In addition to the koa cutaway, I've also been working on a (hopefully) super cool OO that will come with me to the Holy Grail show in Berlin and La Conner this spring. This one will have flamed maple back/sides and a sitka spruce top with an overall violiny type vibe to it. The biggest difference compared to my standard guitars will be the f-holes -- something you don't typically see on a flat top but that I LOVE! The original inspiration was to squish together Gillian Welch and David Rawlings guitars into one -- basically to have the throatiness and cut of an archtop but with more of the sustain, warmth, and bottom end of a flat top. This will be the first one in this style I've built with an elevated fingerboard and with the violin theme in mind I realized it should be a floating elevation. If I'm going to go through the trouble I figured I might as well go all in and make it an adjustable neck as well!
We'll have to jump in a bit into the build already and start with some bracing...
With a couple of f-holes and no soundhole a standard bracing pattern doesn't quite fit but a lot of the core ideas still work and the pattern is surprisingly not all that different from one of my "regular" guitars...
Once all the braces are on it's time to cut out and clean up the f-holes. I trace out my f-holes, cut as close as I dare with a router, and then clean everything up with sanding sticks. This is a prime example of how I approach building. I
could rout with a template but certain parts are too thin for a router bit and no matter what I'd have to go back and spend a good bit of time cleaning everything up by hand, cutting the sharp corners, etc. It makes sense to me to just skip the positioning and setup for using a template and jump right to the hand work. It takes about 15 minutes to clean everything up at this point...
Looking good!
The last step will be to bevel the edges of the f-holes once the woodwork is nearly done. This next photo is from a previous build but it's one of my favorites and gives an idea of the final look...
Thanks for looking and more soon!