Too late! Man I love that shot!

I guess I should take more pictures like that one!

When I am working with a highly figured wood I'll often go with laminated sides. It gives the sides more strength/stability and when you bend highly figured wood at full side thickness they can come out pretty lumpy.
On this guitar I am using maple laminates. This side is being compressed in the mold as it sets up:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/517/31...d49e6e76_c.jpg

Thanks for following!
Mark

Neck and Heel Blocks
 

Here are the neck and heel blocks going on. This process also joins the sides;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/733/31...938224ae_b.jpg[/url]

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/556/31...18c428da_c.jpg

You can see the maple laminates on the inside.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Is there a reason why you picked Maple for the interior laminate?
Have you discovered previously it matches up with Paudauk sonically? it is a good combination structurally? or is it simply a looks thing?

The choice of the "interior" wood for use with double sides is something I haven't manage to spot any specific trends in yet.

Thanks

David

Nice story!
 

I am really loving this beauty! Nice story about your house and the reflections on the ceiling.

My pal Steve has a spectacular Padouk John Kinnaird axe that is both beautiful and super musical. Nice wood and makes me hungry!

Cheers

Paul

I chose maple for the interior laminate for several reasons; It is lightweight. It is not very porous so it doesn't suck up a lot of glue (adding weight) or have a lot of glue bleed through. The color isn't a problem. There is no sonic consideration or any need for one in my opinion unless you are considering using something that might deaden sound like maybe cork or balsa wood.

Thanks Paul,

Padauk is an excellent tonewood. I only hear two types of complaints; one is it can be difficult to bend and when your sanding the usual red brick colored Padauk the red color gets everywhere, places you really don't want it to show up on/in!

Best
Mark

Breakfast?
 

Bacon and scrambled eggs?

Mark,
You got me looking in my wallet again.

Alan
the Pina

Mark,
What's your take on Macassar vs ebony for fretboards?

Great!

Functionally I don't see significant differences. There are some small differences; Black Ebony tends to be a little more brittle which might mean you would have more chip out on a re-fret job. Macassar rings better when you tap it generally. Macassar tends to be a little more resinous or feel a little more oily. In practice if you are using a treatment on your fret board they would feel the same and probably wear about the same.
The biggest difference is the looks. Black Ebony being the more traditional black, though lately that straight black is often assisted with dye. Sometimes the streaky gray is left to show. Macassar can have some beautiful grain and depth similar to Brazilian Rosewood.

Back On
 

The back braces have been shaped and we're closing the body up. Here is a picture of the back going on:

]https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/357/31...62b35c78_c.jpg

Sound Port
 

We are going with a sound port;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/595/31...b0d7de65_b.jpg

Here the back is on;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/647/32...8c57911e_c.jpg

Next the top gets voiced and the body gets closed.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

How about a picture of the bracing through the sound port?

OK, A bit of a trick but, my IPhone with a little fish-eye attachment lens did the trick:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/426/32...577dac18_c.jpg

Mark

Cool shot, Mark!

This one is looking great--still loving that Padauk...

Now that is cool! Awesome shot Mark.

Thanks cigarfan!

Thanks Nemoman,

Yesterday I recorded a couple sound clips of the new Piña parlor guitar which has similar woods to this small jumbo I'm building. This parlor has the sister African Paduak back and side set and a maple neck. Volkert Volkersz was at my studio and was kind enough to help me out;





Mark

Very nice! That little guitar really excites the air.

Thanks for commenting Glenn23. It's a lightly build guitar and has a sound port and active back helping out.

Very nice demo Mark, the guitar sounds fantastic. Congrats on another great build! The small jumbo is looking mighty good too!

Closing the box
 

Thanks Tom!

Here are a couple pictures of the body being closed up;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/373/32...c3d7302e_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/780/32...a0a7264d_c.jpg

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Trim
 

We're going with African Blackwood trim which starts on the end graft;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/498/31...3695f044_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/527/32...e9e1e1dc_b.jpg

Unfortunately, what you don't see in my photos is that this is not the stark black you would have with Black Ebony it's a bit lighter a little more brown than what the photo shows.

Then comes the binding
 

Then comes the African Blackwood binding;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/676/31...abe80407_c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/778/32...45f59e02_c.jpg

Thanks!
Mark

Very pretty, Mark, and the Padauk is to die for.
But hold on a minute--we didn't see the top bracing completed.
Got a pic of that?

Steve

Pina sounds great...such a substantial and complex voice.

Very nicely done Mark!

Thanks ross748!

Thanks ukejon,

I've been experimented with a bracing pattern for the parlor sized guitar and have been happy with the results. I'm thinking I may move this up to the next larger Penelope model on my next spec guitar build.

Thanks Steve!

I was fortunate to come across these two figured "bacon" Padauk sets. Padauk is generally a fine sounding tonewood but, the typically solid brick red Padauk is such a mess to work with as the sawdust is like powdered red dye! This "bacon" sawdust is a nice flesh tone so you don't see it so much.

I didn't catch a picture of the finished top bracing. I do have a pic of the second round of braces going on though:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/459/31...7d6d2342_c.jpg


Meanwhile, I've been getting the neck together. This is local Sugar Maple (Hard Maple) with a black bordered cross grained African Padauk center strip;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/760/32...8930fc6b_c.jpg

Thanks for commenting!
Mark

Open Tuning on Sound Clips?
 

I have a question about preferences for sound clips. I invite a number of local artists to my studio to make demo sound clips. I ask them to play what they feel the guitar wants to play.

I do make some requests;
Keep it short (2:00 min or so)
Play across the strings and up and down the fretboard
Give an opportunity to show sustain



So here is my question; When you are listening to a sound clip do you feel open tuning interferes with your evaluation or is helpful?

Personally I think it's helpful. If a the low end sounds good in drop D you know E is covered. If E sounds good you don't know if D is good.
But I often play in open tuning. If I tended not to maybe open tuning would just makes it harder to get a feel for how the guitar sounds. Maybe I am totally missing something else? So I'd appreciate your take on this

Thanks,
Mark

I'm kinda mixed on this question. Because I play in standard tuning most of the time I like to hear the balance and intonation that way. But there is value to me to hear a guitar down a half step or alternate in DADGAD to know if there is any floppiness with less tension. Sorry that doesn't help your cause any.

Thanks for your comment cigarfan. This helps. I typically do more than one clip and it makes sense then to not have them both be open tuning.

Mark

Neck Assembly
 

Here is the neck coming together;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/562/31...ec02642e_c.jpg

We're going with a Padauk backstrap;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/350/32...ee67faa6_b.jpg

Thanks for viewing!
Mark