SerpentineGtars

SG is sadly leaving projectguitar.com to concentrate on its online presence over at sevenstring.org - thank you to all of you for your support during my time here

That prang looks wicked. Everyone okay?

SR

BTW the neckwood combination looks stunning,

Is a nice combo, Walnut and Wenge. Just a couple of spare laminates I had lying around, thought they looked good together. There is a slight flame in the Walnut so I'm hoping that is revealed when the neck is carved and clear coat sprayed.

The car came off worse, thankfully.

Ah. I believe you are referring to the recurved carve you do....which is indeed concave. Actually I was referring to the illusion in the quilt itself. Most of the time, and indeed in a few areas of this top, quilt looks like big billowy pillows. Many areas in this particular quilt look instead like smooth divits that have been scooped out. At least to my eye. And that is a fairly unique thing. I love it!

SR

Ah, yes, the quilt does vary depending on the angle and lighting. The left side looks more how you're describing it then the right, but if you look down on the guitar from directly above, it looks the same both sides. I did almost wonder if the bookmatched sides were marked incorrectly at first, but these are definitely the two mirror-image sides. I also Google'd images of "Quilted Maple" and the figure does appear like this quite often.

Nice open workspace. The quilt on that top is fascinating. Most of it looks concave instead of convex......in that shot anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing that one done. Have you got a color planned for that top or is it staying natural?

SR

Thanks ScottR.

The carve on this body is concave, yes. I prefer the look of a concave carve and tend to do all my own carves like this unless otherwise requested. The whole body will be stained a dark brown (we've yet to do some test samples) and then shot with a clear coat.

Ah. The next question would be what is causing that hard line where a contour carve line is often penciled in. It looks like it could be a sharp bevel edge and lighting....?

SR

That's the peak of the carve. I tend to carve/sand it this way, as I will keep that sharp line at the neck end of the body and then round it off slightly at this end. Like this...

Yeah, that's an evil little tease. It brings to mind so many questions.....but I'll settle for one. Will you be dishing out the control knob relief areas or leaving them sharp edges with tight fitting knobs?

SR

I will sand the edges over a little but they won't be scooped out a la PRS style, no. Unfortunately, the Quilt Maple tears out easy and I didn't get a sharp enough edge to leave them as they are.

That's quite tasty. What was the finish treatment on the neck?

SR

Thanks SR. The finish on the neck is my favourite; Tru-Oil.

Indeed. What are you using for your clear coat?

SR

I use SprayMax 2K clear coat. Good durability and high gloss.

Damn. There were some seriously tiny bits cutting that. did you have to place the little parts into that with tweezers and a magnifying glass?

SR

I didn't have to do anything, the inlay work was done by Aaron VanWhy (VanWhy Inlay & Design, USA). When I saw the design, I immediately knew I couldn't do that by hand