My First Acoustic Build

[Tom West]

Brian: Congrats on the excellent workmanship.I also like your sense of design. Maybe your first acoustic, but certainly you are very experienced in woodworking. I do have a negative comment though, I may be wrong and I hope I am but I think you are way overbraced. I am just going by the photos you have posted and you may have trimmed the braces considerably since that. Wishing you the best and hope you get the guitar your hoping for from your build. Let us know how it turns out sound wise.
Tom

[Sage97]

The talent and artistry in this build is outstanding. I tried to fix an unbalanced stool once and ended up buying a new one.

Good luck with the rest of the build and hope it sounds as good as you had hoped.

[cusack2]

Thanks for all the feedback!

quentinjazz: yeah, I'm kinda going nuts with the binding. first time and already addicted.

Tom: the final sound is definitely something I've been anxious about since day one. The best view of the top bracing is probably this:


The bracing is slightly arched in profile and cut down quickly once outside the middle square. Near the edge it is only 1/4" tall.
My thought sequence on this was to create a square of support centered under the bridge that radiates out, similar to a fan pattern. I knew I was taking a chance making it clearly different than most guitars, and I really have no idea what to listen for on tapping. It didn't 'seem' like much more wood than a fan pattern, just interlocked more... I suppose the saving grace is that I'd prefer a slightly more high-end response than low-end.

[Tom West]

Brian: Have never done a double X so I am at a bit of a lose here. Two things struck me,one was the height of the ends of the X braces as they entered the linings. The thickess I ever go here is 1/8" and lately even less. The other concern was the height overall of the lower X. I think this might lock up your lower bout too much. The good thing is if it is too stiff you can get in there and get rid of some of the extra wood if need be.You can also thin the outer edge of the lower bout tapered inward for about 2 inches.If your top is in the .110 area you could remove up to about .025,depending.If you have a local luthier friend that would be a big help in this area. Again I have no experience with the double X but they are notorious for being overstiff. You have got one beautiful guitar going,keep at it and good luck.
Tom

[quentinjazz]

Hi Cusack,

I'd probably not scallop the upper brace, because this area has to remain very stiff.
just a thought

[Ivob]

i absolutely don't believe you that it's your first build...

[cusack2]

Tom: Thanks for the advice! I will take it to heart and when I hear it for the first time, decide whether to tweak it from there.
I've been more or less flying solo since I don't know any luthiers personally, but instead have based my design, technique and procedure off of what I have read on forums and tutorial websites. I'll keep those dimensions in mind if I start tweaking, or if I build a second guitar. Much of what I have learned over the last few months building is an appreciation for just how much comes down to experience. The bracing was a complete gamble, as is my modified neck joint (which I have less worry about - it's over designed, I believe, in a good way).
But hey, you won't know if you don't try! =)

Quentinjazz: That picture is lacking the substantial fretboard reinforcement seen here:


And the scallop is to get at some attachment bolts.

Ivob: thanks! =)

[quentinjazz]

Ah ok!
I didn't think a second about this possibility, nice job !
On my next build I think I will try this extended neck block under the fretboard.

[cusack2]

It's been awhile since I posted, but the guitar is now done and sounding beautiful! (though I'm probably biased)
Here are some shots of the remainder of the build:

fretboard inlay:



z-poxy coating:



lacquer:

[cusack2]

Making the bridge was fairly straight forward:
http://faculty.cooper.edu/cusack2/guitar_blog/?p=526

scraping the soundboard and gluing was far more nerve-racking...

Making a bridge:




marking the location:


carefully scraped:


Gluing:

[cusack2]

For making a nut, I followed the wonderful tutorial over at Lenawee Lutherie:
http://www.lenaweelutherie.info/page...26/page26.html

[cusack2]

Here are some pics of the final guitar!






here are some videos from day 1
(sorry about the low quality audio and my very amateur playing)
http://vimeo.com/51916590
http://vimeo.com/51916588

I did take some higher quality audio files of some chords and finger-picking for an experiment... I have read that as the guitar settles in, it will change tone and/or timbre. I wanted to document that, so I am recording a couple of chords every couple of weeks for the next several months to document the changes. When I have several months worth, and have done some frequency analysis, I'll post my results.

[Tyler M]

Beautiful! Love the Celtic knotwork on the rosette. Sounds great as well!

[bubbaprime]

Just...wow.
Very nice, very, very nice.
If this is your first foray into acoustic builds, one can only imagine what the future holds should you keep building them. Thank you for sharing.

[willysunday]

Outstanding!!

First build or a 100, it gorgeous! Congrats and thanks for sharing. I will get into it bit deeper. Your skills as a woodworker are first-rate. Hope it sounds like it looks.

Willy