Popular Post mattharris75 Posted January 30, 2022 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 As I finish up the details on my Zenith guitar build planning for my next project has ramped up. Many years ago I built a bass for a buddy of mine. I was simultaneously building a 'cousin' for myself. My friend's bass turned out great, but there were some things about the one I was building for myself that I just wasn't satisfied with. So off to the closet it went, unfinished. So now it's time to begin a new bass. Why Zenith bass? Well, it's got a 'hook' on the horn like my Zenith guitar ( and like the mandola that preceded it). So let's keep the theme going! I built my wife a keepsake box for Christmas, and I loved the color combination of black walnut and makore: So walnut and cherry with a maple accent layer it is! I have a pretty large stash of walnut that has some interesting grain to it. But most of it is oddly sized and in very rough shape, twisted, cupped, etc, etc. It was all stuff that was cut down locally by a family friend and stored in his attic for years, perhaps decades. Digging through the pile I found some interesting pieces: So I spent some time cleaning it up, squaring it up on the table saw, planing it, thickness sanding, etc: I think we have something here! As for the cherry, a cabinet maker friend of mine has some old, old boards that he pulled out of a barn up in Tennessee. I'll be heading by his shop to pick out some of this within the next week or so: Hardware on this will be gold or brass. The neck will be laminated from cherry/maple/walnut, and it will have an open style headstock like my previous bass, patterned after Dave Higham's open headstock design. Fretboard will likely be ebony, but that's subject to change. The body will have a fairly deep and organic carve to it. Should be a fun little project, I can't wait to see what this top looks like when it's all said and done! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 Oooo...looking forward to this one! Lovely walnut 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2022 Thanks Andy. I wasn't able to pick up the cherry this week, but I did get some work done on the wood that I do have. Maple and walnut neck stringers are cut and sanded. The outside pieces of the neck laminate will be cherry. And the maple veneer/stripe that will go between the walnut top and cherry back has been joined and sanded down to 5mm thickness. The top has been joined and thicknessed down to 14mm. There is currently a lot of extra wood on each end of the blank. I'm going to print out a paper template and get the placement where I want it to show off the grain to the best effect, then I'll cut off the excess before gluing up the body blank. I need to hurry up and get my truss rod and fretboard and whatnot ordered, because I'll be needing them fairly soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 That is going to look sensational!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 10 hours ago, mattharris75 said: I'm going to print out a paper template and get the placement where I want it to show off the grain to the best effect, That little trick, a piece of paper with a guitar shaped hole, is way too underrated! It wasn't too long ago when a fellow builder asked for an opinion in a similar case. He had pondered upon it for quite some while and every suggestion made ended with "well, but what if it doesn't quite match". It only took a minute to lay the template on a piece of paper and cut the outlines with a scalpel. And after turning the hollow piece around a couple of times it was obvious that there was one place where the grain pattern seamlessly continued the sides of the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 7, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 8 hours ago, Bizman62 said: That little trick, a piece of paper with a guitar shaped hole, is way too underrated! It wasn't too long ago when a fellow builder asked for an opinion in a similar case. He had pondered upon it for quite some while and every suggestion made ended with "well, but what if it doesn't quite match". It only took a minute to lay the template on a piece of paper and cut the outlines with a scalpel. And after turning the hollow piece around a couple of times it was obvious that there was one place where the grain pattern seamlessly continued the sides of the neck. Yeah, as a builder if you're not giving the wood proper consideration then what are you even doing?!?! After fretting over it for a bit this is the position I'm leaning toward: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 4 minutes ago, mattharris75 said: After fretting over it for a bit this is the position I'm leaning toward: How come it so happened that I was thinking along similar lines without reminding myself about the actual shape! Apparently that is the optimal position for about any guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2022 9 hours ago, Bizman62 said: How come it so happened that I was thinking along similar lines without reminding myself about the actual shape! Apparently that is the optimal position for about any guitar. I think depending on the shape of the instrument it could move an inch or two either way, but there's definitely a sweet spot in there! I went ahead and cut down the top and made the veneers for the head plate and backstrap. It's 1.5mm thick walnut with 1.5mm thick maple underneath it. I decided to go with some pretty simple non-figured walnut, as I don't think it needs it be a feature, since you won't see much of it with the open headstock. Figure might, in fact, be distracting in such a small area. I'll be heading to my buddy's shop on Wednesday to pick out the cherry for the body and remainder of the neck. I should make some good progress this coming weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted February 8, 2022 Report Share Posted February 8, 2022 14 hours ago, mattharris75 said: Yeah, as a builder if you're not giving the wood proper consideration then what are you even doing?!?! After fretting over it for a bit this is the position I'm leaning toward: It's worth doing paper templates of the bridge, pickups and fretboard and position those too. It is amazing how many times those cover features that, uncovered, makes the figuring sing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 8, 2022 Report Share Posted February 8, 2022 3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: It's worth doing paper templates of the bridge, pickups and fretboard and position those too. That or a mockup with the actual parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2022 I actually did it the newfangled way and imported the pictures into my Adobe Illustrator design file, which has not only hardware but my carve lines. The fact that some of the lower bout will be carved away for the arm rest influenced the positioning as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 9, 2022 Report Share Posted February 9, 2022 On 2/7/2022 at 10:56 AM, mattharris75 said: Yeah, as a builder if you're not giving the wood proper consideration then what are you even doing?!?! Wisdom from a master at getting the most out of wood. SR 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 Hah! If you say so, Scott. Went by my buddy's shop today and got a few nice pieces of cherry that he'd pulled out of a barn in Murfreesboro Tennessee. Six feet long, nearly an inch and a half thick, one of them 7" wide and the other 10". Plenty for this bass and some leftovers for a few necks and maybe an electric mandolin in the future. Got the body and neck stringers cut, planed, and sanded. It cleaned up really nice. I think it's going to do the trick! I'll get the neck and body blank glued up over the next few days and start making some sawdust this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 5 hours ago, mattharris75 said: few nice pieces of cherry that he'd pulled out of a barn "Out of a barn"... Our better barns are made out of pine - either logs or sawed - and the lesser ones on far away hay fields out of 3 - 4" thick mixed logs of alder, birch, willow and whatever has grown in the vicinity. Not much use for guitar building: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 13 hours ago, mattharris75 said: Hah! If you say so, Scott. Nobody that has ever seen your work would ever question that statement, Matt. It's obvious you love the beauty to be found in wood and you always take as much time as needed to coax every last bit of it to show up and be noticed. I couldn't resist...... SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 1 hour ago, ScottR said: you always take as much time as needed to coax every last bit of it to show up and be noticed. I couldn't resist...... SR Low blow, Scott! Although true... I do feel like I've sped things up a little recently! @Bizman62 , when he said he 'pulled it out of a barn' I take that to mean that it was stored in a barn. Just looking at the wood when I got it, while rough, it didn't look as if it had spent years facing the elements. I think barns here are typically cheap and local timbers as well, but I'm no barn expert! It would certainly be a waste to use this wood as barn siding, but then if that's what was on the property at the time, who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 1 hour ago, mattharris75 said: I take that to mean that it was stored in a barn. Ahh... of course. Silly me. Then again, the woods I have seen stored in a barn have been some birch and pine planks instead of exotic woods like flamed cherry. My ex father-in-law was a farmer and he used to have those under the barn roof. Birch stems having grown lying on the ground before starting to grow straight up have apparently had some serious value for sled runners because of the natural curve. I have a do-everything book from 1957, the first version published in 1930. Among other things there's lots of woodworking and the instructions often start with "take some good furniture wood"... Obviously people back then automatically knew what that means. No matter the species, it had to be properly dried, first outside and then in the attic of a barn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted February 11, 2022 Report Share Posted February 11, 2022 I've got some excellent cherry and oak that was used in a barn (as a barn? lol). The oak pieces are beams that look just awful, but when planed is some of the nicest white oak I've seen. I'm not typically an oak fan, unless it's toasted and used for aging bourbon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 11, 2022 Report Share Posted February 11, 2022 I had some unfinished white oak captain's chairs that were stunning when I finished them. White oak seems to be much different from the more common varieties of red oak. In the area I grew up in--central Missouri--it was common to find old barns that were built from the local timber. Which was oak and black walnut. It was common to go into a 120+ year old barn and discover the big timbers and siding were all walnut below that weathered surface. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 11, 2022 Report Share Posted February 11, 2022 3 hours ago, ScottR said: the local timber. Which was oak and black walnut. It was common to go into a 120+ year old barn and discover the big timbers and siding were all walnut below that weathered surface. Yup. I once met a luthier who had salvaged some logs from an old house. Pine... But they were perfect for linings in acoustic guitars. Slowly grown tight grained definitely dead wood. So that's what we can find in our old buildings... Doesn't that mean that all guitar builders in the world should unite and share each their local woods? If only mailing abroad wasn't so darn expensive!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 11, 2022 Report Share Posted February 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Bizman62 said: Pine... Slowly grown tight grained definitely dead wood. So that's what we can find in our old buildings... We have a member some years back that got his hands on exactly that kind of pine. It came from floor joists of very old buildings in New Orleans. That is supposedly a very resonant body wood and this fellow made a few fine blues guitars. They had an old bluesy look to them as well. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 Yes, I think this is going to do the trick nicely... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 1 hour ago, mattharris75 said: Yes, I think this is going to do the trick nicely... Wow! Gorgeous. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Thanks, Andy. Neck blank glued up, out of the clamps, and cleaned up. I need to run it through the jointer to get it squared up and then get it sanded down to final thickness. Then I can really get started on making a neck out of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Those woods are stunning Matt, looking forward to seeing this one finished. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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