Building Course: African Blackwood/German Spruce OM

[Nut]

I'm a new player and I was browsing the forum trying to learn some stuff when I came across this thread. Had to join to tell the OP that he is doing a magnificent job. That guitar is gorgeous. I can't wait to see the finished product.
I also want to add, thank you for sharing with us.

[Badcrumble]

Originally Posted by Nut

I'm a new player and I was browsing the forum trying to learn some stuff when I came across this thread. Had to join to tell the OP that he is doing a magnificent job. That guitar is gorgeous. I can't wait to see the finished product.
I also want to add, thank you for sharing with us.

Hi guys. Thanks so much for all your kind words. It is indeed an incredibly ambitious first build, but I had almost constant supervision and lots of assitance from some vastly more experienced builders.

Originally Posted by Carbonius

I am quite shocked how ambitious your first build is. I really like the look of it. I will be watching!
Can anyone go to this school and build a guitar??

Yes, absolutely anyone can attend. Though it is not particularly cheap (although the price is very favourable compared to having a guitar built for you) and you would need to be able to get the workshop (in cape Town south Africa) every saturday (or every week day, if you do the 3month full time course).

So we strung this guitar up on the 9th of August, and I have now had a solid month of playing her in. Let me start by saying that I am beyond impressed with my guitar. It sounds absolutley incredible! As good as the Casimi African Blackwood guitars that UI played and fell in love with during the build process (they have a shop blackwood OM,on which this guitar was based, that I played quite a lot during breaks on the saturdays).
The African Blackwood has a very distinctive attack that I can only describe as "glassy".
I am way way way beyond satisfied with the sound.
As for the feel, well, it feels incredible too. I went with a particularly thin neck profile, and then accidentally took off about .4mm too much with the rasp, so it came out super slick, like an Ibanez electric neck

I was completely amazed by how much the sound changed in the first few minutes. I strummed it immediately after the first string up and the sound was rather small, compressed and not all that impressive. After about five min of tinkering, I passed it around to everyone else doing the course, and also asked Matthew and Matthias to give it a play.
The sound just grew and bigger and more complex with every minute of play time. I still don't think it has reached a plateau...I've not used a tonerite, but you were all correct, hearing the change in the sound has been incredible, I am really really glad I didn't stick it under a tonerite immediately.

Ok, so now for a few pictures:
First up, some babboons I drove past on my way to the workshop for the final time:


The rosette and bee sting motif minutes before strings alter the picture:


With the tuners fitted, sans strings still:


And the low E goes on:


Right, all on


At home on the stand, next to my Tak:

My view when playing :

[Badcrumble]

I don't yet have a great set of completed photographs. It's rather hard to get a nice image with such a reflective finish, but I intend to get a mate who is camera-savvy (ie a professional photographer) to help me out with a shoot to showcase my baby.

Here are a few amateur snaps that I have so far:










In a few of those images you can see some of the woods I have accumulated for my next build, sitting, waiting in the lounge.

Thanks for much for your interest guys, I am hoping to have some decent photographs and perhaps some sound/video clips soon

Andrew

[CoolerKing]

Really stunning, congrats

[Badcrumble]

Thanks

Just for context, here are two shots of Matthias Roux helping with the fitting of my dovetail neck joint. On the wall behind him is the Casimi C2 (their OM model) on which I based my guitar.
I changed from an oval soundhole to a round one, and also opted to have an inlayed rosette where they rather like a raised onlay rosette.
I also changed rthe curve of their cutaway to be more to my liking.
I opted to use a solid bridge design (the Casimi solid bridge) where the shop guitar has their more fancy hollow-port bridge. I have learnt that anything 3d that requires facets and bevels and such, is incredibly hard and time consuming to make. I cant imagine the effort needed to sculpt their hollow bridge, but that required to make my solid one was considerable.

[kirkham13]

Very very nice. The blackwood looks magnificent. Quite an accomplishment.

[ewh2]

Great work.

I hope your first build is one of many more to come!

[barley]

Breathtaking! That headstock is fantastic.

[TBman]

Wow. Tremendous looking guitar. Does it sound the way you expected it to?

[Badcrumble]

It does. It has a marvelous tone that I can only describe as glassy.
I've only heard that quality before on casimi guitars, but all made from African Blackwood.
I'm not sure if it's casimi or the Blackwood but the the tone is very big. And complex , lots of overtones. Sometimes it sounds a bit like a piano.I'm really really really happy with the sound.

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Way to go!

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Badcrumble

It does. It has a marvelous tone that I can only describe as glassy.
I've only heard that quality before on casimi guitars, but all made from African Blackwood.
I'm not sure if it's casimi or the Blackwood but the the tone is very big. And complex , lots of overtones. Sometimes it sounds a bit like a piano.I'm really really really happy with the sound.

That's great to hear. A very enjoyable thread, thank you for taking the time to detail and share your build with us.

[littlesmith]

wonderfull lines on that instrument!

is this also your guitar?

[Badcrumble]

Originally Posted by littlesmith

wonderfull lines on that instrument!

is this also your guitar?

No it's not, tho it was built in the same workshop, by the team who offered the course on which I built my guitar.

That is a Casimi C3. I saw that guitar being built in the workshop, as I visited once a week on the course (to build my guitar), and got a weekly snap shot of the progress on that monster.
It is effective the same shape (with tiny alteration on the cutaway), but a larger and deeper body.
That guitar is African Blackwood and Carpathian spruce and is owned by Guitarchie, who documented it here: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=334561

https://www.flickr.com/photos/120933229@N03/

In his thread he posts several links to his soundcloud, which is worth a listen too. Great player and a great sounding instrument.

[GuitarsLover]

Beautiful guitar ! this is the first lovely head stock that I have ever seen. Thanks for sharing.