Acoustic Guitar Construction

Kevin, I too really like Spanish Cedar for necks (and linings). One thing I learned from Sergei De Jonge when I was at his school/shop was, if you want a thin neck like you can get with Mahogany, you need a little carbon fiber reinforcement in the neck besides the trussrod. Not a lot, but some. Othe...

Looking real good so far, well done. The only thing you may want to check is the weight of the neck. If your OM body is very light, you'll want a very light trussrod.

Mr. Mottola is indeed a great guy. There is a huge amount of info on his website that everyone should read.

Brent

Welcome to the forum.
Many don't believe a Maple top can sound good, but I beg to differ. A luthier from Montreal, Canada used maple tops back in the 1970's.
He was very successful.
Well done.

Brent

I've got a couple of sets from Lee Valley and they're all over my shop. You never have too many scrapers (and clamps). The thinnest of the bunch, I sharpen on all three sides but don't put a hook (turn an edge) on. It can be used for very fine scraping of hardwoods and to level lacquers between coat...

Yeah, 'skew' cut is the best way to go to avoid splitting and/or having the pin holes in line with the saddle and not in a straight horizontal line. As for cutting the saddle slot, there are options. In fact, many of the early 70's Guild guitars had a saddle slot that went right through the bridge s...

I recall Irvine Sloane(?) recommending cherry for a 12 string neck, it should be good for a steel string. Sapele makes a great neck according to Mario Proulx. Both are half the price of Honduras Mahogany where I am. Maple works too if weight is not a factor. My local wood dealer sometimes has Africa...