A new Dred guitar build started

[Kevin in California]

I have one more set of those that I brought back from india in 2014. It's nice too but the sides are only going to work for an OM or smaller guitar.

Not buying anymore at this stage of my retirement. So I have one EIR, walnut, birdseye maple, Indian laurel, sapele and Osage orange left to build with

[Herman]

Yes, very nice. Almost zebrawood. And not buying more is very wise. Dang, I still have over 20 sets. Quite a challenge.
Looking good so far Kevin!

[Kevin in California]

Time for the rosette.
I decided to do a D28 type using purfling I made from .020" wenge/holly/wenge. It looks pretty good but that wenge is splintery. I won't use that again for this purpose.

So I first cut the 4 channels for the purfling strips.
Then I coated the channels with shellac and installed the strips, coming back with wicking in some CA. One the two center purflings I only wicked the CA in around the outside. Once dry I leveled all the pufling to the top.
Next I routed out the material between the two center purflings creating a channel for the abalone.
After installing the abalone about .005" lower than the purfling I flooded CA over the top. I did this twice to fill all gaps and fill the space over the abalone. Once dry I scraped and sanded the whole area flush again.
Then cut out the sound hole.
I turned out okay. Not my best install. That purfling was tricky to work with and had to be bent to fit into the channels. Overall I think it will look okay.

Next will be to brace the top

[Herman]

Ya, Wengé is tricky. I once tried it for binding, because under a finish it looks stunning. But as you say, very splitery, hard to bend without cracks. So in the end I skipped that Wengé.
Still I use it for bridges and fingerboards. Light, hard and ringy.
Nice rosette Kevin, simple, but appealing.
Herman

[Kevin in California]

In process
Gluing the top bracing in the gobar deck

[John Parchem]

Nice looking rosette

[Kevin in California]

All the bracing is now on. The bridge plate is Indian rosewood. Time to start carving.

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