That is beautiful Mark. The colors work really well together.

Is the inner ring of Bloodwood actually binding the soundhole?

Thanks Cigarfan,

Yes, it is bound with Bloodwood. There will be a sound port which I'll bind in Bloodwood also, so I'm thinking that all ties together nicely with Bloodwood binding and other accent points.

Mark

Rosette #2
 

Here are some pictures of the rosette for the cut away BRW Josie
This is the first hint of abalone with much more to come:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7523/...bbfb840d_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/...57ff1f01_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7518/...1cfb4f74_c.jpg

Thanks for viewing,
Mark

Loving everything about this build thanks for sharing Mark!

Thanks swiftz07,

This is a wonderful set of woods to work with!

Mark

Where did you get that wood from?!?!?

I'm SOOO jealous!

Thanks!

There are woods that can really suck you in and you find yourself just staring.

The more I look, the better it gets....

Thanks TomB'sox,

I thought they called it Bloodwood because of the red color. The more I work with it the more I realize you have to be careful with this stuff, it cuts you. Not quite the beast Wenge is but, it does seem to be out for blood!

Mark

Setting up braces
 

With all of the tops and backs joined I am now gluing up braces. I use an X brace on the top and combine that with lattice on the lower bout:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/...fdbe10a4_c.jpg

The backs are full lattice. I have a unique way in which I profile my brace stock and miter each of the joints. It's time consuming but I believe it pays off in the responsiveness I get:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7283/...95c8e60a_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7425/...6879f31e_c.jpg

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Nice pictures and nice wood!
That BRW is going to be a killer. Looking forward to see the progress!

/Niklas

Looks like we had the same idea for driveway marker go bars! Great looking build, Mark.

Brad

Yea, a 1/4 fiberglass rod is just the ticket. They last a long time and give consistent preasure. The fact you can get them cheaply seems like cheating

I have a friend in Bangkok that builds classic guitars. He also makes his own spring loaded go bars. I'm planning a Thailand trip this November and hope to come back with a bunch of those.

Bending Sides
 

I think most luthiers really like to work with BRW. It's beautiful, smells nice, and does all the stuff it's supposed to do which includes taking and holding bends well. Ideally, the guitar's top and back aren't being used to hold the sides to shape. This adds weird tensions to the top that can change the sound and will change with time as the sides finally give up fighting the top (about 5 yrs later). That's when you have a guitar voiced to sound a certain way, then the side tensions on the top relaxes and it sounds different, probably not for the better.
Here are a couple progress shots of side bending and set up:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7390/...4540c300_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8680/...2f212604_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/...1da0e7e1_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7488/...33723b03_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8587/...6aa86f75_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/...feae560e_c.jpg

Thanks for following along!
Mark

Here is what I'm talking about. The side set hold it's shape without any force:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8602/...9407999c_c.jpg

Mark