Oxwood Caspian Build

hnuuhiwa · #1 08-10-2014, 02:15 AM

Hi Gang...its been awhile since I've been posting, but through a set of circumstances a few years back, Brad Daniels was gracious enough to afford me the benefit of being a lucky recipient of a custom build.

Here's a few shots of the start a couple of weeks or so ago.....

hnuuhiwa · #2 08-10-2014, 02:25 AM

And pics of the back being joined and braced.....

T1mothy · #3 08-10-2014, 02:46 AM

lovely figuring

hnuuhiwa · #4 08-10-2014, 02:52 AM

For those of you who have watched my last few builds (including the Burner LC that Paul & Kyle are finishing up), you know that I'm not a traditionalist when it comes to the rosette.

Here are a few that Brad mocked up for me to consider...which do you think I went with?

hnuuhiwa · #5 08-10-2014, 02:54 AM

Was it this one?

Or maybe this one?

hnuuhiwa · #6 08-10-2014, 02:57 AM

Nut · #7 08-10-2014, 12:25 PM

Very nice.

sachi · #8 08-10-2014, 04:58 PM

Oh boy! another Brad build to watch. I enjoyed working with him on my Carmen, and he did a fine job matching the guitar to what I asked for in both woods and tone. What are you hoping to get from him, hnuuhiwa?

hnuuhiwa · #9 08-16-2014, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachi

Oh boy! another Brad build to watch. I enjoyed working with him on my Carmen, and he did a fine job matching the guitar to what I asked for in both woods and tone. What are you hoping to get from him, hnuuhiwa?

Hi Sachi,

I don't have any particular expectations aside from an easy playing, well voiced (given the size of the guitar and woods being used) instrument. I'm familiar with Brad's work, having owned one of his guitars before, so this little guitar should be fun.

Here's a little of what Brad had to say when he sent me this set of pics....

"The top bracing is a new approach for me. It is a forward shifted double X with a slightly different top radius. I'm sticking with the spruce patches for the finger braces and a laminated Cedar/Cocobolo bridge plate. The top is glued on now and time for voicing tomorrow. High expectations for this one. I feel my bracing and voicing game is getting stronger with having built so many guitars right in a row over the past few months. I dove back into The Responsive Guitar book and Ervin's voicing DVD and comparing the theory to my notes of recent guitars tried to re-arrange my thoughts on bracing and voicing. Very excited."

As with any good builder, passion and the desire to continue to improve on past standards, is an excellent trait...which Brad clearly has

hnuuhiwa · #10 08-16-2014, 02:25 PM

He's closing up the box.......

More to come!

Oxwood_Handmade · #11 08-18-2014, 04:31 AM

Thanks for starting the thread and for the kind words, Hen! I'm happy to be building this guitar for you and with such a killer set of wood!

Brad

Oxwood_Handmade · #12 03-27-2015, 04:24 AM

Thought I'd update this thread while I'm at it.

I've been playing catch up with the Carmen's for Memphis but they're all at the binding stage now. Here's where we're at with this Caspian, though: After getting the first top attached I noticed when I tapped on it there was a bit of a buzz/rattle. There were no loose braces anywhere, so I concluded that the top had to come back off. Upon removing the top it split in two places, which were mirror images of each other across the book-match and right where it had been buzzing. So, she got a new top and I've chalked it up to a defect in the wood that was not apparent until then...which was a real bummer. I changed the rosette a bit on this one, too.

Rosette:

Top Bracing and Voicing:

Adding koa/black veneers to my cocobolo bindings and cleaning with a finger plane.

Binding router:

Top bindings, purflings and bevels in place. The top purfling is .062" wide spalted mango, to reinforce the Hawaiian wood theme.

haolebrownie · #13 04-02-2015, 02:28 PM

Glad to see an update on this build.

Joe