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My father and I have been building guitars for a year, I am currently preparing to build a Drednaught with a cutaway based off of a washburn model. I plan to use Mexican Ziricote for the back/sides, sitka for the top, mahogany neck, and ebony bridge/fretboard/headplate I also recieved curly maple for binding the body. I also am putting in an Artec pickup (undersaddle and mic combo) with onboard controls, which is a new venture for me. I guess the reason for this post would be that I have not used ziricote, I have not installed pickups with onboard controls, and I have not built one with a cutaway to date. Any tips, words of wisdom, or suggestions would be very well appreciated.

Jake

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Jake Archer
~~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~~

Hi Jake, Welcome to the OLF.

Ziricote is one of my favorite woods to build with. It is somewhat prone to cracking, but just keep a bottle of thin CA glue with you and you'll be all set. In fact, the combo of Sitka, Ziricote, and curly maple bindings is a favorite of mine as well. I really think you're going to like it.
I would heartily recommend using a heat blanket and bending form for the sides. I think someone may have done a tutorial here on doing a florentine cutaway, but I don't recall anyone doing one on a Venetian cutaway. I would be very careful with a venetian with the ziricote, as it can be troublesome to bend, especially in tight curves. Make sure you thin it extra in that area if you go that route, and be very careful to avoid cracking. Best of luck to you!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Welcome to the OLF Jake!!

Hi Jake. I just strung up a new guitar I built with Ziricote back/sides and I had problems glueing that stuff. Even with wiping the glue joints with acetone before glueing/clamping - good practice regardless of the wood species - I ended up having more success with fish glue than with Titebond or LMI White. The Ziricote I had was awfully oily/resinous - I hope yours isn't!
Loren

Welcome to OLF, Jake!

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Welcome Jake.

Hey Don, would Super Soft II be a good idea for bending the ziricote?

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Aoibeann

I honestly don't know. I've never used the stuff. Ziricote bends decently with a blanket and form, but on a pipe it can be an exercise in frustration. I don't think it can hurt to try it though.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Loren, wiping resinous woods with acetone or other solvents has actually been proven to weaken the joint, at least in the FWW test a couple of years back and as various testimonials I've read have indicated. Everything I've read or tried says to freshly plane or sand and glue shortly thereafter. I haven't heard anything specific to ziricote but certainly for rosewoods, cocobolo, African Blackwood (both rosewoods) teak etc.

Darrel...yup...I've heard and read that too. I normally glue things as you've described. Didn't work with this particular set. Back plates popped apart with a little coaxing. Sides popped off the end blocks with a little coaxing. Maybe I need to stop coaxing! I'd not experienced anything like this before on 25+ previous instruments, but I'd also not experienced wood as oily or resinous as this. Acetone seemed to have worked for me. Maybe there's a degree of oiliness beyond which an acetone wash is more beneficial than not. Dunno... Interesting point though....thanks.
Loren