The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Custom Shop

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #16  
Old 01-10-2021, 10:57 PM
WilbornGuitars's Avatar
WilbornGuitars WilbornGuitars is offline
AGF Sponsor
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 223
Default New Wilborn Arum Build: Tunnel 14 redwood with ziricote

Quote:
Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post
Congrats Mr. Eddie. You know I have a huge man crush on Ben and his guitars, jeez, I have enough of them!



Yes, you owe this all to me and Ben takes far too much credit for his Comma series, as far as I am concerned it should be the B'sox-stravaganza series!!! (Ben are you listening?).


Well, I tried to come up with the right name to honor you. The Bowilus, The Soxilus, The Tomulus. The Naughtysox. They just didn't have the right ring. Sorry, pal.
__________________
Ben Wilborn
Wilborn Guitars
www.wilbornguitars.com

Last edited by WilbornGuitars; 01-10-2021 at 11:04 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 01-11-2021, 04:35 PM
Ukulele_Eddie Ukulele_Eddie is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Posts: 441
Default Progress Photos

As diligent as ever, Ben has been busy on the Arum.

Sides laminated. As described by Ben:

Laminated sides are an integral part of the Arum’s construction. Primarily, they provide strength and structure, together with a carbon fiber strut, to the upper treble bout, where the soundport has removed a big chunk of the strength. But they also make the sides exceptionally strong, and flat across their width, and they hold the shape of the sides with no spring-back at all- yet another internal stress that I have removed from the guitar. They won’t crack, and they won’t warp. In this case, I have made the inner two veneers from rift sawn. Honduran mahogany. You can look right into this guitar, so the cosmetics of the interior are very important and since all the linings and back braces are also mahogany, it looks really nice as well.

Vacuum bag forming the sides over a solid Baltic birch form.


Gluing the mahogany braces to the back in the go-deck bar.

Face-plate selected (#2). We went with #2 b/c it was the best color match and also had the sapwood.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_4426 (1).jpg (53.5 KB, 325 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_4428 (1).jpg (52.7 KB, 329 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_4409.jpg (62.3 KB, 325 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_4444 (1).jpg (49.7 KB, 327 views)
__________________
12-fret Small Body Addict & Sucker for Exquisite Craftsmanship
  • Beneteau 0-12 Sitka/Mahogany
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 01-11-2021, 05:16 PM
Nemoman Nemoman is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: N. California
Posts: 3,136
Default

Nice to see the progress on this one. Cool headplate selection, Eddie!

#3 looks like some sort of upside down version of Woody Woodpecker!
__________________
2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle)
2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW)
2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga)
2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco)
2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak)
2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk)
2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa)
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 01-11-2021, 05:36 PM
WilbornGuitars's Avatar
WilbornGuitars WilbornGuitars is offline
AGF Sponsor
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 223
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post
Nice to see the progress on this one. Cool headplate selection, Eddie!

#3 looks like some sort of upside down version of Woody Woodpecker!
Like a very evil version of Woody! Unfortunately, the string posts are going to pretty much come through those eyes, which will ruin the effect. But ziricote is very much given to producing fairytale looking faces. I made a guitar once that looked exactly like Treebeard from The Lord of the Rings was peering out of the back.
__________________
Ben Wilborn
Wilborn Guitars
www.wilbornguitars.com
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 01-11-2021, 08:13 PM
Ukulele_Eddie Ukulele_Eddie is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Posts: 441
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post
Nice to see the progress on this one. Cool headplate selection, Eddie!

#3 looks like some sort of upside down version of Woody Woodpecker!
Yeah, my first question was where will the tuner pegs be on #3, which ruled it out for me.
__________________
12-fret Small Body Addict & Sucker for Exquisite Craftsmanship
  • Beneteau 0-12 Sitka/Mahogany
Reply With Quote
  #21  
Old 01-12-2021, 08:38 AM
TomB'sox's Avatar
TomB'sox TomB'sox is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: The Lone Star State
Posts: 13,394
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukulele_Eddie View Post
As diligent as ever, Ben has been busy on the Arum.

Sides laminated. As described by Ben:

Laminated sides are an integral part of the Arum’s construction. Primarily, they provide strength and structure, together with a carbon fiber strut, to the upper treble bout, where the soundport has removed a big chunk of the strength. But they also make the sides exceptionally strong, and flat across their width, and they hold the shape of the sides with no spring-back at all- yet another internal stress that I have removed from the guitar. They won’t crack, and they won’t warp. In this case, I have made the inner two veneers from rift sawn. Honduran mahogany. You can look right into this guitar, so the cosmetics of the interior are very important and since all the linings and back braces are also mahogany, it looks really nice as well.

Vacuum bag forming the sides over a solid Baltic birch form.


Gluing the mahogany braces to the back in the go-deck bar.

Face-plate selected (#2). We went with #2 b/c it was the best color match and also had the sapwood.
Between the circles on the go bar deck and the Ziricote I had to take some Dramamine to keep from getting motion sickness LOL!
__________________
PS. I love guitars!
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old 01-12-2021, 10:31 AM
Nemoman Nemoman is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: N. California
Posts: 3,136
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by WilbornGuitars View Post
Like a very evil version of Woody! Unfortunately, the string posts are going to pretty much come through those eyes, which will ruin the effect. But ziricote is very much given to producing fairytale looking faces. I made a guitar once that looked exactly like Treebeard from The Lord of the Rings was peering out of the back.
I also noticed that #3 has the direct advantage of having your headstock diamond built in!
__________________
2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle)
2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW)
2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga)
2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco)
2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak)
2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk)
2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa)
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old 01-12-2021, 11:18 AM
jklotz jklotz is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 3,561
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post
I also noticed that #3 has the direct advantage of having your headstock diamond built in!
Yea, and the truss rod cover!
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old 01-12-2021, 09:20 PM
mikealpine's Avatar
mikealpine mikealpine is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 6,103
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post
I also noticed that #3 has the direct advantage of having your headstock diamond built in!
So funny, this was my thought too!
__________________
---------------------------------------

2013 Joel Stehr Dreadnought - Carpathian/Malaysian BW
2014 RainSong H-OM1000N2
2017 Rainsong BI-WS1000N2
2013 Chris Ensor Concert - Port Orford Cedar/Wenge
1980ish Takamine EF363 complete with irreplaceable memories
A bunch of electrics (too many!!)
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old 01-14-2021, 09:09 PM
invguy921's Avatar
invguy921 invguy921 is offline
Lovin' nice guitars...
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: S. Central Missouri
Posts: 2,814
Default

Gorgeous indeed. There's not a wood out there that is prettier than Ziricote. Love it
__________________
"A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold."

Woody (aka: Mike)


FOR SALE: Kinnaird Brazilian!!
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Old 01-15-2021, 02:18 PM
Jamiejoon Jamiejoon is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 729
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by invguy921 View Post
Gorgeous indeed. There's not a wood out there that is prettier than Ziricote. Love it
Amen to that, Mike! I have a ziricote guitar, and I am always admiring it. Sounds great too!
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Old 01-15-2021, 05:13 PM
Ukulele_Eddie Ukulele_Eddie is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Posts: 441
Default

Some more photos from the always industrious Ben. Other than the bridge plate not being straight ;-), it looks soooo cleanly executed.

I shared with Ben that I had a uke made by a very famous classical guitar builder ($10K+ guitars). It sounded fantastic, but it looked like it was slopped together by a second grader. The guy who sold me the uke said he had three of the luthier's classical guitars and they were also sloppy.

A lot of people don't care about anything but playability and tone. For me, those are necessary but not sufficient reasons to covet an instrument. A lot of my enjoyment from finely crafted instruments is based on the gorgeous woods and fine execution of the builder. Ben is meticulous and I really appreciate the results. It's just gorgeous.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_4545.jpg (48.3 KB, 209 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_4546.jpg (46.8 KB, 204 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_4548.jpg (38.0 KB, 206 views)
__________________
12-fret Small Body Addict & Sucker for Exquisite Craftsmanship
  • Beneteau 0-12 Sitka/Mahogany

Last edited by Ukulele_Eddie; 01-15-2021 at 05:51 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Old 01-15-2021, 05:22 PM
Nemoman Nemoman is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: N. California
Posts: 3,136
Default

Ben definitely builds a supremely clean instrument! No slop on a Wilborn build!

His top bracing on the Arum has evolved a bit since my original one. I'm curious about the short little horizontal brace above the bridge plate?

The build is really looking awesome so far, Eddie!
__________________
2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle)
2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW)
2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga)
2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco)
2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak)
2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk)
2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa)
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Old 01-15-2021, 06:22 PM
WilbornGuitars's Avatar
WilbornGuitars WilbornGuitars is offline
AGF Sponsor
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 223
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post

I'm curious about the short little horizontal brace above the bridge plate?
Ever evolving is right. That little ladder brace is to counteract a tendency to form a shallow cup right there under string tension. Really, just a cosmetic fix. This same sort of thing tends to happen on an X brace guitar just north of the bridge
in the little triangle below the junction of the X. On X brace guitars, I usually put a little cross piece there as well.
__________________
Ben Wilborn
Wilborn Guitars
www.wilbornguitars.com
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Old 01-16-2021, 10:45 AM
TomB'sox's Avatar
TomB'sox TomB'sox is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: The Lone Star State
Posts: 13,394
Default

We are all so OCD haha. I thought it looked like the carbon fiber rod insertion point into the side support block looks lower than before forming less of an angle? By lower of course, I mean closer to the top which I guess technically would be higher. I am sure that confused no one!
__________________
PS. I love guitars!
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Custom Shop

Tags
arum, wilborn, ziricote

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:49 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=