Build Thread: Indian Hill Curly Maple OO-12 for Healdsburg
Just started on one of two guitars I'll be bringing with me to Healdsburg this summer. Being a show guitar, I thought I'd do something a little bit different. I spent a few weeks in Arizona over the holidays and was lucky enough to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's workshop/school/home Taliesin West. I really enjoyed seeing his various screens and windows and thought it would be interesting to try and incorporate that type of design into a guitar. I've also been thinking about Art Deco style recently and with those two thoughts in mind I decided to just go for it and started an inlay on the back....
Here's my design roughly drawn out... https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-d...3/IMG_1351.jpg I thought it was a bit more pleasing to place it closer to the top than vertically centered. The space above the design is in the golden ratio to the space below. I made a simple jig to help rout straight lines... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...3/IMG_1353.jpg And here it is with just router cuts... https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X...2/IMG_1357.jpg And after some careful chisel work... https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...2/IMG_1359.jpg I eventually settled on gluing in the outer rosewood strips first, then fitting in maple strips afterwards... https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U...2/IMG_1363.jpg That's it for now, more coming soon! Mike |
looking great. I love the proportions and the idea of the back inlay, although when being played only the player will know about it! I'm looking forward to seeing how this finishes.
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Hi Mike,
I've been watching your build threads. I'd love to meet you at Healdsburg. I liked your back/sides/top philosophy. I feel very much the same. I'll be start my other Healdsburg thread next week. Looking forward to August...better get busy...it will creep up on us. Have a great day!!! Kevin. |
I'm looking forward to seeing it Mike... I might even bring it back with me..
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Finished up the back inlay...
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...2/IMG_1365.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...3/IMG_1367.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o...2/IMG_1371.jpg I think it will look quite nice under finish! I'm going to have a similar motif throughout the guitar -- headstock, end graft, and potentially the rosette and bridge as well. And Kevin, I look forward to meeting you as well! Mike |
Exceptionally clean work Mike. Isn't it a challenge to inaly dark into a light background? Doesn't leave any room for error does it?
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That inlay looks great, can't wait to see what you have planned for the rest of the build.......Steve
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Thanks guys! And Tim, it was definitely quite the challenge. The trickiest part for me was cutting the inner maple sections for the smaller outermost triangles. I must have cut 20 that didn't .... make the cut (had to do it!). Getting the angle on both ends correct, having the cuts be perfectly vertical, and the pieces be the perfect length was tricky!
Mike |
That looks absolutely amazing Mike ... I love it big time!!!
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nice work Mike. I think I really appreciate stuff like this - because I know its not easy to do.
Have a great day. Kevin. |
I am looking forward to seeing more photos of this guitar.
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I have a bunch of various guitars on the go right now so this one is slowly creeping along. I decided to go with a nice Adirondack top and got it joined and cut yesterday. I've also bent the sides and laminated one so far...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...3/IMG_1425.jpg I've been flipping and flopping over a design for the rosette -- getting to the point where I need to commit so hopefully I'll come up with something good! Mike |
More or less decided on a rosette design. Today's challenge will be making it a reality!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x...2/IMG_1429.jpg Mike |
Looks good so far. Looking forward to updates.
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As I guessed, this rosette is proving to be a bit tricky. Here's the progress so far...
Cut the outer rings... https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N...2/IMG_1431.jpg Fit and glued the outer rosewood strips... https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...2/IMG_1433.jpg Chiseled the corners and fit the small rosewood strips... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J...2/IMG_1437.jpg Fit and glued the outer maple strips... https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-e...2/IMG_1438.jpg Next up is cutting out the center section and filling with two wider strips of maple and more rosewood strips. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the finished rosette tomorrow! Mike |
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