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Acoustic #3: Walnut/wrc Jumbo


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Routed the binding channels today - lovely and simple with the right tooling - then tried to bend some bindings and had them come out all messed up. And cracked at the waist. Tried bending the curly maple too fast, not hot enough, and too dry (no water at all), so I got out another bunch and they're currently sitting in the bender, cooling. I'll take them out tomorrow and get down to business. Probably glue the back binding in place before I go to work, if it goes quickly enough I'll do the top as well (with teflon strips) and spend the evening fitting the paua purfling around the top. Maybe.

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The neck's laminated from maple, walnut and wenge, headstock face veneer is ebony, back is ebony (resawed an overly thick headplate blank, so they're actually bookmatched). The veneer is commercially bought (no point in making thin tickness veneer from common woods. Not worth the wear on the blade and the frustration of sanding to precise tiny thin thickness).

The initial glue-down for the top binding is now sitting downstairs drying. Will check the fit for the back and glue that down later, and spend a bit of tomorrow morning fitting paua purfling. Then hopefully routing the neck pocket (after shaping the heel while the glue sets/dries), second and final coat of epoxy, and some spraying on Sunday. Work's been hellishly busy this week, so I haven't had more than 2 hours at home before really needing to collapse on the couch and stare at a TV screen like a zombie or something...

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Rick Turner inspiration?? Flying butress supports and a side sound port. I think your x-braces instead of back braces is an interesting concept. Are there strength advantages with those instead of back braces? Whats your take on that?

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Very definintely inspired by Rick Turner (buttresses), Mario Proulx (CF laminated braces in that orientation, Rick does it differently), Linda Manzer (wedge), and Mike Doolin and Rick for the adjustable neck joint/floating fingerboard extension.

The X braces on the back help keep the dome in shape, and are easier to 'tune' because the back responds more like the top (because it's braced similarly). I don't think it's any heavier, and it sure looks cooler through the sound hole :D

Chris: It's a Jumbo of my own design, sort of took a J-200 and a Ryan Grand Cathedral and made them make a baby. Ish.

Just got done sanding/scraping all the bindings - not using masking tape next time, will get un-lazy and pick up some packing tape - scraping superglued tape gunk off is a major PITA. Will need to give the top a complete sand-down before final finishing, because the colour's a tough patchy. Off to apply the second (and final, judging by how well the pores are filled already) coat of filler. Pics tomorrow.

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Nifty! :D

psst...you're supposed to go build an acoustic one of these days real soon now, remember? Make some acoustic nifty of your very own!

Daniel: not sure I understand the question. The back's wedged, not the top - the guitar's lying face-down, epoxy curing in that picture. Front and neck geometry are entirely unaffected. Essentially, you're tapering heel to tail and side to side. Easy enough with a dish.

Edited by Mattia
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Nifty! :D

psst...you're supposed to go build an acoustic one of these days real soon now, remember? Make some acoustic nifty of your very own!

Daniel: not sure I understand the question. The back's wedged, not the top - the guitar's lying face-down, epoxy curing in that picture. Front and neck geometry are entirely unaffected. Essentially, you're tapering heel to tail and side to side. Easy enough with a dish.

What I mean is this, with the back angled the way when you hold the guitar the bass strings are closer to your body than the treble strings, which changes the pick attack so that when you strum your picking more "into" the fingerboard instead of parallel with it, which causes string buzz.

But I've never played one, so I may be over thinking it and it's not an issue at all.

BTW I LOVE that abalone, my next one will have to have full abalone binding now after seeing yours. Beautiful to be sure.

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Nifty! :D

psst...you're supposed to go build an acoustic one of these days real soon now, remember? Make some acoustic nifty of your very own!

All in good time. I've taken the most important step - I have 20(!) RW back and side sets from Allied Lutherie filling the shelves in my bedroom. At my current rate of progress that should last me until the apocaylpse... :D

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Setch: took advantage of the Opportunity Grade stuff, I'm guessing? I very seriously considered it at the time, but I'd just spent stupid money on the 10 sets of Madagascan rosewood (bit pricier) from Madinter. Need more Indian, though. Gorgeous tonewood, fairly priced.

Daniel: I've never played one either, but I can't see it as a problem, really; your arm registers what the plane of the strings is, and people tend to tilt guitars towards or away from them anyway while playing. Think strat belly cut for instance. 'Air guitar' playing it doesnt feel any different from playing a normal acoustic, it just doesn't feel quite so absurdly huge as it could - still feels big, mind you, but not stupid crazy big. Also, I'm not normally a big fan of purfling in abalone, but I think the warm colours (walnut, yellowish maple, cedar) really set off the greens and blues in a way spruce with bling rarely does.

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Is that guitar thicker on one side, or is that an optical illusion?

Looks beautiful! :D

It's significantly thicker on the treble side/thinner on the bass side - ie, a Wedge guitar a la Linda Manzer. Makes the bit that goes under your arm feel smaller.

Oh, very cool. B) You're right, that would be pretty easy, and fairly impressive-looking. :D

I don't think the picking direction would be an issue. I think my hand picks based on the plane of the bridge that it's resting on. Think about when you move the guitar around; your hand sticks to the bridge (or mine does I think).

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Very definintely inspired by Rick Turner (buttresses), Mario Proulx (CF laminated braces in that orientation, Rick does it differently), Linda Manzer (wedge), and Mike Doolin and Rick for the adjustable neck joint/floating fingerboard extension.

The X braces on the back help keep the dome in shape, and are easier to 'tune' because the back responds more like the top (because it's braced similarly). I don't think it's any heavier, and it sure looks cooler through the sound hole :D

Chris: It's a Jumbo of my own design, sort of took a J-200 and a Ryan Grand Cathedral and made them make a baby. Ish.

Just got done sanding/scraping all the bindings - not using masking tape next time, will get un-lazy and pick up some packing tape - scraping superglued tape gunk off is a major PITA. Will need to give the top a complete sand-down before final finishing, because the colour's a tough patchy. Off to apply the second (and final, judging by how well the pores are filled already) coat of filler. Pics tomorrow.

yeah I think rick lays them across the top of the braces (horizontally rather than vertically).. So your trying the 10 second neck reset/side-to-side adjustment?? I've just been making Martin replicas! haha :D bolt-on's though B)

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Yeah, Rick 'skins' the top of his braces. The thing I don't like about that (at this point in my building 'carreer') is that it means I can't shave the braces afterwards. May well give it a shot if I make myself a 'beater' guitar (tough, easy to travel around with, etc.).

Erik: like Daniel said, it's a righty, and it's on its front.

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