Dovetail Madness III

[Alex W]

Incredible.

[cpabolting]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

It will be bolt on. The first DM was dovetail. I go with what I think is functionally better unless someone orders a dovetail (for which there is no extra charge). Besides, I kind of like when someone asks what kind of joint the neck on Dovetail Madness has and I look deadpan and say "bolted." I do a mortise and tenon with the bolt-on, though. It give the neck more strength if it should get a sideways blow.

Here's the headstock binding. I have made the trim on these reverse between dark and light anyplace where the panels of the guitar change. As the series of DM's has progressed, I've found more places to do this. Here the binding and all the purfling lines switch at the point at the top of the headstock where the ebony and cocobolo meet. That point is off-center, which introduces an asymmetry. The bindings are bloodwood and Ceylon satinwood. The main purfling lines are curly koa and curly maple. The curly maple is bordered by black lines, and the koa by light (maple) lines. The side purflings also reverse, from white/black/white under the bloodwood, to black/white/black under the satinwood. I'll continue this theme all over the guitar.


The curly wood and the yellow color of the satinwood don't show much now; they will under a finish.

Bolted...gotta love that. I think if anyone ever gave my guitar a sideways blow, they might get one themselves... a headstock stuffed into their ear.

The headstock bindings look sweet. You are really so focused on such details... you can really tell it is for the love of the game you do this.

[K III]

This is crazy. You could do all of that much easier with color.

[cpabolting]

Originally Posted by K III

This is crazy. You could do all of that much easier with color.

A sharpie too for that custom look!

[Howard Klepper]

Moving along, here's the back all braced and braces shaped. There are a few little bloodstains on the mahogany crossgrain center strip. This is one the places I sign the guitar with some of my DNA. Just kidding; it is blood, but I'll sand them off.



And one of the sides being laminated to its inner side of mahogany. I use urea-formadehyde glue, which dries glass hard.

[Steve Kinnaird]

Howard, it's looking...mad.
As for the DNA signature, we jest around our shop that it's not our work until it has our blood on it.
I say leave it on--don't sand it off.

Steve

[K III]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Howard, it's looking...mad.
As for the DNA signature, we jest around our shop that it's not our work until it has our blood on it.
I say leave it on--don't sand it off.

Steve

And not only that: You should also glue the finger next to it that was cut off

[DonW]

DNA? Hmmm... The Red Guitar?

[mesa]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

It will be bolt on. The first DM was dovetail. I go with what I think is functionally better unless someone orders a dovetail (for which there is no extra charge). Besides, I kind of like when someone asks what kind of joint the neck on Dovetail Madness has and I look deadpan and say "bolted." I do a mortise and tenon with the bolt-on, though. It give the neck more strength if it should get a sideways blow.

Here's the headstock binding. I have made the trim on these reverse between dark and light anyplace where the panels of the guitar change. As the series of DM's has progressed, I've found more places to do this. Here the binding and all the purfling lines switch at the point at the top of the headstock where the ebony and cocobolo meet. That point is off-center, which introduces an asymmetry. The bindings are bloodwood and Ceylon satinwood. The main purfling lines are curly koa and curly maple. The curly maple is bordered by black lines, and the koa by light (maple) lines. The side purflings also reverse, from white/black/white under the bloodwood, to black/white/black under the satinwood. I'll continue this theme all over the guitar.


The curly wood and the yellow color of the satinwood don't show much now; they will under a finish.

Howard your workmanship leaves me speechless!

[kirkham13]

are the double-sides just to support the dovetail madness, or is it for sonic structure as well? Very nice work-the pic of Dovetail #2 is fantastic-

[Howard Klepper]

Double sides are stronger and stiffer, and tend to reflect vibration back to the top more. This causes a subtle difference in sound-- it makes the guitar a bit louder and makes it project its sound a bit more forward. A sound port is a good complement to this to keep the player's volume up.

For multiple wood sides I always do a double side for structural reasons, to prevent any separations.

[Tone Gopher]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

I don't think that it matters much which side the different woods go on. The question whether bass comes from one side of the guitar top and treble from the other has been pretty well decided by laser interferometry photos of vibrating guitar tops, and the answer is no. There may be some subtle difference in timbre that vary with which side gets which wood, but those are impossible to predict or detect at the present level of the science.

That said, I am switching the cedar/spruce on this one. The previous two had cedar on the bass side and spruce on the the treble. This one is vice versa.

I've been watching this build for some time and thinking of the top issues. One usually thicknesses a top to get a desired stiffness. Since you have disparate woods of contrasting stiffness and the top is, I assume, of a single thickness out of the planer, how do you address voicing the top?

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by Tone Gopher

I've been watching this build for some time and thinking of the top issues. One usually thicknesses a top to get a desired stiffness. Since you have disparate woods of contrasting stiffness and the top is, I assume, of a single thickness out of the planer, how do you address voicing the top?

George, for one thing, I am using a very stiff piece of cedar. Cedar varies enormously, especially in its lateral stiffness, and I always buy it by hands-on testing for the stiffest pieces. As to voicing, I do what I usually do: voice by cutting the braces, listening to the tap tones and flexing with my hands; then after the box is assembled, thinning around the perimeter until a get a sound and pitch I like for the main top and main air resonances.

[Howard Klepper]

I've had some distractions the past few days and work has gone more slowly. We have a new puppy, which is quite time consuming! Here's the lad; his name is Farlow:



Here's the tailblock being glued and then the neck block. The tailblock is a two piece laminate to resist splitting, with the inner piece at right angles to the outer. The neck block is three pieces, with a Spanish foot glued in to a dado in the bottom. I think this style of foot helps to stiffen the upper bout and resist the deformations that lead to neck resets.

[mesa]

Looking great Howard! .....and congrats on the beautiful new pup...what type of dog is Farlow?