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For you interest some pics of my Latest Walnut Euro Spruce OOO, I posted this one as the Walnut is pretty unusal and thought you might Like to see

Detail

Walnut Back and Sides
Euro Spruce Top
Cherry Neck
Cocobolo Fingerboard
Brazilian Bridge
Holly Bindings
24.9" Scale.

Wow! that guitar is awesome, i really like that coco FB, IT'S GOT KLASS! Nice combination of woods Russell, whats the inlay on the FB ? lOOKS really neat from here!

Serge

Hi Serge

It is a little drawing the customer wanted a sort of bent guitar with shadow and some soundwaves on one side, its just done in pearl and abalone and certainly not like the works of art we see from the inlay artists here and Johns Daughter.

These are just some snaps I took, my resident photographer will be taking some proper shots tomorrow, so I will get a closer one of the inlay.

Cool Russ, lookin' forward to see it closer, BTW, looking at the nice rosette, i see that you made it out of a single piece of wood, is it walnut too ?

Yes it is a piece of walnut cut with a circle cutter, One of my wood suppliers saves all the off cuts for me

If i may Russ, how is cherry for carving, is it harder than mahogany, or what kind of wood could you compare it too, in the carving department ?

Serge it is about the same Hardness as Mahogany, you just have to watch the grain as it has a habit of tearing, that said it is not difficult to work with I really like Cherry.

Now I'm just trying to remember what Colin said our Cherry is different to North American Cherry, I think he said you call ours Bird Cherry.

Very nice, Russel! Ya know, this is kinda uncanny. My next OM build is walnut with a cherry neck! Now I have a really clear idea of just what I`ll come up with. I like that nice straight grain on yours. All my walnut has a curved and/or crazed look. BTW, the cherry you used for your neck doesn`t look too different from what I have here in the shop. Although it`s called cherry, it`s really alder. I wondered about that for quite awhile and finally found a piece that was actually stamped as alder. Is this the same situation you have over there?

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Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Hi Co

I just looked at a reference and Cherry and Alder here are two different trees, so I don't think it is the same here, I need ColinS for this one as he knows a lot about the different species of trees.

What are you going to make the neck from for the one you are making at the moment ?

I Really like cherry as a neck material, I have done several, and like it to work with, I am told that it doesn't stain well.

I just looked up the post and what I use is known as Bird Cherry here, so I got that back to front.

[QUOTE=RussellR] I Really like cherry as a neck material, I have done several, and like it to work with, I am told that it doesn't stain well.[/QUOTE]

True cherry can take stain very unevenly. You notice it in joined pieces such as found in furniture. One piece will take the stain beautifully and an adjoining piece (ie, a leg) will not take stain at all. It also sometimes leaves splotches within a piece but you can usually deal with that.

Regards, Stevesfbrown38763.8208217593

The OM I`m working now has a walnut neck. I pretty much wanted to stay with the same wood for my first few so I could make a few subtle changes here and there to get a basis for comparison (Hail, Mario!). On this first one is multipieced with grains opposing because I suspect walnut will move as it ages, and a stacked heel. I have it shaped up, but still need to get my headstock shape designed. I`m kinda concerned about this because of the possibility of infringing on someone else`s patent or design. Any suggestions?

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

On peg head design, I would shy away from a Taylor or Gibson style, as both of these companies have been known to be pretty agresive with the protection of what they think is thiers, although I think Gibson lost out to PRS in a law suit so maybe they are not so keen now.

In reality they probably wouldn,t be interested in someone making just a few guitars, and at worst they would probably only send a letter asking you to stop using their design.

I like the design I have purely from the point of view of how it seperates the strings and that is how I arrived at it, but it is certainly not unique to me, Seaguls is Similiar and others I am sure.

Nice Guitar Russell, I've yet to do the wood rosette thing. But I've been saving a bunch of orphan material for this very thing. Great job.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Nice job, Russell. I like it.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Very nice guitar Russell.I like walnut a lot and yours looks great! Love the straight grain of the back.Your neck and fretboard are excellant too.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Great Job Russel. I trust she sounds as nice as she looks!

Thanks for sharing

ShaneShane Neifer38763.979224537

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Canada

Thanks a bit late for all the great information Russ, that cherry neck sure looks as good as everything else on this guitar!

Way da go buddy!

Wow, that's gorgeous. And, uh, that Walnut kinda looks like a rosewood :-)

Russell, my man, yet another great Avandel axe is produced, as usual a very clean job and subtle classy finish.

Lovely walnut, and the good thing is I've got three sets of the same batch of his walnut sitting in my pile, nice to see what it will look like finished, and also a couple of the same cherry neck blanks. In fact it would be easier if I just sent them to you and let you build for me, I know it would sound good. Are we going to hear a recording?

I'm a fan of the reverse taper on the head too, it makes a lot more sense to me.

Yes, our cherry is Prunus avium, the bird cherry.

Oh, and Russell I'd still call it an OM not a OOO.

We are not worthy.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Thanks All

Colin

I'm passing by Bristol, as I am going to see my Parents this weekend, so am delivering the guitar on Monday, I will drop into the AGW Studio, and get someone to record something for me. It is Deeper than my normal OM and I shallowed the scallops to smooth the peaks a bit, and it is nice and bright on the trebles, with a nice clear bass.

I've fallen in love with Waverleys (Which is just as well as I have a fair few sets )

I am finding I am getting a very positive response from my customers about them also. Credit to Mario for persuading me on the idea that they are worth the extra.

Thanks for clarifying on the Cherry, our Alder is a different wood ?

Russell,

I think Colin is right. It's more of an Oh My than an OOOooooooooohhhhhhhhhh

Classy job as usual!

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

That looks great Russell. Already sold I take it. I would like to see a close up of the bent guitar inlay.

The only cherry I have worked with had little discernable grain and it was about as hard as hard maple. (Perhaps not quite as hard as that, but noticably harder than mahogany) I typically use prunus serotina aka black cherry.

Anyway, great job. I agree with you about the reverse taper on the headstock. Makes the string pulls more parallel above the nut.

John

Hi Mattia

Andy who I get a lot of my wood from, has a few boards of it, but you are right its certainly not quite Walnut looking.