Michel Aboudib Italian Spruce-Bois de Rose Modified Dreadnought

[doodahdoug]

It has been about two years since Michel Aboudib completed a commissioned MA-D build for me. He built that guitar in France and later completed the final voicing and setup for it in Oakland, CA where he was beginning his apprenticeship with Ervin Somogyi. The MA-D build thread can be found here.

Soon after taking delivery of that guitar from Michel, I decided to secure a build spot for a second commissioned build with him. After completing his apprenticeship and returning to France, Michel told me that he would be offering a few new body shapes, including a Modified Dreadnought based on the one developed by Somogyi. So, for me, it was an easy decision to go with the Modified Dreadnought model for this commission.

I considered various tonewood options for this guitar during the wait for my build slot to come around but had not finalized my choices. My Dallas-area AGF friend and tonewood connoisseur, Vasu (Vpolinei) earlier this year took delivery of a beautiful commissioned cross-over guitar built in Spain by Brian Itzkin. Brian shared with Vasu (and Tom Sands) that he had located a limited batch of old stock (CITES compliant) Bois de Rose (Dalbergia Maritima) guitar sets for sale in Spain. Vasu informed Michel Aboudib about this and he was able to acquire a few of these sets of Bois de Rose, one of which I selected to use for this commission.

This Modified Dreadnought will pair an Italian Spruce top with the Bois de Rose back and sides. The guitar will also feature a Somogyi inspired Celtic Key Carved Rosette and End Graft designed by Michel.

Cheryl and I were able to visit with Michel Aboudib while we were attending the 3 day Woodstock Invitational Luthier's Showcase last month and firmed up the design elements with him there.









Michel is crafting this guitar as an homage to his mentor Ervin Somogyi. It is the first Aboudib guitar to use Ervin's Modified Dreadnought shape. Michel is naming this guitar "A Somogyi Experience".


Specifications are listed below:


Model: Modified Dreadnought
Top: Italian Spruce
Back: Bois de Rose
Sides: Bois de Rose laminated with Padauk
Neck: Mahogany
Fretboard: Bois de Rose
Fretwire: EVO Gold
Bridge: Bois de Rose
Bridge Pins: Tamarind with Parisian MOP Dots
Nut and Saddle: Bone
Rosette: Carved Celtic Key (Somogyi Inspired)
End Graft: Carved Celtic Key (Somogyi Inspired)
Tuners: Gold Gotoh 510
Scale Length: 25"
String Spacing: 2.25"
Nut Width: 1.75"
Body length: 20.25”
Total length: 41.125"
Upper bout: 11.875”
Waist: 10.50"
Lower bout: 15.875”
Depth at neck heel: 4”
Depth at tail: 5”
Case: Hoffee

Finish by Virgile Pilon of Blind Guitars - gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
except the carved rosette and end graft areas which have a flat finish.



Below is a video from Tom Sands discussing some examples of Bois de Rose tone wood that he acquired from this same source:







Thanks for looking in!

[sinistral]

Wow, Doug, that is going to be incredible! Looking forward to the build!

[s2y]

The rosette! Holy crap!!!

[cigarfan]

Wow! This one should blow the roof! Congrats Doug. Hope Michel takes plenty of pics as the build unfolds.

[dcn]

Whoa! Already looking great, will follow with interest

Congrats, Doug.

[Steve Kinnaird]

That looks wonderful! This should be spectacular when finished.
Goodness, it will surely be spectacular before being finished!

Steve

[mikealpine]

What that man does with a chisel is unreal! The precision that rosette takes is mind blowing. And I love the look of that back set. Is that wood in the rosewood family, in terms of sound? Any other design elements you care to share?

[Joe Whitman]

What a find! The landscaping in that set is beautiful.

[KevinH]

Looking forward to seeing this comes together. That is one beautiful set of wood.

[nootis]

Congratulations Doug! This will be outstanding. I didn't know there was a story behind the Bois de Rose and that Michel scored a few sets. If this build sounds anywhere close to the guitar he brought to Woodstock. you're in for a real treat/treasure.

[doodahdoug]

Originally Posted by sinistral

Wow, Doug, that is going to be incredible! Looking forward to the build!

Originally Posted by s2y

The rosette! Holy crap!!!

Thanks Bill and Sam...you both own beautiful guitars from Michel and I appreciate your comments.

Originally Posted by cigarfan

Wow! This one should blow the roof! Congrats Doug. Hope Michel takes plenty of pics as the build unfolds.

Thank you Dennis...I think you may be right about that roof! I haven't received the same volume of pictures from Michel that I did with my first build but I'll gladly post those he does provide.

Originally Posted by dcn

Whoa! Already looking great, will follow with interest

Congrats, Doug.

Thanks Diogo...btw I really enjoyed seeing and hearing your Wilborn Sidewinder!

[doodahdoug]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

That looks wonderful! This should be spectacular when finished.
Goodness, it will surely be spectacular before being finished!

Steve

Thank you Steve, that means a lot coming from you!

Originally Posted by mikealpine

What that man does with a chisel is unreal! The precision that rosette takes is mind blowing. And I love the look of that back set. Is that wood in the rosewood family, in terms of sound? Any other design elements you care to share?

Thanks Mike. It was good to see you again at Woodstock. Yes, Michel has taken his carved rosettes to then next level after his year with Ervin. Bois de Rose is in the rosewood family Dalbergia Maritima and based on the sound of the Bois de Rose MA-D guitar that Michel brought to Woodstock it should sound similar to other Madagascar Rosewoods. I'll lay out some additional specs a little later but there won't be any bevels, sound ports or wedges on this one.

Originally Posted by Joe Whitman

What a find! The landscaping in that set is beautiful.

Originally Posted by KevinH

Looking forward to seeing this comes together. That is one beautiful set of wood.

Thank you Joe and Kevin!

Originally Posted by nootis

Congratulations Doug! This will be outstanding. I didn't know there was a story behind the Bois de Rose and that Michel scored a few sets. If this build sounds anywhere close to the guitar he brought to Woodstock. you're in for a real treat/treasure.

Thank you Dan, it was great seeing you at Woodstock and I agree that Michel had two great looking and sounding guitars on display there. He's promised to add a little extra mojo to this one for me since it's his first Mod-D build.

I will have some more updates soon but for now below is an in-progress picture of Michel doing some detail work on the carved rosette:

[Jamiejoon]

Wow, Bois De Rose! Nice! You don't get to see that very often, and your set looks amazing. Congrats!

[Nemoman]

Yowzah! I'm late to the party here, but Wow--the woods look primo.

And the rosette--I've never figured out how a luthier can have the patience and skill level to create such an art form. It's such a high level of craftsmanship.

I truly look forward to watching this one come together--congrats, Doug, on commissioning another masterpiece!

[doodahdoug]

Originally Posted by Jamiejoon

Wow, Bois De Rose! Nice! You don't get to see that very often, and your set looks amazing. Congrats!

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Yowzah! I'm late to the party here, but Wow--the woods look primo.

And the rosette--I've never figured out how a luthier can have the patience and skill level to create such an art form. It's such a high level of craftsmanship.

I truly look forward to watching this one come together--congrats, Doug, on commissioning another masterpiece!

Thank you Jamie and Kevin for your generous comments. Kevin, I have always admired Somogyi's carved rosettes and Leo Buendia is also doing some amazing work with this style of rosette on his guitars. Given that Michel was already crafting carved rosettes on his earlier builds I was glad to see that the Somogyi style of carved rosettes was one of the many things Michel absorbed during his apprenticeship with Ervin.



Below is a photo showing the preliminary voicing of the top in progress:





I asked Michel about his reinforcement of the underside of the rosette and here's what he had to say about that:

"The doughnut you see is a piece of spruce on which I glued the (blue) backing paper. It is inlayed in a channel underneath the rosette. Another doughnut, a bit wider, was glued on top of that to reinforce the whole area.
So the whole rosette has about 2.5 mm of spruce reinforcing it. On top of the doughnut I glued two little braces that extend from the x to the transverse brace".


Below "is a picture from a few days ago. The floating back brace was added since then and the inside of the back got a couple coats of finish. I laminated the sides with padauk".

Unfortunately, Michel did not take a photo of the back with the floating back brace installed prior to closing the box, so I've included a photo that shows his Traugott style floating back brace (used with Jeff's permission) on my Aboudib MA-D to give you an idea how that is incorporated.

Michel: "I made a small variation (from Traugott's) in the joinery, without affecting the function of the brace. This stronger longitudinal structure of the back also improves the stability of the heel block, so the neck angle is more stable over time."