The Cherry Bari

The urge to build a baritone has been creeping up on me for a while. A couple billets of perfectly quartersawn cherry have been sitting around so I blew the dust off one of them and went to work. The plan is to use a cantilevered fretboard in homage to Rick Turner's Compass Rose. Sure is nice to be able to build the top with a full radius instead of flat at the upper bout and radiused below. To further the goal of maximizing the vibrating area of the top, solid mahogany linings were installed.





Although it's not yet decided, I'm leaning toward this piece of Bolivian rosewood for the fretboard and bridge.



These things are big! For scale, the one on top is a concert.

As Rick has said, it's a good idea to draw out a new design. The point is that the neck angle, fret height, string height, fretboard thickness, fretboard height and top curvature all need to be in such a relationship that the strings land on the saddle at an appropriate height.



The gizmo that says "LMI" upside down is a brace sander that has curves for both 25' and 15' which are the top and back radiuses that I use. It's well worth $28 for making braces and for drawing the radiuses on a plan.

That looks really, really cool.

Can't wait to see it. Cheers.

Is the side structure just sitting on the back plate for a picture, or are you not using a centre strip and braces on the back?

Allen, I suppose that was a bit unclear! Here's the next step.



Some baris have two back braces, some have three. I puzzled over this then settled on three light braces to distribute support more evenly. The braces are Western red cedar and the center strip is Sitka.

Very clean work, I like the cherry. I have a log drying in the garage, not large enough for a baritone

On the large scale body do you ever run into the need for extra support on the sides? My rosewood parlor guitar has a few supports. Curious what the rule of thumb is on that.

This is my first baritone. I have a Pono and a Kamaka to follow and neither has any extra support. I wonder what others have to say about this?

Nice looking build. Did you make the concert uke too?
I don't usually brace the sides on my builds. I make full size guitars too and read those forums....I'd say around 50% or less of the guitar builders use them. I don't think you need them on a small body like this, but they can look nice if your friends are soundhole peepers

Thanks for the info! That settles it for me - no side bracing.

Yes, the concert is mine - Bolivian RW and redwood.

It's not really bracing to stiffen the sides but rather a method to help stop a crack running around the perimeter of the instrument should something happen.

On guitars which have deeper sides and for some reason tend to get dropped more often,or maybe it's just the increased mass of the instrument that causes the damage, I use a linen bias tape that is applied with hot hide glue in strips that are evenly spaced around the sides. They are applied before the linings go one so that the linings then are glued on top of the ends.

I always use 3 back braces on my baritones. I like how it reinforces the dome that I build into my backs.

Allen, the 15' radius that I use on the back had a lot to do with the choice to use three braces. The area of the back gets a lot bigger as you go up the scale from concert to tenor to baritone, and the dome becomes more prominent. It seemed like a good idea to make sure that the back retains that nice shape.

Can't have too many go-bars.

Since the Kamaka HF-4 is my primary model for this one, it gets five light tone bars. They'll get some more trimming and shaping after the glue dries.

The top is glued onto the sides. I feel like this is a pretty good start. It's tough to predict much about the outcome until an instrument is finished but it's always encouraging to hear a pleasant and complex tone when the top is tapped at this stage. At least I don't have any reason to regret the chosen top structure.

Mr. Turner was right about drawing a diagram. Not that him being right comes as a big surprise. When the body, neck and fretboard were mocked up with straightedge laid on drill bits chosen to represent the correct string height, the straightedge landed right on the predicted saddle height. Some days go so well!

There ya go. A big pat on the back. Now grab yerself a beer.

Spoken like a true Aussie. I'll take one of those gigantic bottles of Fosters lager!

I love following these projects from start to finish.

Glad to hear that, thanks!

Still making progress. It seemed appropriate to use two bolts to spread out the clamping force on the larger mating surface. Again, I'm copying the Compass Rose tenor, but at least I give credit where it's due.



Yes, there will be washers but I like to place them only at final assembly so that the heel block doesn't get marked up during the many trial fits that happen during the process.

I've used the steel barrel nuts that are commonly available at hardware stores for furniture joints. I've also made barrel nuts out of aluminum. These weigh about .1 oz while the steel ones weight about .4 oz. A big deal? Not really, especially since that is weight near the balance point, but if the goal is to make a delightfully light instrument, you've got to watch for opportunities to add lightness. The steel barrel nuts have another weighty downside. All of the SAE threaded ones seem to be 1/4-20. A 1/4-20 bolt is twice as heavy as a 10-24 bolt of the same length. A 10-24 bolt is plenty strong enough, so the obvious thing to do is to tap the 3/8" aluminum barrel nut for 10-24 threads.



If this isn't too picky and pedantic for you, read on. What sort of aluminum rod should be used? The stuff that hardware stores sell is often terrible. In my neck of the woods, it is rare to see it identified by alloy. It's usually gummy stuff that doesn't take threads very well. 6061 is the alloy that is commonly available at metal supply and scrap places and it is certainly a step up. If you want to make your own barrel nuts, though, better to get some 2011. Speedy Metals is a good source: http://www.speedymetals.com/s-74-2011.aspx. 2011 drills and taps beautifully. Threads are shiny and smooth even without using a tapping fluid. This saves the step of carefully cleaning the threads with solvent after tapping (keep in mind that you don't want any lubrication in the thread after the neck is attached).

Wow that cherry looks awesome. Can't wait to see it finished!

The cantilevered portion of the fingerboard needs stiffening. Carbon fiber ought to do the trick. Recesses were cut in the back side of the board using the mill. The carbon extends well back over the neck.



Three carbon fiber "popsicle sticks" were cut to length...



...and glued in place with epoxy after thorough cleaning and sanding with #80 paper. It would be a shame to have the fingerboard take on a bend as a result of all this, so it is clamped onto a piece of aluminum that has been machined flat.

A very nice piece of sapele was use for the neck. It is reasonably light and has very fine, even grain. The neck has been roughed out and fitted with a carbon fiber rod and a basswood stringer. Even though I don't have small hands, I like fairly thin necks so the thickness at the first fret is .60" with the fingerboard.