Acoustic Guitar Construction

Hi all,

Michael here form Houston. This is my first build. I am almost down with the body. I have had a few challenges, but I expected as so. My biggest challenge is the flat sawn BRZRW back. Lord, I have braced it twice and I thought the second held. But I noticed it is flattening the braces on the lower bout again. I can live with it, it just makes me wonder how much money to invest in the finish, at least on the back anyway.

Thanks for looking.

Use a sound-hole and or case humidifier and you'll be fine.

I suggest that one always plans to do their very best work at any stage of the build.

The guitar looks good. I do not understand the statement "invest money into the finish" ; it certainly looks like a guitar that it would be worth investing time into the finish. Guitar finishes are pretty flexible so I do not think you will have issues with the finish as the back flatten and domes depending on the humidity level. The dome is on the guitar to allow for the flattening you see as the humidity level changes, this is instead of the back cracking as it shrinks. I would take the time to put a nice finish on. Looks like you can have a spectacular looking guitar.

Do you have the wide flat brace on the lower bout like some of the Martin plans have or are all of your back braces tall?

It is a wide. I ordered some from Stew mac. I should haver followed Ken's advice and order them from Martin, but I was impatient and didn't want to wait 2 weeks. I did not scallop them at all on the lower bout. I though I made a mistake the first time my not using the proper radiused caul when gluing. I chiseled them off. When I finished the second time, it was perfect. But the lower bout, has some ripping at the heel where the high figuring is.

I was worried about how this back moves about the finish cracking. You can almost watch this thing move. But....

Go big or go home right? I have a cocobolo fretboard that should look pretty when it is finished.

I finished my heel graft today. I installed a piece of red Cocobolo. Since the neck and headstock overlay will be the same color, I thought it turned out nice. I just have a few nicks in the profiling I will try to fix with a paint pen before finish....


Thanks for looking....

I finished my binding job. I am not completely satisfied, but I am content. For my first try at this, I have performed better than I though I could from a scratch build on my first try. As soon as I get my neck from Andy, I can move forward. I am getting excited to get to the next step... (pick guard is just played on top for photo purposes)

Thanks for looking,

Looks like you are going to end up with a great looking guitar.