I've been wanting to build this guitar for a LONG time- a guitar built with ALL American woods.
First off let's define "American". Simply put, all from the USA. Not just North American and definitely not South American.
I had pitched the client on the idea and he loved it. The only thing he was specific on was that it was different from the mellow tones of his macassar/sinker guitar (that I built years ago). As far as aesthetics go, he gave me a pretty loose leash. He had a couple of pretty broad requests to work in- some more concrete than others: a sound port(s), armrest, maybe some inlay.
Originally I had brought up the idea of doing all American everything, but he likes gotoh 510's (and so do I), so we are keeping this down to woods- which is challenging enough.
So here are the specs as of right now:
Auditorium shape
Osage orage and walnut 3 piece back
Bear claw sitka spruce top
Walnut neck
Walnut binding and armrest
Desert ironwood fingerboard and bridge
Walnut burl and spalted oak (from his firewood pile) worked in throughout
And here are some pictures to get us started:
(Cherry for the back strap)
Originally I was thinking about doing a one piece neck, but I changed my mind and am now doing a multi-ply neck.
The plys are walnut, maple, black dyed poplar, and osage orange
Follow along, this ought to be a fun build.