Making a Pallet Archtop Jazz Guitar Full Build - Part 1

A pallet wood project.
This is part 1 on how i make an archtop jazz guitar out of 1 old pallet. I'm not trying to proof anything and this is not a tonewood vs scrap wood debate. There is a lot of good reasons to use maple, mahogany, spruce, rosewood, ebony .....etc
This is just a fun challenge for me and i like to recycle materials.
The music is me playing some nice jazz standards on my trusty old Gibson 335.

[@oneconsc3333]

Natural colour with a gloss, polished finish.. love the knots and imperfections 🙏🏻💜🇨🇦

[@AndersWestfall]

Thank you I will definitely make the knots and imperfections visible. Its going to be either brown stain sunburst or natural look. Maybe i should start a vote......:)

[@jtssibarani8127]

Archtop Guitar kzbin.info/www/bejne/roCUdWVtpayBors

[@franckforster5451]

Thank you for the video, learning a lot from you. I like to collect pallet for my projects.

[@AndersWestfall]

Thanks Franck. 👍

[@grantkoeller8911]

This proves that no wood is junk. All wood is valid.

[@eliannamizrachi3415]

Hear hear!!! 👏👏👏👏

[@jeffrivera887]

That was amazing, thank you!

[@chrismullin1869]

Awesome video series. I truly enjoyed it. Thank you!

[@AndersWestfall]

Thanks Chris

[@MrKholcombe]

Impressive. I’ve been thinking about trying making an acoustic for the first time. This is inspiring for the materials. I can get as many pallets from my job as I want.

[@AndersWestfall]

Thank you Keith. For a first time build you should consider using real tonewood. It is a lot easier to form and carve. But on the other hand it is great practice.......:) Good luck with your build!

[@jtssibarani8127]

Archtop Guitar kzbin.info/www/bejne/roCUdWVtpayBors

[@trapote666]

simplemente... impresionante!!! felicidades y gracias por el video.

[@goransteen5411]

Super läckert och inspirerande!

[@AndersWestfall]

Tak🙏

[@juliodifelippo]

Wow, its look soooo good. Waiting for more Saludos.

[@chordshape8753]

Beautiful

[@rodrigouza]

Very nice!

[@richardcontant4659]

Magnifique !

[@carlwilson6631]

To make something so good looking out of some pieces of junk wood is just amazing. I have built a couple of kit guitars in the last year or so but I really want to build my own guitars from scratch. This is how I found your channel doing my research into hand made guitars. Anyway, with regards to staining the guitar, what about using leather dye instead. I used it for my last build and subsequently finished the whole thing with many many coats of tung oil, I was very impressed with the results. Just some food for thought. Good luck with the rest of the build, I’m very much looking forward to it. And I just subscribed too. Carl.

[@AndersWestfall]

Thank you Carl! I will consider leather dye and tung oil. I'm not sure about the difference between using leather dye and stain? I want all the knots, grain and imperfections to be visible.

[@carlwilson6631]

@@AndersWestfall I too wanted the grain to be visible under the colour. The dye is transparent. You apply the dye and then sand back the wood until you obtain the look you’re going for. The beauty of using leather dye is that it opens up a whole range of colours to you. With one of my builds I was going for a Union Jack effect but with the grain still visible underneath. It worked out really well. I could send you a picture if you like but I’m not sure where to send it. Carl

[@AndersWestfall]

@@carlwilson6631 Hi Carl. I already have some brown stain and I want the body to be one color only. So i will go for that first. But i will check out leather dye for another project. Tung Oil sounds promising though. I usually use shellac, but i will go for a more satin finish. Thanks!

[@carlwilson6631]

@@AndersWestfall awesome! I’m looking forward to the rest of the build. Particularly the neck, building one from scratch is what scares me the most. I’ve used different finishes for my kit guitars, but I find tung oil to be the most ,‘organic’ to the touch, is the only way I can describe it. Thats all I ever use now.

[@07LUTE70]

Nice job great background music

[@williambarabanitz3858]

Is the soundtrack a recording of the built pallet guitar? Sounds very responsive/articulate for what it is. BTW, what wood is used (top, sides, back, neck, fingerboard, and bridge)? Pickup, pots, and Jack?

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi William. Yes the soundtrack is me playing on the pallet guitar. The wood is pallet wood…..😊 except the fingerboard, bridge and some decorative pieces. That is ebony.

[@JorgeMagallanes95]

Love it. Impressive work, like many comments above this video inspires me, I,ve wanted to build a guitar for a long time but I was afraid. I have a few questions, hope you could answer (with all due respect to your work) How thin is the lid? When you are using the router, I didn’t get it when you said 5mm from the table and when you drill 5 mm above the pin.

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi Jorge. Thanks! I used the router to make the edge 5 mm thick. The router is liftet 5 mm above the table. Carved the frontside of the top by hand. Then i set the drill press to stop 5 mm above the pin and drill many holes from the backside as a guide to copy the curve. The rest is carved, scraped and sanded by hand until i get the desired thickness. I don't measure but goes by feel. All wood are different (especially palletwood) and i go for the right balance between flexibility and strength. The top is around 4 mm thick. Good luck with your build!

[@jtssibarani8127]

Archtop Guitar kzbin.info/www/bejne/roCUdWVtpayBors

[@kagou4166]

Hello, I am amazed by the work you are doing. Just a quick question...Do you use two different jigs to design and build your guitar? The table is longer.

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi there. Thank you! For the body shape i used a template i made for my baritone guitar. The scale length jig is selfmade. The rest (body thickness, top\back contours, neck/headstock form) is improvised freehand drawings and some mathematics…..😊

[@GerasimosHandmadeGuitars]

I would strengthen the sides with blocks between the up and down kerfing, perhaps plywood?apart from that..i love it.. ps. I would leave thw nail holes.open!

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi Gerasimos. Strengthen the sides is a very good point. Thanks!

[@GerasimosHandmadeGuitars]

@@AndersWestfall just keep the distance between them equal. cut equal blocks so you measure easy and fast.glue one block, leave two blind and so on!!!looking forward for next video!

[@goldenguitarteacher9665]

hi you are a great guitar maker. and I might ask when the second part of the video will be

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi there. Thanks! I´m hoping to finish the next steps and to upload part 2 before New Year. :)

[@goldenguitarteacher9665]

@@AndersWestfall Thank you very much the videos are very inspiring

[@fernandoroman6892]

Andrew I love your work! I'm from Argentina and I would like to make that guitar but I can't get the plans. Could you share the plans you use?

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi Fernando. Thank you! There is no plans:) I used the mold from my Baritone build (another video) for the body shape and the rest is improvised and freehand drawings…..

[@jtssibarani8127]

Archtop Guitar kzbin.info/www/bejne/roCUdWVtpayBors

[@goldenguitarteacher9665]

when will the third part please

[@goldenguitarteacher9665]

which brand of planer and thicknesser you use

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi there. My thickness planer is a Güde GADH 254 P.

[@ralex3697]

Vey nice, but pallet wood is not usually a Luthier’s first choice.

[@lasnie]

Godt nok imponerende hvad du kan få ud af en gammel palle. Jeg glæder mig til part 2, og til at høre hvordan resultatet lyder

[@AndersWestfall]

Tak Lasse, gode gamle ven! Jeg glæder mig også til resultatet og til at vi ses. :)

[@jtssibarani8127]

Archtop Guitar kzbin.info/www/bejne/roCUdWVtpayBors

[@BadChizzle]

What kind of wood is this? Did you dry it first? Sorry if you answered these questions and I missed it. I’m often not very observant.

[@AndersWestfall]

Hi BadChizzle. I dont know exactly what kind of wood it is, but it is some kind of softwood like pine. It is a very old pallet and has been lying outside in the bottom of pile for several years. After disassembling i took it inside for a couple of weeks before starting to use it.

[@BadChizzle]

@@AndersWestfall Thank you for answering. I enjoyed your skills and learning a few things. I have only built guitars from selected parts thus far. I’m thinking of the challenge of an acoustic from scratch. Scary!

[@AndersWestfall]

@@BadChizzle Just do it! :) The learning curve is really steep and almost all the mistakes can be saved....... Good luck and happy building!

[@sergeymalihov3465]

А просушивать дерево не надо?

[@bibrent8751]

😠 Promo>SM!!

[@AndersWestfall]

? :)