oddly light chunk of softwood, and you work and work to get it into a rough shape. Then you turn it over and work and work to get the inside to start to match the outside. Then you start to get close, and kind of transition from rough carving to graduating. Then you get it close and start to tap it to see what you have wrought. For me, that first tapping and the beautiful rich drum sound you get when the plates are really close is just magical - it's the first music that guitar creates. I'm building two guitars this winter and I got to hear four new plates for the first time yesterday. A lot of work but a lot of pleasure.

Brian