Build Thread: Klepper OM, D. Tucarensis / European alpine (Italian Fiemme)

[KevinLPederson]

Love the back strip Howard (and the rest). Really cool.

Kevin.

[jmat]

Hi all –

First, thanks for following the thread thus far! Howard sent the below progress report and photos.

“Three new photos, showing the back crossgrain reinforcement being glued; all the back braces in; and the sides with their preliminary bending. I first bend the sides with a Fox bender. Then I tweak them and bend the cutaway on an old style bending iron. I've carved the bracing on the top, but no photos yet. I'm also starting work on the neck.”

A couple photos of the back bracing and reinforcement:





Below is the preliminary bending of the sides:



Starting to resemble a guitar!

[jmat]

Originally Posted by justonwo

I saw some of Howard's back strip and purfling work on an OM-33 at Schoenberg. Gorgeous! It inspired me to use style 30 trim on an OM I'm having built. That guitar played and sounded as good as it looked, too.

Agreed - that 33 is a piece of work. I had a chance to play it in Howard's workshop. Wonderful guitar.

At least I think it was the same 33, if not, Howard made two great ones!

[Luca Canteri]

great work here! love fiemme spruce sound.

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by KevinLPederson

Love the back strip Howard (and the rest). Really cool.

Kevin.

+1! Very nice!

[jmat]

Hi All – Howard has provided a few more photo’s on the progress. Thanks for checking in!

The below photos show the gluing of the tail block and the neck block. There are inlay details on the tail block which I assume are for strength/support and also looks elegant. Not that it will be seen!






Neck blank with truss rod installed



The headstock with veneers on and also the headstock with the veneers beveled. The veneers will go black/curly maple/Brazilian rosewood. The curl in the maple will show under finish.

[nopicknick]

This is so incredibly fascinating to me......and beautiful to watch this all come together!

[MBE]

That's some of the coolest looking wood I've seen - essentially a natural sunburst effect. Can't wait to see it under finish!

[jmat]

Hi -

Happy holidays to all, I wish you peace and hope you are finding time to enjoy life. Howard has been actively working his way onto the ‘nice’ list and has provided the below photos and accompanying text providing insight into his approach to building. The build is proceeding beautifully, please enjoy the below from Howard:


“First, you mentioned "inlay" in the tailblock. It's actually a lamination at 90º to the main body of the tailblock, to keep it from splitting if there should be a blow to the end of the guitar. I used a cutoff from the neck for this--it's a bit of a visual for someone with a mirror, and symbolically ties the guitar together from end to end. I bevel the top and back of the block to give a bit more vibrating area to the top and back, and avoid the "telegraphing" that sometimes appears on the surface. The tailblock doesn't need to be wider than the liners for supporting the top and back, but it does need a little more meat for supporting an end pin or strap jack.”




“The end graft is installed. I often match it to the rosette, as I did here.”





“I've trimmed the sides and given it the wedge shape; the wedge doesn't show well in this shot. We now have a guitar-shaped object!”




“I selected a fretboard of Madagascar ebony, which is the blackest and finest grained in the world. I have stopped buying Malagasy woods, but I'll make use of what I have stashed.

Here it is being glued to the neck:”




“A look at the neck with the board on:”




“Now I trim the excess from the sides of the neck. I could saw it, but I prefer to use edge tools. I start with a small drawknife. These are fun to use, but they cut very aggressively and can get you in trouble.”




“Before that happens, I switch to a spokeshave:”




“Now the neck is ready for frets”.



Have a great Holiday!

Best,
John

[Danieldaniel]

Looks fantastic. Love the wood selection.

Am also currently having an Italian/D. Tuc. OM being built by Michael Bashkin. My back and sides also exhibit similar "flame" patterns.

Sister sets perhaps?

[jmat]

Originally Posted by Danieldaniel

Looks fantastic. Love the wood selection.

Am also currently having an Italian/D. Tuc. OM being built by Michael Bashkin. My back and sides also exhibit similar "flame" patterns.

Sister sets perhaps?

Hi - I checked out your build, very nice! It does look like the B/S wood could have come from the same tree. Howard was very enthusiastic about the tonal potential and that certainly pumped me up. If you are close to Virginia we can arrange a family reunion at some point! Be well, JM.

[jmat]

I got a couple more photos from Howard so I will indulge a double post day.

The frets are EVO gold and have been installed. To my knowledge I haven’t used this fret wire before; I believe it will look great with the colors on this guitar.



I studied classical when I was younger and, while I wish I had retained more of the actual chops, I did retain the vestigial preference for the simpler fret board. The board will be straight black with Paua abalone side dots on top. To assist as a navigation aid, Howard put double dots at the 7th as well as the 12th fret to prevent confusion. No worries if a mistake is made however - I was taught to make it twice and call it jazz....



Cheers,
John

[jmat]

Happy New Year’s eve to all.

This continues to be an exciting build as Howard makes steady progress. The neck is shaped, the mortise is cut in the neck block, the side tapes are in, and the backup liner for the bevel is installed.

Howard and I had a fair number of communications about the neck profile. I prefer a stouter neck without a strong V-shape. I own a Collings OOO and generally like the neck so that served as our starting point. Using the Collings as a benchmark we added bit more mass under the first few frets and shaped away from the V to more of a C profile. The below photos show the shaped neck which is .867" at the first fret and .910" at the 9th fret. Howard continues the line of the neck barrel to the 11th fret before beginning the heel, and at the 11th fret the depth of the neck is .930". The profile is very close to Collings' "Vintage Now" but with less graduation in depth.



The back of the headstock with the dart and Brazilian rosewood veneer. The veneer on the rear of the head stock is a flitch match to the front face veneer, both are shown below:





And a closeup of the dart. We chose a multi-wood laminated vs. all mahogany neck:



I wanted both a wedge and a small bevel. While there may be some functional redundancy, in that both reduce shoulder extension, I see the wedge and bevel serving different purposes in that the bevel provides a comfortable playing contour. We went with what Howard defined a “Mini-bevel”. Below is a photo of the gluing of the solid line that will support the bevel.



in the event one needs to hone their air guitar skills and just for fun: a shot of the neck sitting in the rims.



Be well tonight and happy New Year!

JM

[jmat]

The next round of photos from Howard show the box coming together nicely.

First, the liners are all installed:



And the back glued on:



Finally, the top being glued:



Happy 2014 -
John

[Berf]

Looking wonderful jmat... 2014 seems to be starting very nicely for you. All the best, berf