Harley Benton T-Style Mod - Ep 02

Welcome to the Next Project!

T-Style mod project - Episode 2.
This is a quick fly-by of 6-8 hours of project fun, all rolled into 10-12 minutes of entertainment.

00:00 - lights, camera, action
00:04 - project intro
01:06 - soundboard-ing
02:01 - bondo time [another template]
02:53 - gopher hole - of sound
04:03 - return to top
04:56 - hole 'n one
06:15 - p'up cut-out template
07:02 - adding a bridge plate
08:02 - bridge p'up hole
09:10 - spare ribs
10:35 - backseat driver
12:06 - in closing

A few more templates in this episode, but the main focus is on the new top and all the pieces that go into making it happen.

This video starts out, prepping a matched top soundboard. Using a shooting board, hand plane and some sandpaper, a perfect fit is found and glued up.
Some scraping and sanding follow to get the new top ready for the next step.

However, there are a couple other steps that have to happen at the same time.
A sound hole, or tunnel, or port... needs to be made. So, another template for cutting is produced, a mahogany block is cut, drilled, routed, sanded and in the end a nice little sound port is made and ready for the top.

The top needs to be cut from the large spruce flat. One of the templates from EP-01 is used to trace the shape onto the wood, then some cutting begins.
This is followed by determining the location of the sound hole. Careful planning and head scratching and some procrastination followed. Then is was time to commit and cut the hole.

Another template? Yep, a guild template was made to be used cutting the bridge pickup hole into the top. My plan is to use the inner cutout as a "cap" for the pickup, basically to camouflage the pickup and make it look like part of the top. That's the idea a least.
A 0.8mm engraving bit is used to cut the hole, and the inner waste piece comes out cleanly. I'll thin the inner piece and eventually bond it to the top of the pickup - but that's down the road a bit.

Other details include adding some quarter sawn spruce ribs to the underside of the top.
I didn't carve these for "tone" but rather for strength at this point, I just want to do what I can to keep the top flat.

And finally, I end the video cutting access holes in the back of the body. One is for the control access, the other for access to the bottom of the bridge and pickup. Final cuts made for covers on these areas.
That's about it for this episode... maybe I forgot a thing or two.

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