Got some exciting mail today…

The tops for the Gibson build arrived.  I got three sets of Lutz spruce for these, though I will only use two.  This comes from British Columbia.  The supplier I bought from gives a name to all the trees that he cuts from and each tree has different qualities.  This one is called “palladium”, some is on the redder side in color.  This is fairly fresh, and even thought they are 3/16″ thick,  I’ll have to dry them in the oven.  Cooking at 200 degrees for about an hour simulates years of aging and is a common technique.

To make the shipping worthwhile I added some very nice choco-cedar tops to my order.  Not sure what I’ll make with these but I’ll hold on to them.  They are really high grade tops and I got them for a great price.

Under all the tops is spruce billets for bracing.  This is lutz spruce as well.  Supposedly the sapwood makes the strongest braces, that’s why you see the bark on them.

I’m super excited about this stuff, minus the Martin stuff I stumbled on, this is my first purchase of fine tonewood.  Now I need to make more shelving in the shop.  I plan on keeping all the tops in there.

 

 

Wood shopping trip…

My dad and I went to the local saw mill.  This is what I picked up.  More flamed maple, two boards.  One big board of flamed ambrosia maple.  One board of amazon mahogany, and a big chunk of basswood.

The maple I picked up last time was flat sawn, which I will use for laminated necks.

I love the local sawmill.  Its so inexpensive.  The ambrosia maple is about 1″ x 12″ x 8’ long.  It has some nice figure, which is hard to photograph.  I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to use it, but it was 14 bucks!

This time I was trying to find pieces of flamed maple that had some decent quartered grain in it for backs and sides.  Both boards have a mix of grain.  One thing I realized… new band saw blades are definitely needed!  I think I’ll order a couple carbide tipped blades before I try to saw any more.  That and I need a few good hours to really set up the band saw.  Then I can go at it and resaw all my backs and sides.  I somewhat successfully resawed a section of the smaller board.  Despite the poor saw job, it looks like it will work.

I made the piece long enough for sides.  Worst case, I’ll cut them down to side width.  Took a pic with the template for my classical on top.  Next guitars will be OO size, but the template is close enough for now, just to see how it would look.

Tone wood from a local source

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My purchases from today’s excursion. Cherry and walnut back and side sets. The sycamore was gorgeous, but wasn’t quite ready yet. I’ll be going back for that later. This guy had buildings full of wood from local downed or removed … Continue reading →

Guitar back mit braces glued on

I spared everyone the layout and clamping process this time.

Backs are looking good.  Hope to have the braces carved down tomorrow.  I like the walnut with the redwood center strip.  The braces are mahogany from a porch, which you can see on the untouched exposed side, but they will finish up nicely.  I think a bit of shellac just on the braces and back strip once they are carved and sanded.

Then on to the sides.  Bending them on a hot pipe should be an adventure, that is after a lot of planing to thickness.

Backs and sides ready for more work

Starting to look like something other than stacks of wood. Redwood soundboards and walnut backs all glued up and cut out. Started to plane to thickness, but progress derailed for a couple days by a stomach bug. Yuck! I haven’t been sick in years. Oh well.
Luckily I feel well enough to play bass on a gig tonight that my friends booked.
I’ll be back at the guitar soon.

Gluing up the plates

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More progress… Picked through my redwood tops and walnut backs, then traced a basic profile trying to avoid any undesirable spots. Used the shooting board and joined the soundboards.  They aren’t quite wide enough, so once the glue cured, I … Continue reading →

Starting a guitar, I think this is a start.

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Some guitar stuff- Cut out and put some shellac on my workboard, which means I drew up the shape of my first guitar.  A few things left to complete before its ready to use. Cut a small end piece of … Continue reading →