CIRCA GUITARS: 12 Fret 00 [German Spruce | Malaysian Blackwood]

[iim7V7IM7]

John, trimmed the Malaysian Blackwood back set today and left a small amount of contrasting sapwood by the center seam. This will be a small tapered section of contrasting sapwood; wider at the end block and tapering to the heel cap.

The set is beautifully quartersawn and is presenting some contrasting black veining in the varying shades of brown heartwood. He scraped the set to and put some naphtha on it see if it changed color from the pre-scraped surface. Like old sets of old wood, does not change color beneath the surface.

[Nemoman]

Very cool--I was hoping you'd end up keeping some of the sapwood!

[Simon Fay]

The build is looking great !!! I just wanted to comment on the top grading. Your German top is near-Mastergrade ... definitely too good to be considered a AA or AAA.

I don't see any wavy/bear claw marks or any type of flaw. The grain is extremely tight and very straight. Doesn't look like there is any runout at all. The ONLY thing that keeps this top from being a true Mastergrade top is that the grain lines are not homogenous enough. Some lines are slightly darker and more noticeable than others. Otherwise, this top is cosmetically ... as good as it can get. It is challenging to find quality like this without a lot of effort.

[Mr. Paul]

Magnificent. Wow.

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Very cool--I was hoping you'd end up keeping some of the sapwood!

…

Originally Posted by Simon Fay

The build is looking great !!! I just wanted to comment on the top grading. Your German top is near-Mastergrade ... definitely too good to be considered a AA or AAA.

I don't see any wavy/bear claw marks or any type of flaw. The grain is extremely tight and very straight. Doesn't look like there is any runout at all. The ONLY thing that keeps this top from being a true Mastergrade top is that the grain lines are not homogenous enough. Some lines are slightly darker and more noticeable than others. Otherwise, this top is cosmetically ... as good as it can get. It is challenging to find quality like this without a lot of effort.

Thank you Simon. I know that you have worked in Malaysian Blackwood before. In general, you use some of the nicest sets of quartersawn tonewoods in your instruments. So coming from you, that is a major compliment.

I am just speaking in historic terms with regard to the soundboard where there was no “master grade”, just A, AA and AAA. I used AA/AAA because AAA meant straight, very regular and tight grained, and uniform in color. When I said AA/AAA, I meant it was aesthetically very nice set. It is a lovely German Spruce top that John selected when he visited Andreas Gleissner in Germany. They are a great wood supplier. My nicest archtop Sycamore Maple back set came from Gleissner. What is most important to me is John picked from their “pile” based on its physical characteristics and it has been in his wood locker for a decade.

We live in a world of escalated marketing superlatives where too much is referred to as “master grade” or “AAAAA” etc…

Originally Posted by Mr. Paul

Magnificent. Wow.

Thank you

[Guitars44me]

These woods are BOSS, indeed

Loving the sapwood on the back. This will be a guitar worthy of your abilities!

Woohoo

Have FUN

Paul

[justonwo]

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

These woods are BOSS, indeed

Loving the sapwood on the back. This will be a guitar worthy of your abilities!

Woohoo

Have FUN

Paul

I’d say the back and sides are more like XXX!

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks Paul…. Like the rest of my guitars, I anticipate that it will be worthy well beyond my meager hobbyist playing abilities…

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

These woods are BOSS, indeed

Loving the sapwood on the back. This will be a guitar worthy of your abilities!

Woohoo

Have FUN

Paul

[iim7V7IM7]

Yesterday’s shot was a flip from a single side. This is the actual Malaysian Blackwood set near its final sapwood trim configuration before joining the plates. Like most things in nature, it is asymmetrical. A bit of wabi-sabi for the natural back strip.

[jt1]

I'm certain all the wood sets are of TGFWIF grade!

(Stealing a line from Wayne Henderson: Too Good For Who It's For).



Gonna be a spectacular instrument.

[iim7V7IM7]

You know it…

Originally Posted by jt1

I'm certain all the wood sets are of TGFWIF grade!

(Stealing a line from Wayne Henderson: Too Good For Who It's For).



Gonna be a spectacular instrument.

[Steve Kinnaird]

Looks perfect, Bob!

[iim7V7IM7]

I was able to have the rare opportunity to spend an hour in a quiet room with John Slobod auditioning my Sexauer 0 and Bashkin and Blanchard 00s along with two Circa 00s that he had at the Artisan Guitar Show to audition last weekend.

We were able to go back and forth between them. He had me play the same passages on all five guitars. Through this process of listening and talking afterwards, we developed a common language for describing tone in terms of:

- Time domain (speed of attack and length of decay),
- Frequency domain (strength fundamentals vs. level of overtones) and
- Amplitude (responsiveness to touch, balance vs desired headroom).

Words trying to describe tone among guitarists like “wet”, “dry”, “fat”, “warm”, “bright”, “dark”, “woody” or “glassy” mean different things to different people. I think we have a good understanding now….

We were also able to identify ergonomic preferences in neck profile shape and string spacing. This is an ideal and rare conversation to have contemporaneous to when a luthier is beginning your guitar, instead of years earlier when my order was placed. I should see John again at the Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase in October hopefully with my guitar in hand.

[iim7V7IM7]

John trimmed, planed, glued up and clamped up the Malaysian Blackwood back set today.



John trued up the edges of the set using his super sharp 24” Stanley #8 jointer plane.



Malaysian Blackwood sapwood curls…



Tomorrow, the pattern placement on the set can be finalized…

[Steve Kinnaird]

Satisfying to see the progress.