Official Luthier's Forum Medium Jumbo

[geordie]

Originally Posted by kwakatak

My goal is to create a fingerstyle guitar with more ample bass than an OM and can handle some moderate strumming. I'm considering on using South American Mahogany for the back & sides and Western Red Cedar for the top.

If you want to build a guitar thats for out and out for finger you might find it's not that good for "moderate strumming" as it (if made well) would be TO responsive and have an over complex tone, the result is not pretty - to much going on so it sounds messy and sustains to long you loose that tight definition that suites strummed chords. I'd suggest you build two, one for each purpose.
The OLF / Stu-Mac plans are great - OM - 000 - SJ and MJ, take yre pick, it's how you build / brace them that defines what they sound like.
I'm building a a 16 inch "Jumbo" with of my own design / shape 12 fret to body and using Stu-Mac's 000 bracing from their plans. It's for fingerpicking.
good luck
Geordie

[Neil K Walk]

I should've said "light" strumming, most likely with a soft pick or fingernails. I won't be playing Glen Hansard style on this one!

One thing I notice is that there's an optional rear X-bracing for the back. How would something like that affect the tone?

[JohnM]

It'll be as good as you can make it. That, of course, depends largely on you.

[Neil K Walk]

After one last check with my wife (who's a little sore at me for not hopping to on some items on my "honey do" list) I got approval (well, actually she just sighed and muttered "I don't care") and I ordered the OLF MJ plans. They should be here in a couple of days but I really need to read up (and do some of those honey-do things for brownie points.) Has anybody read a how to build your own guitar book by a fella named Kinkead? I hear it's got pictures too!

OK, now in the meantime I have to find a way to change some electrical outlets in my house while keeping two preschoolers from killing themselves or each other. It's been absolute mayhem here.

EDIT: BTW, have I sufficiently stressed how much of a n00b I am with regards to any sort of handiwork? I'm starting to get a little "noivous!"

[mhammond]

While the Kinkead book is certainly useful the bible is the Cumpiano and Natelson book. I personally learned more from Robbie Obrien's DVD than anywhere else, his methods are more current and efficient with your time. The DVD is available from LMII, the books are everywhere.........
Mikey

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by mhammond

I think you mean 5/16" braces and yes I started out with them per plan dimensions widthwise. However, I strongly triangulate my braces and leave them a smidge taller than plans to start. The tops are thinner if the individual piece will allow and the braces are stiffer ( ala Somogyi), this seems to be working out for me. I also used the radial back bracing on the two best ones (maybe a coincidence, maybe not)
Mikey

I've been putting some more thought into this and your comments above have me intrigued. By "radial" bracing do you mean that funky combination of X-bracing and ladder bracing on the back? I see that Paul Woolson does something similar on his builds. If so how does that affect the tone? Would it "muddy" up the tone of a cedar top - especially if I consider using lighter (1/4") braces on the top?

Yes, I said 1/4" braces. I've long been enamored with the tone of the HD-35 with its full undulating bass response (that I attribute to the bracing and not the EIR) but also the sweetness of the trebles of cedar-topped mini jumbos. I was hoping to find the best of both worlds.

Oddly enough, my local store has an A/E Martin M (or is it J or 0000?) 36 series with cutaway and I don't like the tone of it at all. For starters, it has that heavy dual source Aura system with the barn door electronics, non-scalloped 1/4" braces and from what I can gather it hasn't had the opportunity to open up. I wanted to like it but there just seemed to be too much of something and not quite enough tone.

I can sense I'm going to be doing a LOT of tone tapping. Well, YJ says that he expects I'm gonna be taking my time. I truly want this one to both sound - and look - good.

Speaking of looks, I'm finding that I love the look of EIR with mahogany. When I got my D-16GT I was surprised to see that the endcap on the heel was EIR and not black boltaron like the body binding. Then I saw a pic of that R Taylor Style 1 (yet another guitar I can't afford) on the classifieds here and I knew that that was a nice "palette."

I haven't gotten into the headstock inlay or rosette yet. Being a former graphic artist I've got ideas on THAT too, but I'll save that for another time.

[mhammond]

Neil:
Most of the senior builders feel the back and its bracing are just as important as the top to the overall finished instrument. The plans you ordered show both the traditional ladder and the radial bracing for the back.
Here is a link to a discussion on the subject:


http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/v...racing#p367629


Use the search function on the OLF site, the archives are worth a gazillion bucks in misused/ruined sticks and boards!

Mikey

[Neil K Walk]

woo hoo! The plans are here! I haven't had time to peruse them in detail yet, though. My mind's on making the mold at this point and I have to look back and see what was the best material to use. I'm also going to go to the Home Depot tomorrow after I drop by older son off at summer camp.

With any luck YJ, you and I can get to work on the bandsaw. You didn't get mad at it again, did you?

[Neil K Walk]

LOL - my wife said to me today "I see you ordered those plans" which took me aback. I mentioned to her that I was going to buy them but apparently she wasn't listening. See? It's not only men who are guilty of this - though I admit that I'm also prone to this.

Anyway, after the kids went to bed I spread them out on the kitchen table and took a good look at what I was in for. Seeing it in 100% scale just confirms my good vibes on these plans. For reference I laid my Larrivée OM-03R over the outline to see how the shape differed. I have a good feeling that the MJ would be a much fuller-sounding instrument.

I also noted that there are detailed plans for the bridge. YJ has Martin bridges but I think I want to try and fashion this one if only for purely aesthetic reasons.

That's a long ways off though. First and foremost I need to get some materials to fashion a mold. What's a decent grade of plywood to use? I've hear that birch is good but that MDF is another way to go. I'm hoping I can find what I need at the Home Depot.

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by kwakatak

woo hoo! The plans are here! I haven't had time to peruse them in detail yet, though. My mind's on making the mold at this point and I have to look back and see what was the best material to use. I'm also going to go to the Home Depot tomorrow after I drop by older son off at summer camp.

With any luck YJ, you and I can get to work on the bandsaw. You didn't get mad at it again, did you?

Me and the band saw are at odds right now. I have an offering of fruits and various slaughtered animals all over it. I chanted.... No reaction or indication it is happy with me. I think I need new wheel belts ( ). I'll try offering a Peanut Butter sandwich this afternoon and see if I can make it happy before you get here.

[Kitchen Guitars]

I started this Neck Heel Q&A for you and for my further education;
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/v...381725#p381725

[Neil K Walk]

Tonight I went over the YJ's place and looked at wood. He and I picked out a set of mahogany that rang nicely against a rapped knuckle (even though we're both novices) despite having a single round imperfection in the grain. For the top we did the same novice tap test and selected a set of western red cedar that is wavy in one spot but I can live with it.

The only real hangup seemed to be that the boards for the sides are about 1/8" shorter than the side diagram on the plans. Is that a deal breaker? God, I hope not. Can I adjust for it at the heel block?

As I'd mentioned before he had finished Martin necks and preslotted black ebony fretboards but they're all precut for 1 & 11/16" but that's not going to work since I want this to be a fingerstyle guitar and I prefer 1.75" nut. Looks like I'll either have to carve my own neck or order a wider neck from somewhere.

[Kitchen Guitars]

Here is Neil with his picked wood and a pile o' plans. NOW WHATTTTTTT!!!

BTW I was looking at many Collings guitars yesterday. They had waves!

[Neil K Walk]

Yup. As my momma always says, now were cooking with GAS.

Next step: the mold. I'm currently on the hunt for a 4'x8'x.75" sheet of MDF and have been skimming through Johnathan Kinkades's book "Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar" and paying special attention to this section of th ebuild. He says to cut the MDF into 10"x24" boards leaving a minimum of about 2" from the cut of the guitar profile but this MJ has a lower bout of 16.25" (or 8" and an 1/8) which is tecnically less than the two inches. Do you think 10"x24" would fly?

[martinedwards]

Originally Posted by kwakatak

Thanks to Yamaha Junkie I'm about to embark on my first build and was considering the Official Luthier's Forum's plans for the Medium Jumbo. Has anyone ever built one or played a guitar that was built from these plans? How do they sound and feel?

I'm basically wondering how similar in tone and construction it is to the Taylor GS. My goal is to create a fingerstyle guitar with more ample bass than an OM and can handle some moderate strumming. I'm considering on using South American Mahogany for the back & sides and Western Red Cedar for the top.

may I make an observation?

a first build will sound lke a GUITAR.

if you are lucky, and put in a LOT of effort, and take it SLOWLY, then it might even sound and play like a nice guitar.

for a first time builder to try and predict the final tone is.........

well,

optomistic!!