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You might remember last month I posted about my plan to build two similar lightweight 000 sized guitars from butternut and Engelmann spruce, one with a traditional center sound hole, the other with multiple sound holes and an asymmetric bracing layout. At the time, I said I’d post periodic updates. So here’s the first update and current state of the builds. Both tops and backs are fully braced and voiced. One set of sides are bent, profiled and have neck block, tail block, and linings installed. Ready for the first (center sound hole) body to be assembled.

For the curious, the butternut I have for the sides is perfectly vertical grain. The waist and upper/lower bouts bent without a hitch on my fox-style bender. The cutaway was a bit problematic. After trying a couple of different things unsuccessfully, what finally worked was to thin the side to .075” and completely soak the cutaway area in water for a couple of hours. I was then able to successfully bend the cutaway on a hot pipe using a sopping wet paper towel to provide plenty of steam. I did end up with a tiny spot of compression on the inside of the cutaway bend but I should be able to scrape / sand a bit to remove that. So far, so good.

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Andy
www.bounsallguitarworks.com

Nice looking butternut. I built a 12 fret 000 from butternut, and I also had problems bending the sides. I have always hand bent sides on a pipe, with few issues. The butternut sides I had were rift cut, but that wasn't the issue. In the first attempt, the sides were a little thick, and the wood is so soft that it folded like cardboard in the waist. I thinned the second set (which was a sister set) to about 0.08", and they bent OK. As I recall, I did install side braces to give the delicate sides a bit more structure. I also used butternut for the neck, and the result was one of my lightest guitars.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

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John

This is interesting. Will be watching ...

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George :-)

This weekends job, assembling the body of the first of the butternut twins. Excess trimmed from front and back, braces trimmed to correct length, serial number label installed, linings notched for front & back brace ends, front and then back are glued to the sides.

Some builders use their go-bar deck when assembling the body but I prefer using spool clamps. I feel it gives me a bit more control and allows me to flip the body over during assembly to verify that everything is lined up properly.

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Andy
www.bounsallguitarworks.com

The body of the second twin gets assembled.

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Andy
www.bounsallguitarworks.com

The 000 twin bodies.

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Andy
www.bounsallguitarworks.com

If you don't play Heart "Crazy on You" intro when that thing is strung up you're doing it wrong.