A portrait of yours truly playing guitar, drawn by the lovely and talented Lula
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
On the brighter side
A couple of months back I tried to build an experimental guitar. It didn't work out so well. But the neck was rather nice, it is Port Orford Cedar and Wenge.
I also had a really beautiful Cedar board I picked up at Home Depot. It was one of those "I can't believe I paid a buck for this" boards.
So I sliced up my Home Depot board & planed it down for back and sides.
I took a saw to the crappy experimental guitar and managed to salvage most of the Spruce sound board.
A couple of hours later, I had a shiny new guitar.
I've been working on a classical guitar, so I used that mold for this one. As hinted above, I still didn't have enough Spruce salvaged to cover the smaller classical sized body, so I used some of the scrap from the back/sides to fill in the upper bout. The look is quite unique.
I also had to sand the top down again, the end thickness is about 2mm (30% thinner than "normal"). The bracing is Spruce & a Tacoma style pattern was used.
A little bit a Cherry for a bridge, with a Cedar veneer to help it match up visually, rounds out the wood.
The tone is bright and clear. Given that it is 95% Cedar, you can really "feel" it through the neck and the back.
Visually, it is so bright that it will be challenging to get a realistic photograph - especially on an over-cast day like today.
Jeff Elsasser now owns this one.
I also had a really beautiful Cedar board I picked up at Home Depot. It was one of those "I can't believe I paid a buck for this" boards.
So I sliced up my Home Depot board & planed it down for back and sides.
I took a saw to the crappy experimental guitar and managed to salvage most of the Spruce sound board.
A couple of hours later, I had a shiny new guitar.
I've been working on a classical guitar, so I used that mold for this one. As hinted above, I still didn't have enough Spruce salvaged to cover the smaller classical sized body, so I used some of the scrap from the back/sides to fill in the upper bout. The look is quite unique.
I also had to sand the top down again, the end thickness is about 2mm (30% thinner than "normal"). The bracing is Spruce & a Tacoma style pattern was used.
A little bit a Cherry for a bridge, with a Cedar veneer to help it match up visually, rounds out the wood.
The tone is bright and clear. Given that it is 95% Cedar, you can really "feel" it through the neck and the back.
Visually, it is so bright that it will be challenging to get a realistic photograph - especially on an over-cast day like today.
Jeff Elsasser now owns this one.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
A piece of scrap
This one is built out of the scrap left over from building other guitars. It is quite rough around the edges, so to speak, but that works in this case.
The unique aspect to this guitar is that the top (and back) is made of two different types of wood. The strip down the middle is old growth douglas fir (reclaimed 2x4). On each side of that is cedar (reclaimed siding). The back is exactly the same as the top (but the lesser-quality wood with chips, nail holes, cracks, etc was used). Standard Martin X-bracing, with old growth fir braces.
The neck is again old growth douglas fir down the middle and cedar to the sides (second growth cedar this time, leftover scrap from the "Home Depot fence-post guitar"). There are a half-dozen big nail holes in the fir - you won't find that on a "Guitar Center" Chinese factory made instrument.
The finger board and bridge are cherry (reclaimed from a hardwood floor).
The sides are douglas fir.
The theory behind using two types of wood for the sound board, beyond the obvious "that is what I had in the scrap pile", is that I was interested in hearing how it affected the tone. Fir has strong highs and cedar has strong lows. By mixing the two, I had hoped that it would be balanced but with rich over tones. I am happy with the results, the tone is definitely different than my other guitars and it is indeed well balanced. It works particularity well for finger picking.
On my previous guitars, I have noticed a problem with the G string breaking (not that it happens very often, but it has *always* been the G string). On this guitar, I made the D and G tuners spaced a little closer than you'll find on a Martin. This reduces the angle of bend at the nut. I'm not sure if that will help or not with the string breakage, but I think the resulting narrower head is visually appealing.
The unique aspect to this guitar is that the top (and back) is made of two different types of wood. The strip down the middle is old growth douglas fir (reclaimed 2x4). On each side of that is cedar (reclaimed siding). The back is exactly the same as the top (but the lesser-quality wood with chips, nail holes, cracks, etc was used). Standard Martin X-bracing, with old growth fir braces.
The neck is again old growth douglas fir down the middle and cedar to the sides (second growth cedar this time, leftover scrap from the "Home Depot fence-post guitar"). There are a half-dozen big nail holes in the fir - you won't find that on a "Guitar Center" Chinese factory made instrument.
The finger board and bridge are cherry (reclaimed from a hardwood floor).
The sides are douglas fir.
The theory behind using two types of wood for the sound board, beyond the obvious "that is what I had in the scrap pile", is that I was interested in hearing how it affected the tone. Fir has strong highs and cedar has strong lows. By mixing the two, I had hoped that it would be balanced but with rich over tones. I am happy with the results, the tone is definitely different than my other guitars and it is indeed well balanced. It works particularity well for finger picking.
On my previous guitars, I have noticed a problem with the G string breaking (not that it happens very often, but it has *always* been the G string). On this guitar, I made the D and G tuners spaced a little closer than you'll find on a Martin. This reduces the angle of bend at the nut. I'm not sure if that will help or not with the string breakage, but I think the resulting narrower head is visually appealing.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Guitar made from recycled wood
This guitar is made from recycled wood purchased at the ReBuilding Center. The sound board is made from old cedar siding. The sides and neck are made from old-growth douglas fir. The back is made from the left-over cedar and fir scraps. The finger board and bridge are made from an old Brazilian Cherry hardwood floor board. If I remember correctly, total cost of the wood was $7. Yes, those are nail-holes on the top and back.
I used a Tacoma-style bracing, done with the old-growth douglas fir.
You'll note that this guitar uses an electric-guitar style neck mount. This worked well, but ended up being more effort than the standard acoustic neck mount.
One of the draw-backs to the Tacoma-style bracing, that I learned the hard way, is that it is not quite as tolerant of abuse. Right after I finished building this guitar, I managed to smash it and put a 8-inch crack in the sound board. In the process of trying to fix that, I managed to get my arm stuck in the sound-hole - resulting in a complete break of the sound board. A little super glue and some patch wood and it was quickly as good-as-new. You can see the crack starting at the bottom of the sound-hole.
Dave Pierce now owns this one.
I used a Tacoma-style bracing, done with the old-growth douglas fir.
You'll note that this guitar uses an electric-guitar style neck mount. This worked well, but ended up being more effort than the standard acoustic neck mount.
One of the draw-backs to the Tacoma-style bracing, that I learned the hard way, is that it is not quite as tolerant of abuse. Right after I finished building this guitar, I managed to smash it and put a 8-inch crack in the sound board. In the process of trying to fix that, I managed to get my arm stuck in the sound-hole - resulting in a complete break of the sound board. A little super glue and some patch wood and it was quickly as good-as-new. You can see the crack starting at the bottom of the sound-hole.
Dave Pierce now owns this one.
Photos of "fence" guitar
I finally got around to uploading photos of the "fence" guitar.
The soundboard, back, and sides of this guitar are made from cedar fence boards from the local Home Depot at a cost of about $4.50 (three boards @ $1.50 each). This guitar uses a Tacoma-style bracing. The bracing wood is new-growth Douglas Fir (a.k.a. a cheap 2x4 stud).
The neck is cherry, and the fret board & bridge are purple heart. With the Tacoma-style bracing, I could get away with a full 24 frets. If you look close, you'll spot that the end of the fret board is bolted to the body. You'll also note that this photo was taken before the guitar was finished - I had run out of fret wire...
The sound is warm, as you would expect from an all-cedar body. The bass is particularly deep and rich.
The soundboard, back, and sides of this guitar are made from cedar fence boards from the local Home Depot at a cost of about $4.50 (three boards @ $1.50 each). This guitar uses a Tacoma-style bracing. The bracing wood is new-growth Douglas Fir (a.k.a. a cheap 2x4 stud).
The neck is cherry, and the fret board & bridge are purple heart. With the Tacoma-style bracing, I could get away with a full 24 frets. If you look close, you'll spot that the end of the fret board is bolted to the body. You'll also note that this photo was taken before the guitar was finished - I had run out of fret wire...
The sound is warm, as you would expect from an all-cedar body. The bass is particularly deep and rich.
My first "serious" guitar
I finally got around to building a "serious" guitar. No pieces nor parts from Home Depot in this one.
The top is Redwood, the back and sides are Mexican Rosewood, the neck is Spanish Cedar, and the fret board is Cocolobo. I used a common Martin-style X-bracing, with a mix of Spruce and Spanish Cedar.
I love the sound of the Redwood top, it half-way between Spruce and Cedar. Spruce tends to sound a little harsh, Cedar a little soft. Redwood is just right.
The Mexican Rosewood is very pretty, the photos do not due it justice. I especially like the subtle red flame in the Cocolobo fret board.
The top is Redwood, the back and sides are Mexican Rosewood, the neck is Spanish Cedar, and the fret board is Cocolobo. I used a common Martin-style X-bracing, with a mix of Spruce and Spanish Cedar.
I love the sound of the Redwood top, it half-way between Spruce and Cedar. Spruce tends to sound a little harsh, Cedar a little soft. Redwood is just right.
The Mexican Rosewood is very pretty, the photos do not due it justice. I especially like the subtle red flame in the Cocolobo fret board.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A real travel guitar
So I'm heading off to a conference this week. I'll meet up with some friends who play guitar, and mentioned that I should bring one of the ones I built.
I hate to check in bags, especially for a three-day trip. Doubly so for guitars, which airlines have a great track-record in destroying. Add in the wonderful $25-each-way fee for checking in a bag, and I don't really want to take one of my hand-built guitars with me.
Since all of my guitars have bolt-on necks, I thought maybe I could dis-assemble one and take it as a carry on.
Two problems. 1) the last leg of this trip is on a tiny Saab turbo-prop, which has smaller than normal carry on limitations, and 2) I would not have enough room for clothes, my laptop, and other such necessities.
Well, not so much as problems, but engineering challenges. The obvious solution is to build a guitar that 1) sounds good, 2) plays good, 3) can be collapsed down to carry-on size without requiring tools, and 4) has a removable back so that I can shove my clothes and stuff INSIDE the guitar....
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
I hate to check in bags, especially for a three-day trip. Doubly so for guitars, which airlines have a great track-record in destroying. Add in the wonderful $25-each-way fee for checking in a bag, and I don't really want to take one of my hand-built guitars with me.
Since all of my guitars have bolt-on necks, I thought maybe I could dis-assemble one and take it as a carry on.
Two problems. 1) the last leg of this trip is on a tiny Saab turbo-prop, which has smaller than normal carry on limitations, and 2) I would not have enough room for clothes, my laptop, and other such necessities.
Well, not so much as problems, but engineering challenges. The obvious solution is to build a guitar that 1) sounds good, 2) plays good, 3) can be collapsed down to carry-on size without requiring tools, and 4) has a removable back so that I can shove my clothes and stuff INSIDE the guitar....
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
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