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-   -   New Wilborn Arum Build: Tunnel 14 Redwood with Ziricote [Unveiling Video Added] (https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=602885)

WilbornGuitars 01-10-2021 10:57 PM

New Wilborn Arum Build: Tunnel 14 redwood with ziricote
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by TomB'sox (Post 6597053)
Congrats Mr. Eddie. You know I have a huge man crush on Ben and his guitars, jeez, I have enough of them!



Yes, you owe this all to me and Ben takes far too much credit for his Comma series, as far as I am concerned it should be the B'sox-stravaganza series!!! (Ben are you listening?).



Well, I tried to come up with the right name to honor you. The Bowilus, The Soxilus, The Tomulus. The Naughtysox. They just didn't have the right ring. Sorry, pal.

Ukulele_Eddie 01-11-2021 04:35 PM

Progress Photos
 
4 Attachment(s)
As diligent as ever, Ben has been busy on the Arum.

Sides laminated. As described by Ben:

Laminated sides are an integral part of the Arum’s construction. Primarily, they provide strength and structure, together with a carbon fiber strut, to the upper treble bout, where the soundport has removed a big chunk of the strength. But they also make the sides exceptionally strong, and flat across their width, and they hold the shape of the sides with no spring-back at all- yet another internal stress that I have removed from the guitar. They won’t crack, and they won’t warp. In this case, I have made the inner two veneers from rift sawn. Honduran mahogany. You can look right into this guitar, so the cosmetics of the interior are very important and since all the linings and back braces are also mahogany, it looks really nice as well.

Vacuum bag forming the sides over a solid Baltic birch form.


Gluing the mahogany braces to the back in the go-deck bar.

Face-plate selected (#2). We went with #2 b/c it was the best color match and also had the sapwood.

Nemoman 01-11-2021 05:16 PM

Nice to see the progress on this one. Cool headplate selection, Eddie!

#3 looks like some sort of upside down version of Woody Woodpecker!

WilbornGuitars 01-11-2021 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman (Post 6601942)
Nice to see the progress on this one. Cool headplate selection, Eddie!

#3 looks like some sort of upside down version of Woody Woodpecker!

Like a very evil version of Woody! Unfortunately, the string posts are going to pretty much come through those eyes, which will ruin the effect. But ziricote is very much given to producing fairytale looking faces. I made a guitar once that looked exactly like Treebeard from The Lord of the Rings was peering out of the back.

Ukulele_Eddie 01-11-2021 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman (Post 6601942)
Nice to see the progress on this one. Cool headplate selection, Eddie!

#3 looks like some sort of upside down version of Woody Woodpecker!

Yeah, my first question was where will the tuner pegs be on #3, which ruled it out for me.

TomB'sox 01-12-2021 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ukulele_Eddie (Post 6601904)
As diligent as ever, Ben has been busy on the Arum.

Sides laminated. As described by Ben:

Laminated sides are an integral part of the Arum’s construction. Primarily, they provide strength and structure, together with a carbon fiber strut, to the upper treble bout, where the soundport has removed a big chunk of the strength. But they also make the sides exceptionally strong, and flat across their width, and they hold the shape of the sides with no spring-back at all- yet another internal stress that I have removed from the guitar. They won’t crack, and they won’t warp. In this case, I have made the inner two veneers from rift sawn. Honduran mahogany. You can look right into this guitar, so the cosmetics of the interior are very important and since all the linings and back braces are also mahogany, it looks really nice as well.

Vacuum bag forming the sides over a solid Baltic birch form.


Gluing the mahogany braces to the back in the go-deck bar.

Face-plate selected (#2). We went with #2 b/c it was the best color match and also had the sapwood.

Between the circles on the go bar deck and the Ziricote I had to take some Dramamine to keep from getting motion sickness LOL!

Nemoman 01-12-2021 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilbornGuitars (Post 6601960)
Like a very evil version of Woody! Unfortunately, the string posts are going to pretty much come through those eyes, which will ruin the effect. But ziricote is very much given to producing fairytale looking faces. I made a guitar once that looked exactly like Treebeard from The Lord of the Rings was peering out of the back.

I also noticed that #3 has the direct advantage of having your headstock diamond built in! :D

jklotz 01-12-2021 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman (Post 6602610)
I also noticed that #3 has the direct advantage of having your headstock diamond built in! :D

Yea, and the truss rod cover!

mikealpine 01-12-2021 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman (Post 6602610)
I also noticed that #3 has the direct advantage of having your headstock diamond built in! :D

So funny, this was my thought too!

invguy921 01-14-2021 09:09 PM

Gorgeous indeed. There's not a wood out there that is prettier than Ziricote. Love it

Jamiejoon 01-15-2021 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by invguy921 (Post 6604884)
Gorgeous indeed. There's not a wood out there that is prettier than Ziricote. Love it

Amen to that, Mike! I have a ziricote guitar, and I am always admiring it. Sounds great too!

Ukulele_Eddie 01-15-2021 05:13 PM

3 Attachment(s)
Some more photos from the always industrious Ben. Other than the bridge plate not being straight ;-), it looks soooo cleanly executed.

I shared with Ben that I had a uke made by a very famous classical guitar builder ($10K+ guitars). It sounded fantastic, but it looked like it was slopped together by a second grader. The guy who sold me the uke said he had three of the luthier's classical guitars and they were also sloppy.

A lot of people don't care about anything but playability and tone. For me, those are necessary but not sufficient reasons to covet an instrument. A lot of my enjoyment from finely crafted instruments is based on the gorgeous woods and fine execution of the builder. Ben is meticulous and I really appreciate the results. It's just gorgeous.

Nemoman 01-15-2021 05:22 PM

Ben definitely builds a supremely clean instrument! No slop on a Wilborn build!

His top bracing on the Arum has evolved a bit since my original one. I'm curious about the short little horizontal brace above the bridge plate?

The build is really looking awesome so far, Eddie!

WilbornGuitars 01-15-2021 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman (Post 6605615)

I'm curious about the short little horizontal brace above the bridge plate?

Ever evolving is right. That little ladder brace is to counteract a tendency to form a shallow cup right there under string tension. Really, just a cosmetic fix. This same sort of thing tends to happen on an X brace guitar just north of the bridge
in the little triangle below the junction of the X. On X brace guitars, I usually put a little cross piece there as well.

TomB'sox 01-16-2021 10:45 AM

We are all so OCD haha. I thought it looked like the carbon fiber rod insertion point into the side support block looks lower than before forming less of an angle? By lower of course, I mean closer to the top which I guess technically would be higher. I am sure that confused no one!


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