Gwaltney Guitars Build - G3 Model

[gregg]

Originally Posted by colins

That looks amazing Greg!

Col

Thanks a lot Colins....I cut the back plate shape out today and just laid it on the rim for effect, sure is some pretty wood, think it is gong to be a beaut! I also am on a mission to lighten up my guitars which takes some thought considering the parts & pieces I use in my construction. Back plate center strip and bracing should be completed this weekend, not too long now and I will have a guitar body.

Take Care!

[gregg]

Here is the back center strip being glued on...it has cross-grain spruce capped with a piece of Aussie Blackwood. Spent most of the day hand splitting Lutz Spruce billets to make my top and back braces, they will go on the back tomorrow.

[gregg]

Here I am just dry fitting the back braces, still some work to do. I've used various lattice type braced backs for years, this is a bit different than the ones I've used previously as I felt this guitar would benefit from the structure used here....really like it so far. I will most likely cap the cross braces with Aussie Blackwood strips.

[gregg]

This is one of the jigs I use for brace making. Don't mind the scrap piece of brace wood in the pic, it won't work in this jig, but might be used elsewhere.

[gregg]

Here are a few shots of the back braces being glued on....the other wood laying across the spruce bracing is the Aussie Blackwood brace caps to be installed tomorrow. Hoping to have the back plate glued on the rims by the weekend. Started working on the rosette and top plate as well, pics of those coming soon.

[Rob C]

That is an interesting back brace configuration. I will be watching this with interest.

[CoolerKing]

Cool bracing, and I'm looking forward to seeing the brace caps in place.

[gregg]

Originally Posted by Rob C

That is an interesting back brace configuration. I will be watching this with interest.

I removed the go-bars and did a little tapping/flexing on the back today, very happy with the result. Some of my favorite sounding guitars I've built had some sort of lattice-like back bracing, they are a pain to use with extra work crafting/installing them, glue clean-up, etc.....but, thinking this is where I want to stay for now.

[gregg]

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

Cool bracing, and I'm looking forward to seeing the brace caps in place.

Hey Matthewpartrick....thanks, brace caps are under the go-bars as I write this, I'll throw up some pics later tonight. I have a little brace shaper/sander that I will use to round-over the caps as well, of course I will have to do that after the glue dries. Thanks for the comments, certainly more fun for me that way

I see you are from the keys, I grew up in South Florida and spent many a day down there fishing/diving/etc.....beautiful place.

[gregg]

Here are the Aussie Blackwood brace caps being glued on, tomorrow I will shape the braces a bit as needed. I'm looking forward to seeing/hearing this back plate after it is glued to the rims.

[gregg]

The back plate with capped cross braces is just about ready to be glued on to the rims, the rim is just sitting on the back plate here, I will inlet the back braces to the rim tomorrow. FYI...my camera will not download pics to my computer so I am using my cruddy phone pics for now.

[gregg]

The back is now attached. I also have the rosette in the top with some bracing and bridge plate being glued down today. Making some decent progress, hoping to have the top glued on this week. I will do a bit of trimming/shaping of the neck and tail blocks as well before final assembly.

[SJ VanSandt]

Man, that looks solid as a rock (but lighter, I'm sure)! Are you going to put the traditional strips along the sides to prevent cracks from spreading, or are they unnecessary with the double sides?

[gregg]

Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt

Man, that looks solid as a rock (but lighter, I'm sure)! Are you going to put the traditional strips along the sides to prevent cracks from spreading, or are they unnecessary with the double sides?

Yeah, you would not believe how stiff/rigid these rims are, the difference between a typical rim and this one is pretty amazing....actually it is very light, I weighed the components I use for the inner struts and it is just a few ounces, well worth it IMO. Good question about the side strips, I've done both with double sides, always used them on single sides. Guess there could be strong arguments for or against their use, but double-sides are a different animal for sure and much more stable and crack resistant.

Greg

[gregg]

It's been a while since I posted any pics here, but I have done a lot to the guitar......Here is a pic of the rosette, you can see I am doing a little gap filling here. The top is braced and glued to the rim now, this is a different top/back/radius design for me so I had some fun tapping this closed box vs another closed box of previous design....wow, this thing is powerful, huge sound produced, my son noticed it immediately and said this guitar has his name on it....lol....told him we will build another one together soon. I will explain the new design a little later in this thread, but so far I am pretty excited about it, looks cool too. By the way, the rosette has snakewood, Aussie blackwood, and ebony in it. I am going to use snakewood and ebony for the binding/purfling and will incorporate all of these woods in the tail wedge, fretboard markers, bridge, as well as headplates.