Custom Instrument Plate Blanks
Why Use Custom Blanks?
As a luthier, you are sure to devote many hours to forming slabs, multi-part backs or wedges to a roughly-fit shape. Then it’s on to carefully gouging, planing, and forming your plates to their final shape. Then on to assembly and the painstaking hours of finishing. Custom Blanks from Arched Angle Creations save your lungs, hands, back, and tools from one of the more tedious segments of making arched instruments.
What do you mean by “Custom Blanks”?
Back and top plate designs can be very personal for each luthier. It is a labor of love to perfect the sweep of the arches, the perfect fluting, the graceful corners, and, of course, the beautiful musicality of each instrument. In order to facilitate your craft, we first scan a 3d map of your ready-to-install plates* with 0.1mm accuracy Then, one of our design team builds a CAD (Computer Aided Design) model of your plate. Using your blanks, we remove a large portion of the rough-out material and return a plate blank made to your exacting specifications.
*completed instruments are possible to scan, but not the best option.
What is the Reverse Engineering Process?
We begin with a consultation to discuss your instrument model and the requirements for your blanks. At this point we will scan your existing plates into our computers. The next step is to build a Computer Assisted Design (CAD) model from 3D scans of each of your plates. This can take several hours to a couple of days depending upon the number of plated and required design modifications, e.g. fluting and f-hole removal.
Your project now moves to the manufacturing floor; where we make an MDF ‘buck’ of the outside shape of your blanks. Then it’s time for your next appointment for a ‘fitting’ session. Please bring your arch templates as we will use them to review and fine-tune the outer profiles of your plates to ensure they meet your exacting standards before committing a single splinter of tone-wood to manufacturing.
Once the outer shape is to your standards, we will then make your ‘forever cradles’ for graduating your plates. The bucks from your fitting session are then graduated, measured and photographed. The photos are sent to you for final approval.
This is the end of the Reverse Engineering process and the beginning of a future making beautiful instruments with far less manual work!
What about famous instruments?
We do offer some models e.g. Guarneri (Vieuxtemps Del Gesu) for making your plates without a custom design. Please ask one of our team about other designs today!
How Much Does It Cost?
There’s no hiding it; there is quite a bit of work involved in transforming a custom arch and graduations from your plate scans and map into the digital realm for manufacturing. We have processes in place, tailored to lutherie, intended to keep the costs attainable for professional luthiers producing volume work. In addition to the attached pricing schedule, you should know the following:
Some of your precious instrument parts will need to be scanned (unless you have scans!) to facilitate reverse engineering. We prefer to do this in the controlled lighting in our shop in McMinnville, Oregon.
On-site scanning is available and mileage-dependent (Oregon, Washington, Northern California) for a reasonable fee.
We can manufacture your existing CAD models,** or even reverse engineer from your CT or 3D LIDAR scans**!
Let’s discuss the specific needs of your shop and find a labor-saving pre-shaping plan for your plates today!
A pricing schedule is available on request, as a guide. There are more than a few variables to this process.
**models must be suitable for manufacture