This archtop is very dear to me as it is not only for a dear friend of mine but it was also a super-fun platform to innovate on since I had control over most of the specs. Essentially I had to use black and white ebony, amboyna burl, and it had to be an acoustic archtop in my Model1 shape. Other than that the rest was up to me! So I played with some fun things like:
- A bolt-on version of my compound-bend all-access neck joint
- Radial purfling using burl
- Carbon fiber (neck, neck block buttresses, and laminated in pickguard)
- 3D printed structural elements (can't really see them though)
- Charlie Christian pickup
- Completely hollowed ebony bridge
- Oval hole and fan bracing
- Back-strapped diamond volute
Here she is relaxing in her new home:
The specs are: Curly maple neck, back & sides. Note: the back is domed like a flat-top not carved. Carved sitka spruce top with ebony binding and tons of crazy multi-layer purfling. Black & white ebony fretboard and tailpiece (veneered in normal ebony expect the "wings"). Hollow ebony bridge and CF-laminate ebony floating pickguard. Buffalo bone nut and saddle. 25" scale board with 12" radius and 1 3/4" nut. Finish is odie's oil neck with satin nitro headplate. Body is all done in an tru-oil with some additional wizardry to keep it from soaking deep into the top and potentially hurting the acoustic resonance.
One thing I want to point out that doesn't matter for the final product, but I'm still proud of: I decided to fully hand gramil all the binding and purfling channels on this box. What a process... won't do it again... but glad I did it once so I can truly appreciate binding jigs and bearing bits!
If you'd like to learn a (lot) more about this project, it's history, why the specs are what they are then feel free to waste 30 minutes here:
(editor's note: this is MORE than worth 30mins of your life!)
Best,
Chris
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