Acoustic Guitar Construction

I feel like a kid again! I was cleaning out my garage up in the rafters when I found a box I thought I had lost forever. When I was twelve years old in 1972 I got as a gift a guitar kit. Yes they had kits way back then. Being twelve and naive I started with making the mold. Alas with no guidance and a poor selection of tools I quickly became frustrated and moved on to other pursuits. The kit sat in my parents attic for the next twenty years. I thought it was thrown out when my parents moved out and my siblings cleaned up. I don't know how but it made it to my garage (I have no recollection how). Today I found it and all parts appear to be intact and in good condition. According to the book it has a European silver spruce top and Rosewood back and sides. Rosewood fingerboard and Mahogany neck blank. Now I'll have to decide what to make!

So very cool!

I'm sure we'd all love to see more photos.

That is pretty neat. Should be some pretty good quality wood coming from that era.

Good find John!!

Pictures of the top and back. I wonder what type of Rosewood would have been in a kit like this at that time. The step by step booklet is interesting. It instructs you to make a tin trough and boil the sides for at least an hour on the stovetop before quickly forcing them against the mold.

Looks like the markings that the "International Violin Co." used on their materials. Constantine's also sold a "box o guitar wood" like that. I did not purchase a complete package but I did get materials for my first guitars from both places.

Boiling and bending works great -- you do need plenty of hold downs to keep the veneer flat while drying which takes a while. I believe one of the Yamaha plants still boils their sides prior to loading them to a high temperature bender.

The rosewood pic of it in the box looks just like East Indian Rosewood. The picture in you last post looks alot like Ovangkol, otherwise known as Shedua.
I think it is EIR, but very pretty grain there.