Oska Burman Guitars - MDC - Adirondack/Antique Mahogany

[Oska Burman]

Good morning/evening all, which ever time zone you may be reading this in. Hope everyone is well!

Next up on my bench is an MDC model made from Adirondack & Antique Mahogany. My client is a huge flatpicker, fingerpicker and blue-grasser as well as a Doc Watson fan. So we're going for something of a modern take on Doc's guitar, sporting an arm bevel. Doc actually used to retrofit an arm rest to his cutaway dread, so it's not far from this actually! This one will have laminated sides of Mahogany & Cherry.

He's also an avid Mando player as well, so is very fond of the old Flamed Maple, so we'll be including this in his build.

Hope you enjoy following along and please feel free to chime in with any comments!

Cheers,

Oska.



Joining the Hog back using the old Spanish rope & wedges method


Lovely piece of Hog actually. There's even a bit of ripple in this piece when it catches the light


Radial wood rosette with a bit of a twist. The flames form the radial element in this one


Sunshine through the shop window always does the wood some good


First step of rosette inlaying


Then I install the purfling lines





Still not finished here, as the soundhole edge will be bound in ebony. This will be done at a later stage.


Vacuum pressing the laminated sides over a former


Gluing on the bottom block


Next is gluing on the top block

[Oska Burman]

The inside of the arm bevel block is shaped


Details of the inside of the rim set








Cross grain laminated mahogany top block

[Carpinteria]

The orientation of the flame on the rosette looks really great!

[hgaynor]

That is beautiful, super clean work !

[Oska Burman]

Originally Posted by Carpinteria

The orientation of the flame on the rosette looks really great!

Cheers. Yes it was a collaboration between myself & my client. We were originally going to do a radial rosette with a stripy, straight grained hardwood, but due to his love of flamed maple, we came up with the idea of using the flames as the radial element. It has come out looking very smart, if I do say so myself.

[Oska Burman]

Originally Posted by hgaynor

That is beautiful, super clean work !

Thanks a lot hgaynor. It all counts toward a great guitar, I believe.

[Oska Burman]

So this is where I'm at currently.

The box closing ceremony is imminent & then the neck will be started.


So I decided to try this method for the ebony ring that will frame the soundhole edge, whereby I inlayed a strip of Ebony that I'd bent to shape on a hot iron, but not to the full depth of the soundhole patch. Then I thicknessed the soundhole patch from the back, as per usual, to reveal the bound Ebony ring.


The soundhole is then cut out, support braces around the soundhole are glued & shaped, then the x-brace


The soundhole is now bound & therefore the rosette is now complete. Looking pretty sharp actually.


After taking the x-brace down to height, it gets some initial profiling


One brace to go...


The last brace to be glued on is the upper transverse


Just about to glue the soundboard to the rim


Gotta notch all the braces into their pockets




A bunch of different clamps are required for this operation of gluing the soundboard to the rim set


Adirondack back reinforcement strip is profiled


Then it's notched to receive the back braces


The back braces get profiled

[Oska Burman]

Continuing on with this build - after closing the box, it's all about the two B's. Binding & bevels! This Hog/Adi MDC is being bound & bevelled in Ebony, with Steamed Pearwood & black purflings & a bit of Flamed Maple inlay.

I also came up with a new concept for this build, whereby I inlayed a similar design to the end graft, but into the florentine cutaway point. So it essentially creates a 3D end graft that wraps around the corner.

The end graft itself is also a bit fancy, following along with the added theme of Flamed Maple (like the rosette) & inlaying a thin strip into it. It makes for a quite Art Deco looking end graft.

[Nemoman]

Beautiful work, Oska!

[volman]

That looks so good...love the rosette.

[SColumbusSt]

What a beauty!

[TomB'sox]

Thanks for such detailed photos, love to see all the steps. The inlay at the cutaway looks great, I love it.

[Zandit75]

I'm not fully understanding what I'm seeing.
Where's the sawdust, where's the mess?? Sure I see a couple of shavings, but it's not enough!!
I'm thinking you've bought a brilliant Build-it-Yourself kit guitar and everything is coming together perfectly without any woodwork needed!!

[Oska Burman]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Beautiful work, Oska!

Originally Posted by SColumbusSt

What a beauty!

Thanks a lot guys!

Originally Posted by volman

That looks so good...love the rosette.

Cheers. Yes it's (the rosette) a new design for me in many ways & both myself & my client are thrilled with it. Will definitely do something in the realms of this design idea again.

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Thanks for such detailed photos, love to see all the steps. The inlay at the cutaway looks great, I love it.

Cheers Tom. It's funny you say that, as I actually get so engrossed in the making that I miss loads of photo opportunities, but I still manage to get enough to make for a coherent build story! The cutaway inlay has really worked well & I'm glad I had the intestinal fortitude to try it this time.

[Oska Burman]

Originally Posted by Zandit75

I'm not fully understanding what I'm seeing.
Where's the sawdust, where's the mess?? Sure I see a couple of shavings, but it's not enough!!
I'm thinking you've bought a brilliant Build-it-Yourself kit guitar and everything is coming together perfectly without any woodwork needed!!

What can I say? A clean workshop = clean work