Acoustic Guitar Construction

johnparchem wrote:Tony the guitar look great. I love the sap wood across the back.

Thanks John. That is one of my favorite features as well!

I like that sap too. Does it present any structural issue, I heard it can.

Ben-Had wrote:I like that sap too. Does it present any structural issue, I heard it can.

Sometimes the sapwood can get punky and soft. But in this case, it seems to be just as hard as the surrounding wood. However, in an effort to live up to its nickname of "Mexican Crackwood" the back does have two cracks, on either side of the sapwood, about an inch away from it. I hit them with CA and pulled them closed, but I also added reinforcement strips on them like on the center seam as insurance.
Hopefully, they remain as stable as they are now!

I took a pic of the wedge from the tail. This guitar is wedged pretty aggressively. The difference in width of the sides is 1.5 inches at the tail. It is a bit less at the neck so the neck heel wont look so funky.
Here it is:

Got a bit more done on this one. I sanded the sides all smooth and then I cut the side port. The tape on the guitar marks the ends of the support veneer that I glued on the inside of the box.
Here is the side wet with DNA:


The port location:


The port! I am going to bind it with whatever I decide to use for the body binding. It is just under 2 inches in diameter now.


I sent the pic below to the future owner saying, "I cut out your side port tonight. Doesn't it look great?" I'll send the real pic after he replies with something polite!


Thanks for looking!

Tony

Actually with the proper design you could do something cool like that.

I could have made it look like the insert for a 45rpm record if I had thought it out. I was just removing the bulk with the dremel and thought it would be fun to mess with him!