Build Thread: Indian Rosewood and Torrified Sitka 000
 

Hello, my name is Tim Garst. I have been building for about 3 years and this is my 8th instrument (2 classical, 1 ukulele, 1 acoustic bass, 4 steel string). I started woodworking 6 years ago and eventually found J.S. Bogdonavich’s book at the library and thought “I could try that”. That first guitar was not impressive, but I really caught the bug and here I am. Building guitars is more an impulse than a business opportunity to me, but I only have so much room in the house for hand built guitars, so I would like to start getting my foot in the door and get other people playing my instruments.

I am very aware that I am still in the early stages of becoming a luthier and look forward to any constructive criticism, advice, and ideas this community of amazing builders, players, and collectors can throw my way.

Alright, enough BS, let’s talk about this guitar.

Top: torrified Sitka spruce
Bracing: torrified Sitka spruce
Back and sides: Indian rosewood
Binding: Sapele
Neck: mahogany
Tuners: Gotoh M6 minis, gold

This is my first time using torrified wood. I love the tap tone, and oddly enough the smell is very pleasant. But the brittleness adds some extra difficulty. I can’t say how I truly feel until I get strings on here.
This is mostly a Martin 000 copy, but I use a different headstock, bridge, and heel and widen the nut from 1 5/8 to 1 3/4.

A little hand plane action
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Laying out bracing pattern
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A preview of the rosette: Indian rosewood, Sapele, and splalted maple from the firewood pile. The honeyed tone of the baked Sitka has me drooling.
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Thanks for taking a peek, more to come!

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you will fit in nicely here :)
I like how you angled the grain of the rosette, it seem to add a little action to the design. I’m interested in how the torrified braces work out for you

Mark

Welcome to the forum, Tim!

Looks like you've got a great start so far. The woods look great and your rosette is unique and appealing.

Looking forward to your progress!

Thanks Mark! I plan to do a similar angle with the same sandwiched woods on the head plate to keep the theme going. I will keep you updated on the terrified bracing, that step isn’t too far out.

Thanks Nemoman. On my other guitars I have used one solid wood wrapped with purflins and was quite content with just that. Then I got this idea when making a laminated cutting board. I’m sure, like every other thing that seems unique, someone else has already done it, but I like the look of it anyways.

More progress over the last few days. The sides are bent, top and back braced, and the box closed.

I tend to use mahogany for my back braces as I usually have some quartersawn scraps left over from the board I build the neck from. It looks prettier than spruce, is cheaper (I don’t understand why), and I speculate that the species of back bracing doesn’t have too much of a sonic effect. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, so don’t quote me. Nothing fancy design wise here, same thing Martin has done for decades.
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The top is braced getting ready to be glued in place. An update on torrified bracing: it’s brittle! I had to be very careful carving these compared to non baked wood. I was also very shy with removing material, and only scalloped on extension of the X-brace on the treble side. I also scalloped one tone bar and all the finger braces. I didn’t remove as much material as normal for a few reasons: the thickness of the top is a little thinner than I would usually go (.095”) and the torrified wood sands so easily that I assume that will be down to .090 by final sanding. Secondly, I was getting the tap tones I wanted very early on in the shaping process and didn’t want to go too far.
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And the box is closed! Still getting good taptones with the box closed, but definitely went from getting 4 or 5 distinct tones to 2, 3 at most.
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More progress this week on the neck joint!

Laying out the joint to be cut by hand.
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Checking for center at three points. It’s always satisfying when the neck joint fits in tight enough that you have to knock if free with a mallet after the test fit.

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Here we go! In the white, with the unglued bridge on just to see, getting ready for French polish. So far I am happy with this.
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And a preview of the headstock echoing the rosette after the first wash coat of shellac, really bringing out the colors.
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I chose not to bind the headstock, and because of that you get to see some sweet spalted endgrain action.
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It will take a week of off and on French polishing sessions and then some time to cure before I glue on the bridge and get some strings on this bad boy.
I will have just enough time to build my wife’s Christmas request of a new shelf for her extensive record collection and then I am going to take a few weeks to make some improvements to the shop before starting another guitar. Not sure what the next guitar will be, but I’ve got some sweet sets of walnut waiting to be used.

I really dig that headstock veneer. Great job with everything so far! I’m excited to see how it turns out.

Yep, plus on on the headstock...and good luck with the French polishing, that takes dedication!

Thanks! I have French polished every instrument I have made so far, but didn’t really get it down until this past year. The first few attempts were less French polish and more just a few coats of shellac, but after lots of practice, I figured it out. It’s involved and takes some extra time, but I work out of my home basement and do not want to introduce any noxious sprays into my process. And of course the biggest factor is the sound quality and feel. I don’t like the plasticy feel of nitro and other finishes, and I would not trade sound quality for dent protection. Of course this is just my opinion and don’t think anyone else’s preferences are wrong. Plus turning shellac flakes and Everclear into a guitar finish makes me feel like an insane alchemist.

I am in the lucky group that does not have a problem with my sweat eating through French polish, but I am thinking of switching to using an oil varnish on the neck for this reason.

Thanks Balek, I’m excited to get tuners on this headstock to see how it all finishes out.

EIR and Sitka, a winning combination.

Looking good--looking forward to seeing it all under finish!

I've never tried it for a guitar but did try it for an old wooden mantlepiece in our house, and while the results weren't bad, I think I'd need to do about ten more to really get the hang of it. It was super cool melting the flakes, so I like your alchemist analogy!

Build Thread: Indian Rosewood and Torrified Sitka 000
 

French polish sessions look awfully suspicious. And there’s a sneak peak of the guitar in the background under a few body sessions of polish.
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Here’s what my hand looks like after a day of polishing and smacking the pad on the back of my hand to distribute the shellac evenly throughout the pad and make sure it is not over saturated.
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A few more bodying sessions before I do the final glaze coat and put the guitar away for a week to cure. Then just gotta glue the bridge on, make a nut and saddle, and do the final set up.

French polish is cured and hardware installed!

Here’s some iPhone pics in the dusty shop. I am working on getting a recording. The sound is about what you would expect from a EIR/Sitka 000 or OM. Scooped mids with piano like basses and bell/ringing trebles with plenty of overtones. The torrified top and braces seem to lend to some warmth and volume. This guitar is noticeably louder than the Sapele/Sitka (non torrified) 000 that I built previously.

It’s a guitar built for fingerstyle, but it does just as well with flatpicking. The neck is chunky enough for good sustain, but still comfortable enough to play for long sessions. Overall I am happy with it. I built this guitar to get more acquainted with torrified tops, and while I think they have their place and value (and color!) I’m not quite sure I will be building every single guitar with them.
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I have a few touch ups to do on the French polish, as well as the final set up. I will then try to take some better quality glamour shots and get some sound clips or a video.
This guitar will be for sale if anyone is interested.

Thanks for following along!