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I've a friend that has asked me to build a F-hole style electric. I've only built one accoustic so far that turned out ok so I got some experiance at binding,neck building ect. I don't know anything about hollowbody constuction so need a good book on it. Any suggestions on a book? Also he said his grandfather was a musician and had one like he is talking about so this would be like 40s or 50s. He want humbuckers at bridge and single coil at neck, said they are round top. Anyone know what these could be? Got him looking for picts so maybe know more later. Thanks

What kind of 'F-hole style electric'? Like a Gibson ES-335, or a Fender thinline telecaster? The former is basically an archtop guitar with a centerblock (and there are some electric archtops without centerblocks) running down the middle, the latter is a solidbody with chambers routed into it. I haven't seen any books specifically detailing the construction of ES-style (Gibson-style) semihollows, and Fender style semihollows don't really need a seperate text; build a solidbody, chamber it, glue a top on.

What 'round top' means beats the hell out of me. There are hundreds of flavors of humbuckers and single coils, from both big companies and small single winders, in a variety of configurations. In the 40's and 50's you had the PAF (gibson humbuckers) style stuff, charlie christian pickups, and fender's single coils (telecaster/broadcaster), but I'm not really an expert on vintage pickup history. Dig up a guitar model and the interwebs should answer your questions.

ES-335 style. I found some lipstick style online but not sure if thats what he's talking about.

Get a book on archtop guitar construction, and make the sides narrower. An ES-335 has a solid centerblock (balsawood, I believe) about 4" wide running from head to heelblock, full contact with top and back. Top and back are laminated, but solid is an option as well. Check this page for more info:

http://www.es-335.net/history.html

The Center blocks in the ES were maple. The block is the thickness of the rib garland and inside the laminated top are "contour braces" that are kerfed to conform the the side to side curve. The front to back arch is shaped like the arch then somehow the braces are made flush with the underside flat surface of the plate. I use a router set up for this but don't have a photo. I glue the contour braces onto the plate using a vacuum bag.

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Ken

The Gibson ES-330 is a true hollow body. It has the same shape as the ES-335 without the center block. I don't think they were nearly as popular as the 335.

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53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/

Your right, not as popular, had a trapeze bridge and P90's. They're value on the older ones isn't nearly that of a 335 from what I've seen. They also have a bigger problem with Feedback being totally hollow obviously. Don't know if that's why they were less popular though.

Regards,

Don

Ps: If its an older archtop, the Charley Christian (sp?) single coils were popular during that era, perhaps that's what he's talking about a single coil.