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  #1  
Old 09-09-2014, 12:28 PM
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IndianHillMike IndianHillMike is offline
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Default Build Thread: Indian Hill GC-12 Fan Fret Cutaway

Hello everyone!

I thought it was about time I began a thread for one of the guitars I'll be bringing with me to next year's show in Memphis. There are most likely going to be some big changes for me in the new year (moving across the country) so I thought I'd best to get started on this guitar early!

This one is definitely going to be a "presentation" model with lots of bells and whistles....

Grand Concert
12-fret body joint
Cutaway
Elevated neck
Arm bevel
Fan fret (25.4" to 26.4")
Sound Port
Western Red Cedar Top
Walnut Back/Sides
Macassar ebony binding

This will be my first foray into the fan fret world so I'm pretty excited about the challenges it will bring. Because of this I thought it would interesting to have a fan theme running throughout the guitar (in an Art Deco-ish style).

I just finished up the rosette at the end of last week and here's a bit of the (long) process...



Putting in the background layer of maple and cocobolo...


Next comes the walnut/maple/cocobolo layer. Binding these little pieces and keeping the points on center was a bit of a pain!


Final layer of spalted maple...


And with the soundhole bound with radial grain macassar ebony (and a splash of naptha)...


Lot's more coming up; thanks for looking!

Mike
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Old 09-09-2014, 12:44 PM
70man 70man is offline
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That is a great looking detail
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Old 09-10-2014, 01:31 AM
Trevor M Trevor M is offline
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That's a great rosette Mike.
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Old 09-10-2014, 04:14 AM
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Very sweet!
You have a great eye... looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.
Walnut and cedar are my favorite combo
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Old 09-10-2014, 05:55 PM
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I think that is my all-time FAVORITE rosette Mike!!!

What's this about moving across the country? Don't tell me you're going to be a left-coaster?!?!?
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Old 09-11-2014, 03:05 AM
RotemarGuitars RotemarGuitars is offline
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Really nice rosette! How you came up with that idea and design is just beyond my mind

I´m really looking forward to see this guitar in Memphis next year.
I to, will soon start a thread presenting my guitars for the show!

/Niklas
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Old 09-11-2014, 11:40 AM
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IndianHillMike IndianHillMike is offline
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Thanks everyone! This was a fun rosette design to come up with and despite taking a bit longer than I anticipated, I'm quite happy with the results!

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Wren View Post
What's this about moving across the country? Don't tell me you're going to be a left-coaster?!?!?
It's true -- Kaitlyn and I are in search of a bit of land and a longer growing season. We'll be sad to leave Montreal, but neither of us is really meant for city life!

One of the features of this guitar that I haven't done in a while (or for this shape) is an arm-bevel. Whenever I do an arm bevel I like to have it mimic the shape and have all the lines flow smoothly. Here's how I come up with the basic shape...



And gluing the spanish cedar arm bevel support block...



As you can probably guess from the above picture, I already have the sides joined. The process up to now was very similar to my last build thread (see it here) so I thought I'd avoid the repetition.

Today I'll be bracing the back and hopefully have it on tomorrow!

Mike
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Old 09-16-2014, 06:04 PM
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Looking great as always Mike! Do I see a couple of the most important luthier tools in the background (humidifier and dehumidifier)?
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Old 09-17-2014, 08:30 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Wren View Post
Looking great as always Mike! Do I see a couple of the most important luthier tools in the background (humidifier and dehumidifier)?
Correct you are Dave! We have an arsenal of various de/humidifiers throughout the shop keeping us at a pretty stable humidity. Not only does it keep this guitars and wood happy, but my pepper plant loves it as well!

After finishing the rosette, this guitar seems to be just zipping along. The walnut back is braced and glued on...



And I'm the process of bracing the top...



Because this guitar will have an elevated neck, I'm going with a lattice bracing pattern. I love the nice even distribution you can get with a lattice but I typically I find it to be a bit too much bracing on a standard guitar. However, with the increased tension from the elevation (and fan fret as well) I've had a lot of success in the past using a lattice.

Hopefully I can finish up the bracing today and get the top tuned tomorrow!

Mike
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Old 09-24-2014, 07:00 AM
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Made a bit more progress on this guitar; here the top is braced, tuned, and ready to be glued on...



For those curious about the top bracing here's more of a close-up. It's very similar to my standard lattice, but as you can tell everything is a bit off center and skewed to accommodate for the multi-scale fingerboard (most noticeable is the tilted bridge plate)...



And officially a box!



Today I'll get started in on the next big aesthetic challenge, the end graft!

Mike
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Old 09-30-2014, 06:53 AM
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It's been a busy past few days (ran the Montreal half-marathon on Sunday!) but I finally got a chance to finish up the end-graft. As I mentioned in my first post, because of the fan-fret this guitar will have a vague fan theme running throughout. Here's a bit of the process...

Starting with a blank slate of walnut...



A drawing of the design and some of the bits getting assembled. That chisel in the back got a lot of action during the process. Actually, it gets a lot of action all the time! I probably use it 80% of the time I use any chisels at all.



The first piece in...



First layer done...



Part of the challenge of this end-graft was figuring out how to have the different woods in the binding/purfling flow into the design. Basically it just took a little bit of planning to make sure I installed all the pieces in the right order...



Next layer...



And done!



I put some scraps of macassar ebony along the edge so you can get an idea of what it will look like when the full binding strips are glued in. The next step will be binding the arm bevel and then the rest of the guitar!

Mike
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Old 09-30-2014, 08:05 AM
StillStephen StillStephen is offline
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That has to be one of the nicest end grafts I've ever seen - can't wait to see the finished product!
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Old 10-03-2014, 11:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StillStephen View Post
That has to be one of the nicest end grafts I've ever seen - can't wait to see the finished product!
Thanks! This was a fun one to make and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I've started in on binding the rest of this guitar -- first step is the arm bevel. In the past I've made templates and used a router to cut the channel for the top purfling, but this time I decided to go super low-tech and used a piece of cardboard, my trusty chisel, and a super sharp knife. Took hardly any time and worked really well!





On a normal guitar I would install the binding an purfling at the same time, but with the arm bevel it's a lot easier to put them in seperately...



Next up is the side purfling and binding the cutaway!

Mike
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Old 10-09-2014, 02:28 PM
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amazing inlays!
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Old 10-10-2014, 03:49 PM
MBE MBE is offline
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Stellar work. Absolutely cannot wait to see the end result.
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