#16
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Mulling over Maple
Bruce cut some beautiful Bigleaf Maple sides and we are mulling over sets for the back and sides. Out of the 10 - 1" thick back sets that he had is his woodlocker, we are looking more closely between these three sets. All three are nice. The middle one seems to have a more rope like aspect to its curl, while to top and bottom sets have a finer flame.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#17
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Not sure how they tap, but visually, I vote the bottom one! Tighter and more regular figure to my eyes
I'm not sure how the body sizes for Bruce's guitars work, but if I'm not mistaken, yours is Jumbo like? If that's the case, I would personally go for a figure that isn't as tight. Having so much figure on such a large surface area can have too much going on. So possibly the middle one But from what I see, I think if you were to flip a coin (a 3-sided one that is) and pick whichever it landed on, you wouldn't be complaining about either! |
#18
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Marcus it is a 15", OM/000 sized body with a Venetian cutaway.
Quote:
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#19
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Bob hasn't held these billets, so can't be blamed for thinking they are an inch thick. They are actually about 2 1/4" thick, and getting a recognizable "tap tone" out of them is a bit of a challenge; you could hurt yourself doing that! I actually sent him 10 choices, but we're getting it narrowed down some.
I may be a bit scarce this next week as a family emergency calls me away to Washington state today. Washington being the home of Starbucks, on the other hand, perhaps I will find wifi on every other corner. On another related subject, I have made a little progress on the BRW/Adi Mini-D as well. Here is the back joined, thicknessed, and templated: The top and the back braces can also be seen. |
#20
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10-Sets
While Bruce is on the road, here are all 10 billets that we could use. 9 are quartersawn and flamed and one was flatsawn and quilted. Which would you choose and why?
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#21
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Quilted because I prefer that on acoustics
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#22
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Quilt can indeed be pretty, but I am ultimately a quartersawn guy when it comes to archtop guitars. So it will be one of the nine other sets...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 01-11-2015 at 02:30 AM. |
#23
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Hard to pick as they are all nice. But for some reason the first one in the top left hand corner has me coming back to it.
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#24
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Wow, Bruce! That's possibly the most gorgeous rosette I've ever admired.
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Fazool "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter" Taylor GC7, GA3-12, SB2-C, SB2-Cp...... Ibanez AVC-11MHx , AC-240 |
#25
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Bruce's pick as well...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#26
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A bit hard to tell, but the second one in right column appears to have strong quartered fleck showing as well as consistent curl.
That is extra figure that is nearly as handsome as the curl. And if your really like quartered wood... But like I say, a little hard to be certain way over here in Texas. Actually, they all look good. How nice to have such choices! Steve |
#27
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Quote:
As for the woods, it looks like you can't go wrong whatever you choose. The next big question is whether or not Bruce will have usable shoulder joints once the back carving is done???? Looks like one heck of a job given the thickness of those maple boards. All the best, berf |
#28
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I am in a Best Western Motel in Kelso WA and they have pretty fast wireless!
All of those billet except the quilt the be will hve spectacular Medulary display as they are near perfect quarter all the way across, within a degree or so. The shape of the carve will move them away from quarter more than the imperfection of the sawyer's interpretation of the tree. I will slice a set or two for flat backs off before I rip it in half and join it for the carved back. I plane to carve it in about four session with a day or two between each so as not to hurt myself. I did that on the last one and it worked out quite well. The work gets lighter as the process nears completion, which is also when I become impulsively involved and lose all self control. I have no idea what kind of sound this guitar will make, and instead my targets have more to do with getting a responsive back with good structural integrity and without any extra weight. This has worked well for me on my previous carved instruments. |
#29
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eeney meeney miney mo...
After looking over these sets, I am considering these three sets: The top one (Set #9) has a tight and even flame that might look great. The middle one (Set #8) has the wildest rope-like flame and the bottom set (Set #7) falls in between the top and middle sets in terms of the character of its flame.
There is something about the grain of Set #7 (bottom) that seems in sync with the side set. I can ponder this a bit while Bruce travels...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#30
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Back n' Sides Selected
Bruce returned to his workshop today and we selected a bigleaf maple billet to carve into a backset and matching side set.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |