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All Spruce Harp Guitar


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harpguitar33.jpg..

Just wanted to say Hi am Ron...First post here...

am from ventura calif ,,, :D Here my latest Build...Its a all spruce Harp Guitar ...Sure one of a kind....I build all spruce Guitars...www.bigbadrockingdaddy.com

am here because well.....I love building guitars and talking too all kind of cool people...with the same ideas....

looks like a cool place to say Hi...

marry christmas...too all........

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Hi Ron and wellcome to the forum. This IS a great place to hang around. You will notice that there is a bias towards solid electrics on this forum, although there are several regular members (including myself) that are building accoustics right now. Your harp guitar looks really interesting (spruce neck? With steel strings? how does that work for you?) and your entry for GOTM (that's guitar of the month) looks really nice.

And a merry christmas to you too, or as we say in my country "God Jul"

Edited by SwedishLuthier
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Welcome Ron!

Well that is a great looking piece of work you have there. I have never done a harp, but they look like they would be a blast. It really look forward to having you around. As mentioned most guys around here are building solid body, but more and more are giving acoustics a try. Your experience will no doubt be valued greatly.

I took the liberty of creating a link to your site(ofr those who don't wanna copy paste)-link

Merry Christmas,

Rich

P.S. Have I seen you over at the OLF?

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Thanks Guys .

I did notice that....but I sure like the Guitars posted here...wow.....You guys rock with all the cool stuff here...

I myself would like to build a strat fender style guitar ,so Am here to see what going on...just what to show you guys What I do....

thanks for the nice welcome...

Ron :D

PS Thats a Yellow Cedar neck on the harp Guitar....

Edited by ron steiger
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PS Thats a Yellow Cedar neck on the harp Guitar....

Still Cedar = soundboard wood in my book, and I haven’t seen that used for necks either. Have you strung it up yet? Does it hold up to the string force?

But then again, Melvyn Hiscock posted about this Douglas fir neck (neck-through?) some time ago and he said that it was really stiff and nice. He promised to get back about that with a report. I’m asking because I’m always curious when it comes to using “odd” wood.

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Yellow Cedar very stiff. will some what...I still have too add a solid steel rod and adjust the relief and angle in the neck...

Because the harp so big am trying to cut the weight of the hole build...and yes its a top wood...should be fine.....

am going to start doing Rope Bindings on this so guys that like rope Ill post some photo and show you guys How too....can be used on strats?I think.....

SwedishLuthier ,,,do you have a web site and what you name man....?

ron

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harp1.jpg..

harp102.jpg..

well guys Thanks for kind words...

heres the inside of the harp and bracing...well I myself think a store bought guitar is over braced...I tryed just about every kind of bracing design and thickness..

came up with a design and thickness that work very nice with my all spruce guitars. I still like spruce braces Q-sawn 1/4 thick 1/4 high works the best with

and X design...what I do change is the thickness of the spruce I tried to stay with .095 then taper down .085-+.010 this is for the top and back the sides

are almost paper thin.... yes paper thin...when Its all glued its really rigged but the top rings as I tap the top...very light guitar and easy to play...

I guess the key in building them is ,taping the spruce,flexing the top and back just knowing the spruce and making sure the spruce is stiff...

and try to keep the braces to a min.....and take off a little of the braces as you tap the top....The hole idea is ,a floating top...

The ebony all spruce was a great guitar...but still over braced but had it hardwood sound almost like a old martin 000 well

thats a little close martin makes some of the best sounding guitars and so does Gibson and taylor am just trying to make my own name ...

and my own sounding guitar...if your looking to make and allspruce guitar I can help with the spruce...I also sale spruce kits?

well for more info just post here I love to help...

ron

I have over 500photos and love to show you guys....

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Have to agree that there are some really nice guitars on your site man.

SwedishLuthier ,,,do you have a web site and what you name man....?

www.peternaglitschluthier.com

The name on the site says it all, me thinx...

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Interesting guitars. Out of curiosity, What weight do you shoot for on your bridges? In the pictures they look pretty large. They do look like you have tapered them quite a bit(big foot print for glueing). Does the harp get a standard size bridge? The bridge plate looks pretty good size in relation to the body.

I shoot for about the same thickness on my Spruce tops(about .090" +/-.005") also. Backs are a bit thinner, but they are hardwood.

Peace,Rich

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Rich

Thats the same size as the 1900 Dryer Harp blue print I used on my harp...bridge plate..

but my own design on my guitars...I just like the hardwood (snakewood,ebony,cocobolo ,,,maple ??? they look big but no bigger then Gibson Acoustic

You really not what to use to hard of a wood for the bridge plate because the wood tends to crack over time....maple or mahogany works the best...

most guys just use what ever they have left over from the sides or back.... but try to stick with maple or some kind of fine grain wood (hardwood).

if you like to change string alot...seems to wear better...? and I found mahogany has a nice sound ...It just seems that all the string ring the same..

some things you just can't change....as far a weight on the bridges? I tent not to worry about that...I do worry about wear...

well

peter

Nice Guitars man....I like that you have your own design and you stay true to it....

Great work....

ron

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Welcome Ron...some fine instruments....and a welcome addition to PG as more and more people venture into acoustic territory...

I do have a question about your GOTM entry. Very impressive, but the low E seems to be strung through a ferrule of some sort on the bridge, while the other's have pins...why is that?

pete :D

pssst...watch the pics...one per post except in a tutorial section or GOTM...maybe two...hmmm :D

one way around it is to post links for additional photos, or to post each pic in it's own post B)

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Thanks Pete

Ill keep my photo 1 pre post next time.....sorry...

about the GOTM well thats easy to Fix.....I have'nt glued the bridge on... :D Because I wait sometime till the guitar open up and go back and sand down the bridge

and do the last adjust ,file the saddle and fine tune the guitar...I kind like the customer to tell me what he of she like....and I go from there...

It just make for a good guitar and a happy customer...

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Ill update the photos this week guys , as far as I got...was getting the neck set and finger board glued...I went with pink ivy wood for the head plate

and fret board...with a 16rad on the board...The wife got me doing other job around the house...

Ps is there a place to sell wood here? (red spruce,ind-rosewood,

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