MIMF

At what part of the carving process do you cut your F-holes? I have my top pretty close to final on the outside, and rough carved on the inside. Benedetto suggests carving them close to this stage. When do you cut yours?

Brian

I 'tune' my plates using Chladni patterns, taking them to final thickness before I cut the holes. Generally speaking, cutting he holes alters the stiffness of the plates and messes up the patterns. Then you put in the braces and work on the profiles to get he patterns back. Note that, in this scheme, the 'scoop' around the edge is pretty well done before you cut the holes and so on. Some people leave that until the box is assembled. That seems to be the way Strad worked, and I have done some fine tuning on the edges after assembly, but less than many folks seem to do.

Not much of an archtop guitar builder, but I do make the occasional archtop mandolin with f-holes. I cut them when the top is pretty much done, outside and inside, mostly because it seems easier to carve / scrape / sand everything smooth when you don't have to deal with the holes. I have read that Collins cut the f-holes on their mandolins after the instrument is finished, with a laser! They sure are clean. So, if you have a laser in your shop...