Oska Burman Guitars - OM (Short scale) - Italian Spruce/Indian Rosewood

[Oska Burman]

Hello again fellow AGF'ers.

The other build currently on my bench is this lovely short scale OM in Italian Spruce & Indian Rosewood. If you've read a little about my past builds, you'll know that I have some exceptional & well seasoned Indian Rosewood from master luthier Stefan Sobell's collection & this is yet another cracking example if it! Close & straight grained, heavily striated with a range of dark, rich colours & very well quartered.

My client here has also opted for an arm bevel, to alleviate the stresses on his right shoulder. These arm bevels, whilst an optional extra, make for a very comfortable (and well worth it in my opinion) playing experience. There is also a very subtle element included in this build to mark a particular anniversary, which will only be known to my client himself

He also plays exclusively with the fleshy part of his fingers, or "pads", so we're going for a really clear, responsive, voluminous tone, without the aid of a pick or fingernails.

Once again, I hope you all enjoy following along with this build & do feel free to add your comments along the way.

Cheers,

Oska.


The Indian Rosewood back is joined with my favourite method, the traditional Spanish rope & wedges


After scraping it down, the magic of this lovely set is revealed


My classic tiled mosaic rosette made from Hawaiian Koa will be used on this guitar


First step of inlaying is to rout a channel for the main element & glue that into the soundboard


Here I am spreading glue in order to laminate the sides


Then the sides are wrapped tightly with old bicycle inner tubes to keep them in place


Before finally being put into the vacuum bag to cure


Sometimes you do things very accurately!


Onto gluing the top & bottom blocks to the rimset


The are bevel support block is marked out before shaping...


...on the bobbin sander...


...then glued to the rimset


The inside of the arm bevel block is then shaped once attached to the rimset

[Oska Burman]

A few details of the completed rimset ready to receive the soundboard & back











After gluing on the soundhole patch, it is thicknessed & the soundhole is then cut out


The rosette in its final form!


Soundhole support braces are glued on first in the go-bar deck

[Oska Burman]

A bit of further progress on the short scale OM.


Completed rosette with a bit of magic juice. Tiled mosaic in Hawaiian Koa with Tasmanian Blackwood purflings.


Some initial profiling of the x-brace with one of my favourite tools - this 24mm Japanese paring chisel with a long, white Oak handle for greater control




Curved bottom planes are also used for this process


After the x-brace is mostly profiled, the smaller finger braces are glued on in the go-bar deck


An offcut from the back is used to make the bridge plate & some bevels are added to make for a nice transition between the edges of the plate & the soundboard




Last brace is the upper transverse


The soundboard meets the rim set


Back braces glued on in the go-bar deck now


Back braces profiled for this Indian Rosewood back

[colins]

Love looking at that chocolate rosewood.

And your back braces remind me of something else in Scotland...the Forth bridge. Well, a little bit!

[Jwills57]

There are a number of younger European acoustic guitar makers going now who are making exquisite instruments--Alexander Voss, Tom Sands, Max Spohn, Ted Astrand, and of course Oska Burman, to name but a few. I have two of Oska's OM models, and I can attest to how brilliant these guitars are. Oska uses a double-side construction technique, and his guitars, from my experience, have a lot of heft and punch, truly first-class, serious, professional instruments.

[Jamiejoon]

Very nice rosette, and what a lovely set of IRW.

[Nemoman]

Beautiful woods and work, Oska!

[Carpinteria]

Oska, I lived in Scotland for a time and I totally understand what you mean by “cracking,” but it does make me wince a bit in this context! 😁 Cheers!

[TomB'sox]

This is looking great, thanks for all the pictures. I love the rosette, certainly letting that koa speak for itself and it needs no help!

[Oska Burman]

Originally Posted by colins

Love looking at that chocolate rosewood.

And your back braces remind me of something else in Scotland...the Forth bridge. Well, a little bit!

Yes, it's a lovely set of Rosewood. It's getting harder & harder to find good sets of really nice Rosewood these days.

Well the Forth bridge has been standing for some time, so that bodes well!

Cheers,.

Originally Posted by Jamiejoon

Very nice rosette, and what a lovely set of IRW.

Thanks. Yes, this rosette is quite popular amongst the general populous & is requested a fair bit.

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Beautiful woods and work, Oska!

Appreciate your comments

[Oska Burman]

Originally Posted by Carpinteria

Oska, I lived in Scotland for a time and I totally understand what you mean by “cracking,” but it does make me wince a bit in this context! 😁 Cheers!

Cheers.

For anyone else reading this who is unsure - "Cracking" = Very impressive

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

This is looking great, thanks for all the pictures. I love the rosette, certainly letting that koa speak for itself and it needs no help!

Thanks Tom. Yes, Koa is immensely beautiful & has such an array of colours & striations, even from the one piece of wood itself. Would be a shame to clutter it up with any more bling really.