soldering of sides and back


After a longer period not working on the resonator guitar project (due to the move and new set up of the workshop) we decide to do the big step: soldering the back to a side. We failed to take photos of the preshaping and bending operation of the side. think i could do an update when we are going to do it for the next 2 guitars.

For the start we soldered using normal soft-solder - although, i'm pretty sure silver would be THE material of choice! But we thougt, in case we had to undo the parts again, it would be a lot easier.... and would not burn our fingers that much.

Selfmade Resonator Guitar

Selfmade Resonator Guitar

Selfmade Resonator Guitar

we made an extra wooden base, to keep the surface of the back in level. as one can see (hope so) at the pictures above, the former round edge of the back is filled with solder. this will not fixture the side, and will be removed by the chamfer process - see next pics

Selfmade Resonator Guitar

Selfmade Resonator Guitar

the solder had gone all the way down where needed (red arrow / next pic)

Selfmade Resonator Guitar

looks pretty nice - coffee time !

Selfmade Resonator Guitar

clear to see, the solder will make a good joint,
it has gone all the way between the sides and the back!


Selfmade Resonator Guitar

now let's solder the top to the body

Homemade Resonator Guitar

Homemade Resonator Guitar

the resonator guitar seems to come to life soon... clamps help to fix the top. personally I do not like stress while assembling a music instrument. but at this stage there was no other choice than forcing the material to a tight fit.

Homemade Resonator Guitar

Homemade Resonator Guitar

of course, some finish has to be done :-)
personally i do have some fear, that the soundwell ring isn't smooth enough :-(
but hey, it pretty much looks like a resonator guitar!!

Homemade Resonator Guitar

time to smoke

oh no... we closed the sides, so now we have to make a hole to get the neck into the resonator guitar body.... next time we'll just solder shorter sides to the front and back brass parts. but, take a flex and off we go...

Homemade Resonator Guitar

the next pic is a poser only, we didnt forget to wear gloves while doing the real work :-)

Homemade Resonator Guitar

Homemade Resonator Guitar

Homemade Resonator Guitar

first "test drive"