#4 00-12 fret complete

[jared1177]

Just wrapped up #4.
I only build as a hobby and by no means consider myself a pro. My plan behind this one was to make it fairly vintage looking. I added some potassium permanganate to the top to oxidize it a bit and give it a worn look. I left sanding imperfections and some spruce tear outs on purpose on the top to give it a played in feel. First time trying stewmac restoration tuners and they do the job quite well. I didn't take much pics during the build process on this one since it was strictly for me and a trial at that. It's a dandy little guitar. Great comfort for couch playing. Huge projection. Nicely balanced and punchy. Growly bass for a little thing. I kept the bracing tapered, the same as my other builds as I have found my signature tone with it that I like. I really like Euro/Carpathian spruce. I've done three now with it, with one being Port Orford Cedar which smells wonderfully!! I think I'll build another with it just because it smells good.
This is the first guitar where I've used rosewoods for fingerboard and bridge whereas my others I used ebony. I wanted to keep this one extremely lightweight and airy in tone.
I've already been thinking of #5. My daughter is 5 and I thought of doing one in memory of her. She likes to draw stars and hearts, so inlaying the fingerboard and bridge with pearl of that. She loves blingy shiny things as any little girl does, so would be fun to add pearl for the rosette and purfling. Maybe even pearl butterflies coming out of the soundhole. Basically pearl everywhere. Back center strip too. I really like the 00-12 fret feel so possibly in that shape. But paddle headstock on this one as I hate changing strings on slotted.
Anyways... here's my #4 specs:

-Eurospruce/Indian rosewood.
-00-12 fret
-short scale
-slotted headstock
-morado fingerboard/rosewood bridge
-ebony bridge pins
-simple rosette/purfling
-celluloid tortoise guard
-bone nut/saddle
-stew mac restoration tuners
-pearl headstock logo
-varnish finish

[Halcyon/Tinker]

That's a nice look on the top.

[Sleestack]

Nice work Jared- it's beautiful. I like the neck volute. How does she sound?

[jared1177]

Originally Posted by Sleestack

Nice work Jared- it's beautiful. I like the neck volute. How does she sound?

I wished I had proper recording equipment on hand I'd put a video up. Using my laptop to record it wouldn't do it justice.
It's so hard to describe tone. But to me: growly. woody. punchy. nice string separation across the whole board. strong trebles. mids settle in just under the bass and treble.
I'm a huge fan of Martin tone and go after a bit of that, but sometimes to me their high B and E strings can sound a bit floppy and weak. So I tend to brace my guitars where the B and E are just as strong as the rest of the notes. I like a punchy treble but not shrill or in your face.
I've built this one on the light side so it's quite punchy and loud if need be. I took the top down to 2.2mm so the top could have plenty of movement being such a small guitar. However going this thin can be dangerous and needs to be properly braced underneath and humidity control minded or there could be disaster later.
I've strung this one with Elixir HD's and it loves it.
I've heard good things about Martin Retro strings... I'll try them out after the HD's die on me.

[Marcus Wong]

Always inspiring to see hobby builders like yourself building at such a level. #5 sounds like a really good idea and sounds like you'll have a lot of fun with it.

I really like the back on this set, really nice. Also think you captured the vintage/worn look on the top as well!

Perhaps what I would like to see more is a headstock and bridge unique to you keep up the great work

[jared1177]

Originally Posted by Halcyon/Tinker

That's a nice look on the top.

Thanks. I respect your work and follow your builds often on here.

[ewh2]

I've seen your other builds here Jared and it's great work again.

Your wood working is of a great standard. Really nice tidy work for the bracing for #3.

Look forward to seeing build pics for #5!

[jared1177]

Originally Posted by Marcus Wong

Always inspiring to see hobby builders like yourself building at such a level. #5 sounds like a really good idea and sounds like you'll have a lot of fun with it.

I really like the back on this set, really nice. Also think you captured the vintage/worn look on the top as well!

Perhaps what I would like to see more is a headstock and bridge unique to you keep up the great work

Thanks for the words.
It's very inspirational/fulfilling to be able to take blank wood and materials and make something out of it, and something that actually sounds good after being made too.
I think #5 is going to be a hoot. I will take my time on it and build it with care. Adding so much inlays is not only costly but time consuming too.
I lucked up on the rosewood back and sides. A luthier was selling it because he found some worm holes in it. I didn't care and theyre very hard to even find for the normal person. $50 and it was mine!
Potassium permanganate is super fun to play with. It instantly oxidizes any wood. If you go too far with it you can add a type of acid to it to lighten it back up... in which I had to do on this one a bit.
As far as headstock and bridge go I like to stick around the traditional side of things with that, as I mentioned in a reply above I admire Martins a lot. I don't want to bring much attention to my headstock or bridges. So I'll probaby keep doing what I'm doing. However I did for #3 I did make an ebony bridge that was a hybrid of a belly bridge and flat bridge:

[OddManOut]

Nice! I love the understated aesthetic. Very classy.

[jared1177]

Originally Posted by ewh2

I've seen your other builds here Jared and it's great work again.

Your wood working is of a great standard. Really nice tidy work for the bracing for #3.

Look forward to seeing build pics for #5!

I appreciate that. I think I'll do pics this time for #5. It'll deserve it.

[jared1177]

Originally Posted by OddManOut

Nice! I love the understated aesthetic. Very classy.

That was the plan. Nice to know that someone got it other than me!

[jared1177]

guitar is breaking in nicely the last few months. more richness. i also installed a PTME. a term used by bryan kimsey. its adding an extra "brace" butted up against the bottom of the bridge plate. i used a piece of braz for this. 1/4" thick x nearly 1/4" tall. i mentioned to bryan i wanted a bit more punch and thickness to the tone, and he recommended this. after installing it and giving it a few weeks to settle in i really like it. it helped my guitar since i initially had a super thin top to begin with, so this added a bit more meat to the overall tone.

here are a few updated pics of the guitar as it is now. i've changed out the pickguard as well.










i'm also half way through #5. its another 00 12 fret. sitka top and mahogany back and sides. pearl and abalone everywhere. i've taken several build pics but i'll wait until its nearly finished before starting a new thread on this one.

[jared1177]

Its been about two years ago since I built this 00. After these years of playing it I found I was missing some frequencies, so I decided that I would redo the top. I've been working on it for a few weeks now and just finished it up.

I used Carpathian again. And decided to do the bracing a bit different this time around.

I'm very pleased with how this came out. And now I'm getting what I wanted all along.

Doing a retop takes a bit of time and patience, routing off the old and making a new one to plop in place. This was also my first retop.
I decided to go with herringbone rosette and purfling for this one, instead of the basic b/w/b I went with the first go round.

I went with a bigger bridge as well and chose braz for it. And thought adding rosewood bridge pins would clean things up as well.