Carving A Top

by: Roosevelt Walker Jr.

When you pick up a guitar with a carved top it just seems to be a lot classier then that same styled guitar sitting next to it with out the carve. The name carving comes from when guitar tops are actually carved. We're not going to actually carve here. We are going to rout, file and sand, but the end result will be the same.

The first step in carving a top is to have your top totally ready to carve. The top can either be a separate top as I have here or the top can already be on the guitar as on my CV-II. The process is the same regardless.

You are going to use a cove router bit for the first step. This is a cove bit and the type of cut that it makes.

With this next couple of steps here I would suggest that you buy some cheap wood and practice on that a few times before cutting or sanding on the actual top. This is going to be a 1/2" quilted maple top. With your router and the cove bit you are going to set the bit cutting depth at 1/4". This is the tricky part, depending on the direction of your cove bit spining and the wood grain direction, the bit is going to want to tear out some wood, and you don't want that. I've found that if I cut in the directions that I have the arrows on this picture and take my time, I don't get any tear-out. And yes I had some tear-out on my first guitar.

Near the neck joint you are going to want to bring the bit off the top for a nice transition back to the full height of the guitar as I did at the arrows.

After edging the top with the cove bit I put some duct tape around the edge as in the picture. Next I use a drill with a 60 grit sanding disk to add the rough carve shape to the top. You don't want to sand over the 1/4" edge of the top. If you get to close you will hit the tape and you know to back off. The tape just makes it real easy to see when you are getting to close to the edge.

Next I retape the edge again then I add the recurve basic shape with the dremel tool. Once again the tape is to make it easy to see when I am getting to close to the edge. Here I have completed the recurve with the dremel and sanded the recurve smooth. After you have added your recurve, if you want one, you take sandpaper a sanding block and a sanding sponge and shape your carve to the final look and feel that you want your top to have.

Completed carve.