Thought I'd throw this one out here...currently residing in its second coat of epoxy grain fill, awaiting a level sand and shellac seal tomorrow before getting sprayed (well, that and a neck fitting, but that should take about 2 hours, tops). I've shown off the rosette a few times already, so I won't repeat that picture. I'll be cutting the rest of the inlay tomorrow, I hope, and inlaying Tuesday.
The guitar's my own version of a jumbo, inspired by Kevin Ryan's Grand Cathedral and Gibson's J-200. In terms of features, I've gone a little overboard:
- Wedge body (with thanks to Linda Manzer
- Adjsutable bolt-on neck (thanks to Mike Doolin for the inspiration, although I do wonder if he remembers my questioning him, oh, almost two years ago when I was drafting the plans for this guitar)
- CF flying buttress braces (thanks to Rick Turner)
- CF reinforced X-braces (thanks to Mario Proulx)
- Soundport
It's 16.6" wide across the lower bout, 5" deep at the bass side (4.7" tailblock), so it's HUGE (possibly a bit too big, but it feels like a 'regular' large guitar), Black Walnut back/sides and flamed maple binding from Uncle Bob, WRC top from Rivolta, Neck's maple/wenge/walnut, scarfed and backstrapped heastock, ebony (bound) fingerboard.
A few detail shots during construction. Hopefully I'll get you pics of the completed guitar in a few weeks time:
Headstock, before binding went on:
The back, two CF reinforced X-braces. Seems stiff enough with them layed out like this, back's keeping its dome. Pictured is the arsenal of shaping tools - Blue Spruce chisels, fingerplanes, and the sacrificial two cherries (the CF destroys blades). Was my first time using HHG for the bracing, a bit nerve wracking, but not too bad.
Gratuitous posed shot with our new baby grand piano - 50's, German, solid walnut with flamed walnut veneering. And it sounds even better than it looks (girlfriend's a pianist at heart, really, I'm the guitarist).
As I'm an idiot, these are the best pictures I have of the bracing - before it went on I did a bit of Chladni pattern tuning (got a reasonably nice ring and a half at 245 Hz in the end), and the fingers went much smaller, the tone bars lower and tapered more steeply, and I took off more from the lower X brace legs. Took pictures, but that doesn't work well when the memory card's in the card reader, not the camera. Anyway, the idea behind the upper bout bracing is not to lock it in too much (the A braces are inlet, but scalloped at the ends) as the CF buttresses take up a bunch of slack, and the fingerboard's glued to a floating extension, not the top.
...skip a few steps, and a shot through the side soundhole. I'm not as neat as some folks here, but bear with me, this is the third acoustic I've built...
The box, closed, from the back:
...and the front:
Rosette after a spit coat of shellac:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpi ... /Ban11.jpg
Coat of Z-poxy - figured I'd protect the wood from CA drips and give it an initial pore fill in one go. I've since bound the guitar and installed paua purfling on the top - again, took picutres, memory card not in camera. Am officially a moron that way.
More pics tomorrow and the day after if folks are interested...and assuming I remember to put the card in the camera.
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