OK, one more try.


Emsomme Night and Starry Night side-by-side

That really is quite the redwood top!

What's the finish?

I'm interested to hear how you do with the Crystalac. Luthier's Mercantile says it's the real deal, but I've also read that it has the dreaded bluish cast that many waterborne finishes have.

Well i was definitely not inspired from Van Gogh, but its not a million miles away, i can see where you are coming from

I haven't had a chance to spray the actual clear yet, that will be done in January. What I have discovered as mentioned previously is that the sealer at least is quite cold-temperature sensitive. I'd rather not find out if the clear is too, i'll be getting a radiator for the workshop. I'll keep you updated on how it goes though. i'd quite like it to be good as its a pretty simple product, no mixing hardeners or thinners etc. I may need to do something different with their pore filler as it hasn't filled the end grain on that body as well as i'd like. i may even resort to using some generic hardware store spray can filler/sealer to get rid of the wood grain. The guys at Crystalac did tell me it sprays over just about anything as long as its fully dry and cured.

I'm told it's a Melamine acid catalysed lacquer. I know Rory Dowling at Taran guitars was telling me at the Holy Grail show he uses Melamine and was raving about it, I didn't realise thats what my guy was using, but you are indeed correct that redwood looks amazing and so does the finish i'll get to see it in person again in just 2 days time!


As for the bridges...
after the ebony one was tweaked and a radius sanded into the base to match the guitar top, its now down to 22.1g and has made me much more likely that i'll be installing the ebony vs the Rocklite. The Rocklite one also had its base radiussed and is now at 16.9g which is probably too light. I'm going to oil the ebony one tomorrow.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4908/...490f70f6_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

Update : Completed
 

I have finished the guitar!!!
That means 2 things,
1) I will shortly be starting another guitar and
2) I have final pictures to post. To see them, read on dear friends

I have to say, this guitar has absolutely smoked my previous builds for sound. I don't know if thats down to the new shape, the new bracing pattern, the incredible redwood soundboard, the different lacquer, using an ebony bridge or all of the above. I can say that the guitar sounds fantastic. Unfortunately I had an audio interface issue when I was trying to do my recording and as the guitar is staying in the UK and i'm now back in Switzerland, I can't record a demo of it myself. I'm trying to find someone that can do it for me but I haven't found anyone yet.

One thing I have decided is that i'm not a fan of medium sized frets. This is only my 4th completed instrument and as such I have not mastered fretwork and trying to get these frets level when they weren't that high to begin with didn't leave much room for error.

As mentioned above I ended up installing the Ebony bridge, the Rocklite one ended up very light once the underside had been radiussed to match the soundboard, probably too light. The ebony one seems to work very nicely so I think I got that one right.

Here are the final pictures.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4819/...4f00ab0b_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7805/...fee540d2_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7925/...a893862b_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4842/...ab875bab_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4902/...82c89686_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4911/...1f4ff1bb_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4836/...fb62dd5b_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7898/...9014fc6c_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7892/...da4419d3_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4896/...c1e51b63_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7806/...ecc63cd5_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7862/...d828f6ff_c.jpgUntitled by David Emm, on Flickr

The leopardwood converging on that beautiful end block is simply fabulous.

Please, please, please don’t let anyone put and endpin in there!!

Very nice work, great looking Guitar.

Absolutely brilliant. :)

Thanks very much :)
Thanks a lot :)
Yea. I know what you are saying. My dad asked for one so it is supposed to have a pickup fitted to it. I didn't have the time in the end to install it while I was home in England over the holiday period so the Dazzo pickup is just sitting there on the window sill ready to go in at some point the next time i'm back over there. I haven't come up with a better solution (for retrofitting) than a typical endpin, even here when it would be right though the nice detail, I sure as anything don't want to put the jack in the side of the guitar and i'm not really all into a wire coming out the soundhole either. I have thought about some kind of wood (not metal) Stratocaster style angled socket, kinda hidden on the back of the guitar right by the end block, but i'd have to build the end block differently if I wanted to go in that direction.

Wow David beautiful work! Great to see your progress with each build!

The part that impresses me the most is that this is just your fourth build. You must have really done your homework befor you started!

Thanks Louie! That means a lot! i do feel like im starting to get there... and there's definite progress, this guitar smokes my last steel string build, especially for sound, and that guitar is one I play every week and i'd say it still sounds decent.


I got/get a huge amount of help from the guys here on the AGF build section. I do and have read a stupid amount of information online, I bought and read Trevor Gore's book, I spoke/speak to a bunch of luthiers mostly online and I've now played a lot of different guitars. So yes you could say i did a lot of homework, and I did, but i also had no issue with just getting on with building something and seeing what happened.
There are numerous different theories of how to make a good guitar. I'd like to say i'm heading in the direction that I think suits the style of instrument I would like and what build processes made sense or were simplest to accomplish the same things.
The other thing I personally have found useful, especially for a how-to-make-that-bit question is to talk to non-luthier carpenters or cabinet makers about how they might do it. They would often have a simpler solution than the typical luthiery one. Or if not simpler, perhaps more repeatable or more accurate, and if their solution is the same, thats even better.

If you're willing to share, I'd be interested in hearing about those.

No problem Charles.
There are probably quite a few things i've definitely forgotten, i'll have to try and think which points have come from the guys in the workshop but off the top of my head the main points that have been made to me were firstly about cutting the neck angle join. We made up a jig to cut it on the table saw as I was having a few issues getting it accurate enough using the router. It was indeed much more accurate using the table saw. After doing that we had a very extended debate about why you would ever want to make a guitar with a bolt on neck design. I couldn't convince them that in some cases it's a better option than a permanently fixed glued on neck. They were having non of it.
The carpentry guys have some interesting solutions to filling gaps and holes. often involving various types of resins and similar substances. None of which have really worked out that great for me though and i'm back to CA glue and fine sawdust.
Also installing bolt inserts by using a drill press using a bolt with 2 nuts half way up as stoppers and the insert screwed onto the end, then turning the chuck by hand as you pull the drill press down. This method made my inserts go in much straighter than my efforts just using a hand drill or a screwdriver.
I'm sure there are other points and next time i'm in the workshop i'll look through my stuff I have stored there and see what things jog my memory.

A common method used in around here is a stationary belt sander, a method that's been used for decades.

Two words: "neck reset".


A common cabinet maker's trick is sawdust and white or yellow glue. It works very well on dark coloured woods, but not so well on light coloured woods like maple or spruce. Epoxy and saw dust also works well on dark coloured woods. CA glue is the modern version of those.

That's a good, fairly well-known method.

Thanks for sharing. It's always good to learn some new way to do old things.