Sam Guidry-in the works 2018
 

Hello once again folks, for the forum this year I'm going the route of a single thread to show what I'm up to. I find that I am always horribly late in completing threads so I thought I might give this style of posts a try.

Guitar festival season starts early this year with the Artisan Guitar show in April and the LaConner guitar show in May. I am planning two guitars for the upcoming shows, a cocobolo non cut SG-2 and a Brazilian cutaway SG-2.

The cocobolo guitar will feature a minimalist style and decorative elements that are inspired by Japanese shoji screens. For the top I have selected a nice piece of sitka spruce. The bindings, fretboard, peghead overlay and underlay, and bridge are all from a piece of Macassar ebony and the neck is one piece Honduran mahogany.

For the Brazilian guitar I am going for a more standard decoration. It will feature an Engelmann spruce top with a maple burl rosette. The trim will be high figure snake wood. The neck is one piece Honduran mahogany with Brazilian overlay and underlay, fretboard and bridge.

Along with the show guitars for the year, I have some other fun things in the works, I'll be starting my first baritone some time later this year!

I will post photos as I can along the way so I hope you follow along and enjoy!

Here are the backs for the two show guitars, first the coco and then the braz
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4707/...dfd15a9a_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4632/...3e8835f9_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr

The backs look great and that crazy stuff on the bottom of the BRW is going to be outstanding with finish!!!

The motif for the coco guitar is inspired by Japanese shoji screens. These are used traditionally as room dividers and they are made by stretching rice paper over a skeleton of supports. Some of the supports are just a simple grid, while others have an art deco type feel which I really love. This design fit well with my "Minimalist Deco" trend I have been employing lately, so I drew it up and here it is!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4626/...32a95347_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr
For the "rosette" or maybe more appropriately, the sound hole decoration, I am echoing the shoji idea. Conventional wisdom dictates the sound hole must be accompanied by a circular decoration. I view the sound hole decoration as a place to explore an idea and thanks to modern luthiers like Michi Matsuda and Ray Kraut, they show us that a soundhole decoration doesn't need to be circular and in fact it can be anything you can dream up. One thing I really like about this design is that it is kind of an "anti" rosette. It keeps things harmonious with the overall design while making a visual statement and it forces you to think about what a guitar really needs to be. In reality, it can be anything you can imagine.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4600/...ea106210_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr

Very cool, Sam--I love what you've got going so far!

Anything planned for the fretboard in keeping with this theme?

Thanks for sharing this with us...

Thanks for sharing your work. I look forward to watching your progress.

Not for the fretboard, but it will echoed in the peg head and end graft decoration

Awesome so far Sam!

That’s a unique alternative design Sam. Do you have a inner ring around the inner circumference of the sound hole? It’s difficult to see in your photo. You probably know this but it bears repeating for those who don’t know but the circular rosette does serve a very important purpose on a guitar, to seal the end grain of the exposed edges of the sound hole. Quartersawn wood exchanges moisture with the atmosphere through its end grain. The rosette does the same thing that the bindings do, they seal off the end grain of the top perimeter and back perimeter, to retard moisture exchange. Enough rambling and I look forward to following these two beautiful builds.

I hadn't thought of that reason for a rosette tim, I'll have to think about that one. I use a fairly robust graft around my sound hole to prevent any unwanted strangeness in that area.

Hi Sam,

Please consider that a surface applied graft or patch around the sound hole will certainly strengthen and mechanically reinforce the area around the sound hole but it won't seal off the end grain around the exposed edges of the sound hole. Circular rosettes are typically inlaid with 90%+ penetration through the top, which seals off any exposed end grain. One could always install a thin inner ring around the sound hole's exposed edge, which would effectively seal the end grain. Please don't think that I am throwing stones at a beautiful glass house but merely trying to share some food for thought.

I don’t agree with Tim here. Interior bracing will be more than sufficient to forestall any problems. Countless guitars, mandolins, violins, violas, cellos, etc. have been built without decorative embellishments around the soundholes, and have lasted for centuries.

Glen, with all due respect, I never said nor implied it would have any effect on “forestalling any structural problems”. The rosette and bindings, serve the same function, to reduce and retard moisture exchange into and out of quartersawn top and back exposed end grain.

Regardless, I still like your aesthetically design Sam.

Thanks Tim, I never thought about that function of the bindings and perfs before. I always finish in and around the sound hole, maybe it has the same effect? Anyway I always appreciate kind words from fellow luthiers!

Tim, I built one guitar where I wanted absolutely no purfling around the soundhole... so I installed one purfling ring of maple on the inside face! Just in case anyone scalded me about it!



Sam, this looks amazing so far, cant wait to see how this comes together!