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Well - Le top is finally on la guitar.

It took a few weeks 'cause we were waiting for some down-cut dremel bits from Stewmac for the rosettes(can't seem to find any in Oz) and ended up starting another dread which is also nearly finished. Pictures of that one follow.

So - here we go.

Braced top - the finger braces are sort of parabolic. the intention here is to keep mass in the centre of the soundboard. There's also a little "Mario" brace behind the bridge plate.



Le top avec paua rosette - bearclaw sitka



Le rosette






The Padauk Dread

- this one is a bit of an experiment. The top is very thin (.083") and don't even ask what the black laminations in the neck are

We strung this up before finishing it and it sounds great. Very loud with a tight bottom end and rich through the mids.(it makes my D18 sound a bit flat)

We wait with baited breath to see how it develops but it initially seems like a very nice weapon.

(also notice a little cameo appearance from le fridge.)



Body with Z-poxy



Padauk neck



Fingerboard - with Padauk bindings and inlays of course.
You can't see it in the photo but the fretwire is that gold stuff from LMI. Looks super with the Padauk bindings.



Bindings - what else would we use - Padauk



They'll both be finished with Ubeaut Hard Shellac the week after next so will post the finished product when they cure. We were going to nitro them but after seeing PaulB's parlour and after having played around with the
the Ubeaut stuff we're sold on it.

And there's less likelihood of us blowing up the shed.

BTW Ubeaut products are made in Geelong (where I live)
They do have distributors in Canada (Lee Valley) and in the States (Penn State Industries). I was talking to my retailer here last week who suggested that if anyone is interested in trying the hard shellac, a mass emailing from the Canadian and American forumites might convince them to import it. (at the mo I think it is mainly their Shellawax products)

Thanks for having a squiz.

Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

looking REALLY good!!

LOVE that bearclaw top

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She looks really really good Bob, very impressive stuff. The bear-claw is lovely, who was the vendor? I can't wait to see your results with Ubeauts hard shellac Paul's guitar looks soo good I am sold as well.

Where did you source the zpoxy anywhere local? Oh and PM me after Xmas when your back from the apple with your inlay material, hopefully I can dig something up that you would be willing to trade for.

Cheers mate

Kim

Wow Bob! Very nicely done - extremely clean work. AND, they are dreads! Yeah!

I'm also interested where that bearclaw came from.

-Mark

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That bearclaw looks sensational!

I also like the boldness of the dark backstrip and end wedge against the
back's color.

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

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Bob, i just can't believe how nice these 2 guitars are at this stage and will be, when finished completely! You've got very good taste mon ami! La rosette is looking really nice too!

Say, how long have you been woodworking? Sure looks like you've been doing this since you were born !

Oh and thanks for the Lee Valley info, if they don't have it in stock here, i will start buggin' em!

Cheers

Very nice, clean work! Most impressive.
How did you like bending the Padauk? I've found it challenging, to say the least.

Steve

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The strip of "binding", not sure if that is the right word, on the back of the neck looks fantastic. Very creative.

Al, that would be a laminated neck, the stips down the middle go all the way through. Looks great Eh?

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Those guitars look great man. I love the rossette on the first one. Cool stuff!!

Homeboy

Thats really amazing work - I love the wood choices and motifs, very tasteful,.
Cheers
Charliewood

Extremely nice work, Bob! Your bearclaw dread looks like it should only be played while sitting in a fine leather chair.

The padauk seems a bit plain in the white, but looks terrific under the Z-poxy. Nice neck laminations and fingerboard inlays, too!

Thanks for the warm encouragement guys

Serge, my woodworking skills are average.(I'm a teacher in Computer Systems Engineering at a local college) I have built three guitars some years ago but the skilled hands belong to my partner in crime, Dave Mainwaring. He is arguably the finest cabinetmaker I've met and is incredibly swift in his execution.(thus the rapid output - there's another set of EIR in the bender as we speak) He's also a great lateral thinker and consistently comes up with better mousetraps.

I leave all the tricky stuff to him and we're building jigs quite consistently so that I can produce guitar bits to a high standard given my level of woodworking ability.

The Bearclaw came from Brent Cole at Alaska Specialty Woods. It's an AAA top and is very stiff. We got some Master grade from him as well and that stuff is just gorgeous.

Steve, we were initially concerned about bending the Padauk after reading about others experience with it, but it caused us no problems. Thinned it down to .085, ran it under the garden tap for a few minutes, wrapped it in foil and cooked it on the Fox Bender at 300. The bindings got the same treatment with no cracking

Kim, I found the Z-poxy on Ebay from a guy in Queensland who sells model aeroplane bits. And I haven't forgotten about the inlays from Tassie.

CarltonM, the bearclaw dread is a Christmas present for my partners 15 year old daughter, Sophie, so I think she's going to be very happy with Santa this year.

Thanks again everyone.

Will post the finished product in a few weeks.

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

That's incredible work Bob. All very tasteful and well executed.
I love that "claw" too.
May I also compliment you on your french !

Le fridge rocks !

Regards, KiwiKiwiCraig39059.6961458333

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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Looking good Bob. I like those fretboard markers, don't think I've seen anything like that on an acoustic. Also like the way the end graft goes through the binding to join the backstrip. Tasteful appointments.

The hard shellac took maybe three or four weeks to fully harden, in temps around 20C or so. I had it strung up and was playing while it cured. Should go a lot faster now that the weathers warming up.

Looks great
Love the unique fretboard inlay

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http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Both Very Nice!

Mike

[QUOTE=bob_connor] Thanks for the warm encouragement guys

Serge, my woodworking skills are average.(I'm a teacher in Computer Systems Engineering at a local college) I have built three guitars some years ago but the skilled hands belong to my partner in crime, Dave Mainwaring. He is arguably the finest cabinetmaker I've met and is incredibly swift in his execution.(thus the rapid output - there's another set of EIR in the bender as we speak) He's also a great lateral thinker and consistently comes up with better mousetraps.

I leave all the tricky stuff to him and we're building jigs quite consistently so that I can produce guitar bits to a high standard given my level of woodworking ability.

The Bearclaw came from Brent Cole at Alaska Specialty Woods. It's an AAA top and is very stiff. We got some Master grade from him as well and that stuff is just gorgeous.


Bob
[/QUOTE]

One smart way to start in the craft and i applaud that Bob, i am mising a lot on the woodworking skills myself and plan on building me a traditional workbench very soon so i'll have to hone them skills, stay close to that fellow if he's as enthused as you to build guitars, you both make a great team and you will learn a ton from him!

Very fine work Bob!
I also like the "Serge claw" on that top !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Gorgeous bearclaw! I too have some very nice sets from Brent...

Looking forward to seeing that baby all done up!

Great work!

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