Just thought I would share this project with you folks. I don't claim to be an inlay artist by any stretch of my imagination but this is the largest inlay project that I have ever done to date. It has consumed several months of work. Phew, glad it is behind me. It came close to being used as a Frisbee several times. This is all done by hand and no CNC was used either.
Last year, our friend, Henry Lowenstein, encouraged us to stretch our limits and build something totally out of our normal box for his 2010 Newport Guitar Show in South Florida. While we were in Healdsburg, CA we met up with Denis Merrill (creator of the Sonic Sitka Project). As we were rummaging through his Sonic Sitka stash he had in his car’s trunk, in the parking lot of Allied Lutherie of all places, he pulls out this little bundle of tops from his "back seat stash". He asked us if we were interested in looking at some old but unique tops that he had cut from an old ship spar that he salvaged off the coast of Oregon many years ago. As I began flexing and tapping these tops, I felt as though we were doing a "deal" in the parking lot. Soon there were about a dozen builders gathering around Denis' car. I am sure we looked really suspicious. All the while I could see Mary getting excited about what would eventually become the "Spar Guitar" pictured below.
The design came easy for her and she really wanted to capture the history of this unknown ship that had sunken off the coast of Oregon, probably in the late 1800's. She has since done a considerable amount of research and to the best of our knowledge that seems to be the appropriate time frame. The tops Denis salvaged from the spar were really old Sitka which was commonly used for the ship masts and spars of that era and locale.
Mary began jotting ideas down and sketching pictures while we made the drive back to Santa Rosa that morning. We were equally excited to begin this new project especially after Henry had sparked our interest to create something unique and different.
Since the top was so small it just barely fit our Deacon body shape so there was little question of what the box size would be. Since she wanted me to inlay a tall ship, common to that late 1800 time period, on the back, we chose African Blackwood for the sides and back. The inner sides are Honduran Mahogany, chosen both for tone and to minimize weight while the inner back of my “Hollow Back” design is Brazilian Rosewood.
Linda Manzer was kind enough to allow us to use her 'Manzer Wedge" design which really make this little guitar so comfortable to hold and play. I have built a couple of Manzer Wedges so far and the idea makes perfect sense from an engineering standpoint. It’s a way to increase player comfort without sacrificing [vibrating surface area] of the top or reducing sound box air volume. The bass side is about 3-1/2" deep while the treble side is 4-1/2" deep. In effect it is the normal body volume of a 4" deep body but feels so much thinner in your lap.
The side soundport is in the shape or a hook anchor of that period. It was very difficult to photograph since the wood is so dark. You might be able to see it in the pictre below?
It’s a long scale 25.4” neck, 14 frets to the body. The peg-head and fingerboard are Madagascar ebony while the rosette & bridge are Brazilian RW. African Blackwood bindings, maple side and back purflings and Pau Abalone top purfling. The peg head and fingerboard inlays are white, gold and black mother of pearl, abalone and sea snail. The ship is Cuban Mahogany with a Brazilian RW mast, the sails are Quilted Big Leaf Maple, Curly Rock Maple & Curly Big Leaf Maple bound in Gaboon ebony and birch purflings. The waves are reconstituted Jade and MOP wave caps. The moon and stars are white MOP. I had over two months of work in the back inlays alone so this was a VERY long and challenging project.
We wanted to squeeze every ounce of tone out of this little guitar so Mary spent several weeks applying a very thin but approprite French Polish to the top. I must say that she did a great job. For those of you who are going to the show we hope you can stop by our table and test drive this guitar and give us some feedback. Thanks for looking...
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. Although not the main eye catching part of the guitar with all the inlays, I really like the anchor soundport, it's different yet seems to really suit any guitar for a soundport.