Acoustic Guitar Construction

Over the summer, I sold one of my guitars to a gentleman I had never met before. He saw a build thread on the internet and sent me a message asking if the guitar was for sale or if it was spoken for. The original buyer had backed out, so I sold the guitar to David Arnn, a musician in North Carolina. He was very happy with the guitar when he bought it, and yesterday, he sent me this link to a song he wrote and recorded on my guitar. I am a very proud papa today. Please enjoy:

http://soundcloud.com/david-arnn/costa-wav

Here is the guitar and specs:
top--------------cedar
back and sides-- curly claro walnut
binding--------- curly Cuban mahogany
rosette----------Box Elder burl
Headstock ------EIR on the front, Macassar ebony on the back
side position markers are red recon-stone to match the rosette
the fret board is EIR, the bridge is ziricote.













Turns out, I never finished the build thread for this guitar on this forum. I apologize for my oversight. In any event, now there are plenty of pics of it.

Very cool Tony. That was great and what a small world. David lives just a few miles from me and has contacted me to repair his 1973 Martin D-18. Maybe I can get him to bring his Costa along with him so I check it out.

That's awesome! Mucho congratulations there Tony. It sounds excellent and looks fantastic too.

Wow Tim! It is a small world. He asked me about repairing it, but I told him I am not qualified to repair, only to build, and I am still not sure about that! He is a nice guy and I am happy to have sold him the guitar. I hope you get a chance to play it. It has a BIG neck which David said he loves. I like big necks too. Not sure why because I don't have big hands.

Dave,
Thank you! I had some issues with the finishing on this one and it took forever to get it right, but it turned out pretty nicely in my opinion.

If you had any issues, they sure aren't apparent as the finish looks positively pristine. The clarity and gloss are pro-quality. And of course the final result is dependent on how good the underlying wood was prepared, and that is excellent as well. After seeing this guitar, I think I may set mine on fire!

ddietz wrote:If you had any issues, they sure aren't apparent as the finish looks positively pristine. The clarity and gloss are pro-quality. And of course the final result is dependent on how good the underlying wood was prepared, and that is excellent as well. After seeing this guitar, I think I may set mine on fire!

HA!! Don't burn it! Thanks for the compliment. The finish ultimately turned out great, but it took a while to get there.
Here is what happened to the finish:
I thought my prep was good, i.e. flat surface to apply finish to. It was either not flat by the sound hole, or I simply sanded poorly. I suspect it was the former. In any event, I was doing my wet sanding of the finish and got a small sand through on the rosette. I applied more lacquer, and in my infinite wisdom, decided that spraying some retarder on it would help it level better. It did, but you have to keep in mind that the sound board is not level, it is a dome. So when the retarded did it's thing, the lacquer, new and old, leveled itself such that I had almost no lacquer in the center of the SB, and a ridge of lacquer near the edges of the SB. GAAAHHH!!
So I had to sand that all smooth again, then reapply more lacquer on the entire sound board, and then begin wet sanding again.
Fortunately for me, I realized that the compound I use to polish the lacquer will remove the sanding scratches from 1000 grit paper. So I only had to sand with 600, then 1000 grit, then hit it with the RO buffer to bring out the shine.

As an aside, I read all of the time how guys will wet sand up to 2000, 2500, or higher, then use a polishing compound that actually brings the finish back to some lower grit. For example, people who use a buffing arbor with Menzerna compound. The medium grit compound is equal to 800 grit sandpaper. Why would you sand to 2000 grit, then go backwards? You would not do this with actual sand paper, would you? Sand through the grits to 2000 grit, then finish off with 800 grit after all of that work?
Anyway, I now only sand to 1000 grit, then begin polishing. This new process has saved me HOURS of sanding. Hours. Of sanding. Sanding. I hate wet sanding. SO there is your helpful tip of the day from me.

That is a beauitful guitar Tony and it sure sounds awesome. You should be proud. I really liked the way my Walnut/Koa OM turned out too, such a warm sound. I am looking forward to the next one I can build, the wood is waiting!!
Again, congrats!!

Kevin