HOWARD KLEPPER: Oval Hole, 000/OM (African Blackwood / Italian Spruce)

[jmat]

Fantastic! I love the guitars that Howard made for me and will be tracking this build. Howard is multidimensional and it is always fun to tap into his many arcane reservoirs.

Congratulations Bob!

[justonwo]

Howard is one talented dude. I'm a big, big fan.

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by jmat

Fantastic! I love the guitars that Howard made for me and will be tracking this build. Howard is multidimensional and it is always fun to tap into his many arcane reservoirs.

Congratulations Bob!

Thanks very much...I hope that you're enjoying your Klepper...

Originally Posted by justonwo

Howard is one talented dude. I'm a big, big fan.

It appears that there are a bunch of us out here...

[Steve Kinnaird]

Should be fun, Bob! Thanks for sharing.

Steve

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Should be fun, Bob! Thanks for sharing.

Steve

Already is Steve...Thanks for chiming in...

[LouieAtienza]

This should be another awesome build thread, as an admirer of Howard's work!

[Howard Klepper]

Well, gee, thanks to all who have expressed an interest!

Bob is a great client to work with--a designer, engineer, bon vivant, and wit as well as a musician. He has challenged me by asking for all the bells and whistles: multiscale, wedge, cutaway, and sunburst, brought together in a unique way that is tonally and visually harmonious. The collaboration of builder and player on this kind of project is what custom lutherie is all about.

I'll try not to disappoint.

[iim7V7IM7]

Reciprocally, I am also enjoying the collaborative, educational, interactive process of working together with Howard on this very special project... As in many custom builds, some decisions are made prospectively by the client or luthier (e.g. size, woods etc.), but many design choices occur responsively as the build progresses on the artisan's bench (some great ones occurred today!). I look foward to journaling this build in this thread.

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Well, gee, thanks to all who have expressed an interest!

Bob is a great client to work with--a designer, engineer, bon vivant, and wit as well as a musician. He has challenged me by asking for all the bells and whistles: multiscale, wedge, cutaway, and sunburst, brought together in a unique way that is tonally and visually harmonious. The collaboration of builder and player on this kind of project is what custom lutherie is all about.

I'll try not to disappoint.

[iim7V7IM7]

Howard has cut a distinct, 3-1/6" x 4-9/16" oval sound hole into the Italian Alpine Spruce top. He also routed and inlayed a tightly framed rosette in Black Tahitian MOP to match the tuner buttons on the Rodgers tuners shown in my prior post. While differing in its shape, the surface area of this soundhole will be actually similar to a 3-7/8" round OM soundhole (when the sound port is accomodated for) which is important acoustically.



The Black Tahitian MOP is surrounded by a elegant blue/natural maple/black purfling. The blue "accent" purfling will tie into the top purfling that you will see in a short while once the top gets routed after the rims are attached.



The aformentioned top purfling will coordinate with the multi-colored backstrip seen below. Howard has introduced a spectrum of color into his custom marquetry. The colorful chevron backstrip is made with maple, black, blue, green, ochre and umber are died woods. A central blue line similar to the edge accent purfling used in the rosette runs down the center of the backstrip (below). This should really visually "pop" against the deep contrast of the African Blackwood back under finish.

[CoolerKing]

This will be very fun to follow along, as I really like the features the client and luthier decided on, specifically the purfling, back/top wood, and wedge. Should come together beautifully!

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks Matthew...This style of purfling against a burst should be particularly interesting...

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

This will be very fun to follow along, as I really like the features the client and luthier decided on, specifically the purfling, back/top wood, and wedge. Should come together beautifully!

[Rocnrollie]

I love this build !! An advanced design with all of the bells .. I'm sure your vision with Howard's will yield spectacular results !!

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by Rocnrollie

I love this build !! An advanced design with all of the bells .. I'm sure your vision with Howard's will yield spectacular results !!

Thanks...

We are going for a bit of a jazz aesthetic by introducing "Kalamazoo-like" features such as the sunburst, the shallow neck heel and laminated neck construction. But we are combining this with the classic "Narareth-like" features of 000/OM body size/shape and the early "Martin-like" marquetry. The modern aspects of the build are the Manzer wedge (comfort), the 24.9" to 25.4" multi-scale length (tone) and a sound port (personal playing). Howard is of course voicing the guitar based on our discussions on preference.

I have always been fond of the oval soundhole aesthetic and have already have an archtop and nylon string incorporating an oval soundhole. There are however structural challenges in adding an oval soundhole to a steel stringed flat top. The wider soundhole (4-9/16" oval vs. a 3-7/8" circle) weakens the strength of the soundboard to the 160 lb. string load. Fortunately, Howard uses an a-frame bracing along with a transverse brace instead of the traditional popsicle brace in his upper bout. This type of reinforcement should work nicely with an oval sound hole. An example from an earlier 00 round soundhole build seen below so you get the idea.

[justonwo]

Fantastic so far. Howard's guitar building is top notch.

[iim7V7IM7]

Howard has laminated up a beautiful neck blank of some dense, old growth Honduran Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), Yellowheart (Euxylophora paraensis) with some Black-Maple-Black accent lines. The appearance of the Yellowheart which is also commonly referred to as Pau Amarello (Portuguese for Yellow Wood) should nicely match the Ceylon Satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia) body binding.