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My3rd build, a small bodied steel string, is made from English wood. The biggest challenge was finding wood for the soundboard and braces. The cedar I used for the soundboard has very wide grain and was not a stiff board. I tried to compensate for this in the bracing. The Larch I used for the braces was itself on the heavy side so it was with some trepidation that I embarked on the project. I think, as might be expected , the sound of the finished guitar is on the bass side of things but it sounds OK. I think the bassy sound may have been accentuated by using walnut as a bridge.
I was very rushed in making the guitar as I thought I would never finish. It seems I may actually be the first. I made a few compromises on the way!!
I wanted to keep a rustic look so I held back on the finish and was satisfied with a non-shiny finish.
As an over-all look I thought about the wood blending rather than contrasting but I was a little disappointed that the elm didn't contrast more with the ash.
Here are the specs:

Cedar (Lebanese?)- soundboard
Olive Ash- back, sides and neck
Larch- braces
Beech- head block, heel block and kerfling
Sycamore- binding, endgraft and bridge patch
Elm- purfling and back headstock veneer
Oak- fingerboard and headstock veneer
Yew- rosette
Laburnum- Fretboard and side dots.
Walnut- bridge.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Second load of pics

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Very nice, Joe. I would have switched the back outsides and insides so the glue joint would have been on more parallel grain to avoid gluing end grain, but aside from that (and the rosette; not my style), lovely construction and well shaped heel!

Thanks, Haans. Praise from you means a lot to me. I agree about the back. I think I made a beginers mistake there. Disagee about the rosette, perhaps could be a little smaller but I like it anyway. It's a lovely piece of yew but the camera didn't pick-up the colours. Same is true for the soundboard. There's reds, greens, yellows in there but just couldn't capture it on camera.
It's actually just a relief to get all the pictures off the computor onto the forum, phew! Now for the soundclip...

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Joe, no argument, just not my style. Still, nicely conceived and executed...
Now about that hole in the side!

An agreeable little ax - nicely done.

You do realize that your tuners are upside down and switched from left to right, don't you?
They still work, I know.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Well spotted, Chris! I do realise. This guitar is for me to keep. I prefer them this way round. Thanks for commenting.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Very nice guitar. I'm interested in your distinctive woods, both as a builder and as a forester. Botanically, I've got a pretty good idea of what all the woods are, with the exception of "English cedar" -- I presume this is either Himalayan or Lebanese cedar, both of which are pretty common in the UK. Do you know what it might be?

Next time, you might want to source some UK-grown Sitka spruce, at least for your braces -- there's plenty of it in forestry plantations and should be sufficient dimension for brace wood, although not likely for 2-pc tops. Norway spruce is also pretty common as a planted street/park tree in the UK, many of which are quite large and old, so arborists will commonly have material from their work that would otherwise get sold off as firewood. Larch, at least the native European larch, is also a bit prone to splitting (the commonly planted Japanese and Euro-Jap hybrids are somewhat better).

Thanks for your interest, Tim.
I presumed it was Lebanese Cedar. I should have termed it Cedar from England. think I'll go back and change the original post.
Next time I think I'll stick with spruce from the alps- much better quality. It has been a great experience choosing English grown wood and I think I'll always continue to be on the look out for local wood but I'll be getting my tops from reputable places.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Well done, Joe! I like your choice of doing a minimal finish, and the double bookmatched heel really caught my eye. Looking forward to hearing how it sounds!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Thanks, Alex. Seems like the heel is the most popular part so far. It did turn out well. The ash was quite heavy going to carve compared with mahogany I've used before but I think it makes a good stiff neck.
The sound clip is coming but I need to practise a few riffs first as I'm not a good player. Also need to borrow a good microphone. If I could borrow some good playing fingers too we might have a decent recording...

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Nice looking guitar. I like how you worked with and took advantage of the book match for the back and the sides near the end wedge. The whole instrument is nicely built and looks great.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I hope my post wasn't misunderstood, Joe. I like the whole guitar! I know that finding suitable native top wood in G.B. can be difficult, but the cedar you used has some very pretty silking down the centre and on the outsides of the lower bouts. Some nice indoor pictures with subtle lighting would certainly lead to more jaw drop-age!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Alex, I was delighted by your original post. Actually, that's a good suggestion- some moody lighting would make for some interesting photos, I think I'll do that.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Very nicely done. Paricularly i like the effect of the chice of woods in the butt end photo. It makes it appear 3D as if the sides were recessed panels... which might be interesting to do...

Curious as to why you prefer your tuners upside down?

Thanks for your kind words.
I'm not sure, Robert, that's just the way it is!
Should have some sound clips by tomorrow night so please look back again.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Wow, how did I miss seeing this? That Olive Ash looks fantastic. Beautiful guitar!

Matt

Awesome guitar.

Great wood choice, the colors came together really well, I like the oak fretboard and light bindings. I think I can see a little of the color you mention from the soundboard too, cool.

Here's my sound clip.
Usual apologies for poor playing. I'm not used to recording myself.
Recorded on H4 with no post production.
!st one a finger picking style


second, an improvisation with dropped D


third, some open chords and the kids finally get in on the act


Thanks for listening

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Joe,

It's lovely!! Congratulations on such a fine instrument. To me, it really came alive when you started strumming the open chords. If it's like the local wood guitar I built in 2012, you will reach for it first when you're sitting around the house. Well done!

--jay

Thanks, Jay.
I don't have the technique or good finger nails for picking.
Since the videos the guitar has opened up a lot and considering the quality of the soundboard sounds pretty good.
I just finished another from the same mould. The finger board is yellow cedar from Alaska and it sound much brighter. I guess this is why UK is not famed for it's tone woods.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

That's a very nice build. Clean construction. The saddle has an interesting treatment... What's going on there?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

You lot have Eagle eyes!
I think I was still taking the action down to final height while I took the photos. I wanted to make use of the good weather for the photos and I thought that the deadline for the build was looming.
I've done some more work on the saddle since so that it doesn't look like a castle anymore.
To be truthful I still have problems with making the saddle look good after I've done the intonation. I mean blending one string path into another. I see saddles where the ridge that contacts the string is on a diagonal. I like the idea of the contact point being perpendicular to the string path. Maybe I should start a thread about it and get some advice.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

That's a fantastic sounding guitar. It has a very mellow tone especially finger picked and still sounds good strumming too. Nice woody tone and a great look.

Sounds and looks great!!!!

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EddieLee