Making Guitar Linings

In guitar making there is usually more than one way to do just about everything, and linings are no exception. There are many ways to make linings for the guitar and I have tried them all. On my first few guitars I steam bent solid basswood for linings. Bending solid wood to an exact shape is difficult, and on wood that is .150" thick or more, it is almost impossible. Later I tried tantelones. Tantelones are small blocks of wood that are individually glued around the perimeter of the inside of the guitar. A small space between them makes it possible to follow the shape of the guitar much like the kerfed linings used in making steel string guitars. Guitar makers would traditionally glue these blocks on with hide glue. The little blocks were easy to make but took time to install, and if you use hide glue it is a messy process. When making a classical guitar almost everything you do will have an effect on the sound of the instrument. In the end I didn't like the effect the tantelones had on the sound of the instrument so I kept looking for a better solution. Kerfed linings are typically used on steel string guitars but you rarely see them on high quality classical guitars.

Once again, as with the sides, laminating seemed like it would be ideal for this application. Laminating thin strips of wood to produce a guitar linings simulated a solid piece of wood, and if the right wood is chosen for the job there will not be any visible evidence of laminating so they will look like a solid piece of wood. Mahogany is an ideal choice for this purpose. Mahogany will bend easily when thin and it will not leave a glue line. The laminated linings surprisingly made an difference acoustically also. They not only improved the focus of the sound, but improved the sound in general.

Preparing the Laminations

As I pointed out above mahogany is ideal for this purpose but Spanish cedar will work equally as well. Mahogany has many uses in making a guitar so if you purchase mahogany in rough stock it will not go to waste. If you have access to a good resaw band saw slice 4 pieces of stock about .052" thick from a 3" wide piece of wood. This will be enough material for one guitar. Grain orientation is not important due to the fact that the pieces will be laminated which will negate any movement due to humidity changes. I say good resaw band saw because one that is not good will waste wood unnecessarily.

Once the pieces are cut they need to be thinned to about .045" - .042". Anywhere in this range will be ok. Thinning pieces this small is best done with a drum sander. Using a drum sander will also smooth the pieces and eliminate any further prep work. The pieces are now ready for gluing.

If you do not have a good resaw band saw or a drum sander the lining laminations are availble on this site, purchase by clicking here. These laminations are ready to go, no additional prep work will be necessary. These linings are made of the finest quality mahogany available today and are limited to 2 sets per order.

Laminating Linings and the Mold

Laminating the guitar linings in the mold is easy, you just add glue and clamp them in the mold. It is the mold that is difficult to construct accurately. And without an accurate mold the laminating and installation processes become difficult.

The problem with the mold is a compound one. First, there are two pieces to the mold, a male and a female piece if you will. The curve on either of these two pieces does not match the shape of the sides exactly. The inside face of the linings themselves is not the same shape as the sides , this shape is offset by the thickness of the sides. This is small but not negligible. Then the male part of the mold is offset by the thickness of the linings which is about .180". Getting either of these curves exactly correct is almost impossible by hand. My first set of molds which I had for years were molds that I made by hand. To use these molds you needed four hands and the linings had to be installed before the glue cured or quite a bit of clamping pressure was needed to get them to fit properly. More than a little pressure to bring them home will result in distorted sides eventually if not immediately. This is not a desirable for a multitude of reasons.

The molds that are available on this site are the same molds I use in the shop every day. the side mold and the lining molds have been cut out on a CNC machine so that one, the side mold is exactly the shape it is supposed to be and two, the offset on both pieces of the lining molds are correct. Believe me, the first time I used these I threw my old ones away. To purchase the molds click here.