Official Luthiers Forum!

I offered to host Ron Steiger's process and photos to document the build process of one of his all spruce guitars.
For anyone interested here is a link. Pictures will be added as Ron sends them to me.
http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/spruce_guitar.htm
There is also a link on my home page. Enjoy!

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Thanks Bob, sure gonna look at it!

Thanks, Bob. That's going to be quite interesting.

Third installment pic's are up.

http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/spruce_guitar.htm

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

So are Hollywood stars making guitars now? <G> Rod Steiger! Wow!

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

Mark, I wonder if that was intentional or Freudian....

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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."

Thanks guys

For checking out my all spruce build.

   Not Bad for 4 days of work.

Also check out what Bob has for Tonewood.

    Ron steiger

   

Next session of the All Spruce guitar pic's are up. http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/spruce_guitar.htm

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Thanks for this Bob and Ron, very good tutorial, pics and explanations! Inspiring!

Thanks guys

I have to say Thanks to Bob for posting on his web site. and Sim for the great looking spruce.
and my wife for giving me the time,and you guys
and OLF

thanks guys.   sure love doing this.

Ron

Amazing how quick this guitar is coming together.
Looking good Ron.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Hey Ron and Bob, cool thread!

Ron, what can you tell us about the sound of these all-Spruce guitars? You have built maybe a dozen already, so something is making you keep going back to this unconventional wood for back and sides. It can't be just that you love light colored guitars, or you'd be building a bunch of Maple guitars, right?. I'm going to guess that none of us has ever heard an all-Spruce guitar, except you and your customers. So, can you describe the sound? Other than by weight, if you were blindfolded and someone handed you an all-Spruce guitar, what would you hear that would be the "signature" sound?

Thanks,

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

thanks guys.

Dennis you guys always ask me that.

hhhmmmm it's hard to explain. It's really clear and accurate for the whole scale and has a warm, rich, tone sound.      

New pic's up. Take a look. It's looking great.
http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/spruce_guitar.htm

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Bob, I'm getting the first batch of pix no matter what link I use...

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Larry the pictures should go up to #55
I just tried the link and see them all.
Just one link
http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/spruce_guitar.htm

Let me know if you still don't see them

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

[QUOTE=L. Presnall] Bob, I'm getting the first batch of pix no matter what link I use... [/QUOTE]

Tried scrolling down the page Larry

Cheers

Kim

New pic's shop freting. Nice job Ron.

Feel free to comment. I'm sure Ron is more than willing to answer questions.

http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/spruce_guitar.htm

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

WOW Ron, thanks for sharing such a wealth of info, hope you don't mind me copying this for future references, i'm really interested in a all spruce guitar later! That bloodwood makes a very nice fretboard also!

Again, great tutorial!

Thanks

Serge

Thanks Bob

   feel free to comment.

trying to show the steps
I use in building a guitar ,not to say that I do run into some hard parts of the build thats I ask myself
why I do that. Last night my son dropped the neck
and cracked the heel , I still love him
ooo well.   I fix it.

so the heel glueing up and i hope I can save the neck.
if not I make a new one this weekend.

thanks for looking guys

Ron steiger....

Coming along real nice there Ron. The bold bloodwood/spruce contrast is stunning, I would like to hear one of your builds in person one day, pity your so far away from Australia, if I'm ever heading down the Ventura Hwy, I'll drop in on you.

Anyhow, I just have a few questions, what temperature do you use to bend the spruce sides, and for how long do you heat them? I notice that you say you do not need to wet them too much before your start, do you just spritz? Do you need to use wet paper towel in the blanket wrap? I would have thought spruce to be very temperamental and prone to breakout along the grain, but you prove otherwise quite regularly now days.

Also you say that you compensate for heavier back bracing by thinning out the back plates, how thin is the back when you are done? Also, how thin do your soundboards finish out?

Sorry about all the questions but I am interested in your answers.

Cheers

Kim    

Kim
love to have you stop by.

I use 300f for the temp, for 2 min only to get the spruce hot, as soon as i bend the spruce I take the spruce out of the bender and install it in the mold.
why do i do this.. this helps the spruce dry faster
keeping it from cracking,burning, also kim when i say
wet ,I mean spray the spruce with water. that it.

I check for what the thickness is. I think .110 for the back. final...

Thanks Ron,

I see you are moving right along as usual, The pictures are coming so fast, it's like watch'in a movie

Cheers

Kim

guys I have string on.

and she plays great. man love it.

I send bob the last of the build photo soon.
when bob get back on his feet.

I shot for friday or saturday.

   bob friday I send the last of the build.

take care of your self. Ron and family.

Ron,

It's been a lot of fun following your progress. Thanks for letting us watch!