Acoustic Guitar Construction

I am pretty new to building guitars but have been very dedicated to it for the past year or so. I am presently building a birdseye maple B/S OM 14 fret and an Ebiara B/S 14 fret however I have decided to start another for a potential sale. This new build is a black walnut OM with a white spruce top. I thought I'd start a build thread on the Walnut build for anyone interested..

Last night got the back plates glued together and hopefully tonight I will be thicknessing the back and sides

Stay tuned for progress.

Hi Ranger.
Looking good so far. We are always interested in members builds so please do share as you move along.
How is the Ebiara to work with?

Kevin

Kevin in California wrote:Hi Ranger.
Looking good so far. We are always interested in members builds so please do share as you move along.
How is the Ebiara to work with?

Kevin

The Ebiara cuts, sands, routers well however I had difficulty bending the sides. I had some cupping between the figure lines but since I soaked the sides before bending, I believe the issue I had was more as a result of the wood being soaked and cupping when it dried. Luckily i had enough thickness to scrape the high spots out. Here is a photo. The Ebiara had a nice fairly bright tap tone, maybe not quite rosewood but a bit brighter then even the maple set I am building simultaneously..

I would like to get my hands on another set But would bend it dry.

I have found most woods do not need water, or much to bend, just a little steam can help some. Spritzing, or dry is the way to go to avoid cupping.

Lately I've been dipping the wrapping paper strips through a quick bath of windex w/ammonia and then squeegeing off on a workbench edge when making the bending sandwich. Only if it's highly figured wood do I spray lightly with windex too. Slat/paper/wood/paper/slat/blanket/slat. I've been using aluminum flashing for slats. Worked OK so far.

I have been making good progress. The top, back and sides down to final thickness minus some room for scraping and sanding. I formed the sides using a hot iron, glued the ends using Sapele neck and heel blocks. I then lined the sides with Sapele kerfed linings which I had on hand as I made extras a while back while making some for a couple other builds.

I also cut the bracing, shaped to radius and scalloped them to shape. Once glued in place I will remove some extra material as voice the top.. Radius for the top will be 28' and the back will be 15'

Tonight I made the rosette using some purfling and abalone shell. I scraped everything flush and I am quite happy with the result.

Next I will be gluing the bracing but that will wait a few days as I am waiting for my new radius boards.

Soon enough I will need to decide on binding material.. I cut enough walnut from the sides before sizing them and sanding to thickness to make walnut binding if I want to go that route.. Certainly less striking but with a lot of purfling outlining the binding, it might add a nice subtle detail.. I have rosewood Larrivee with rosewood binding done that way and it is quite nice.. Any ideas or suggestions?

Nice looking rosette. What do you use the little bits of wood attached to body for. It looks like some sort of index in to a jig.