Tenor guitar build thread

[martint]

Hi all,

I am building a Tenor guitar from my own plans. Thought I'd share some pics along the way.

Back and sides - River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)
Back bracing - Queensland Maple (Flindersia brayleyana)
Soundboard - King Billy Pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides}
Sound board bracing - Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii)
Neck - Recycled Red Cedar
Fretboard - River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)
Binding - Recycled Silky Oak
Scale length - 23"

Red Gum back bookmatched


Sides Bent and joined to blocks. Red gum is hard to bend! had to go to 190°C


Back bracing going on


Joining back to sides


Centre strip, side reinforcement done


Soundboard bracing done


Box closed


Martin Taylor

[martint]

Some more progress pics

Binding channels routed


Silky Oak Bindings going on


Fret slots going in


Jig for routing the dovetail. Stewmac with base with some additions.


Starting to shape the neck. I love this part.


Old Martin style bridge for this one. RIver Red Gum.


Neck on, Frets in.


Ready for oiling. I use Danish Oil (6 coats) and then Carnuba Wax (2 coats)


Gotta love this part! I love seeing the timber come alive.


The River Red Gum back is looking nice too.

[saxonblue]

The finished redgum looks spectacular & goes nicely with the silky oak bindings, well done! I imagine it will be quite heavy for it's size?

[SJ VanSandt]

Beautiful work, and beautiful woods used. I would love to try a guitar build with Australian woods, but I've yet to encounter any here in Texas. Your River Gum looks similar to the Red Gum that Steve Sheriff has built with.

[martint]

Originally Posted by saxonblue

The finished redgum looks spectacular & goes nicely with the silky oak bindings, well done! I imagine it will be quite heavy for it's size?

Thanks, I've kept her fairly light throughout so hopefully won't be too heavy. I'll end up weighing her when she's all finished.

Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt

Beautiful work, and beautiful woods used. I would love to try a guitar build with Australian woods, but I've yet to encounter any here in Texas. Your River Gum looks similar to the Red Gum that Steve Sheriff has built with.

Thanks, I'll have to check out Steve Sheriff's builds.

[martint]

Here she is, all finished! Sounds amazing. Will hopefully get some sounds recorded soon.

[Dru Edwards]

It looks fantastic!!! What tone does River Red Gum give?

[martint]

What tone does River Red Gum give?

Hi Dru,

So far it is a lovely sweet sound. I know that sounds a bit ridiculous but the sustain is amazing, longer than on most of my "normal" builds and the tone is crystal clear. Their don't appear to be any "dead" or "wolf" notes and I am surprised by the volume. I made this one a little thinner than on my plans due to a limitation of the timber available and assumed it would be significantly quieter but she is quite loud.

Hopefully I'll be getting a friend to do some recording with her today so I'll put up some links to sounds soon.

Martin

[martint]

So, finding a case for a Tenor Guitar is a little harder than expected. Off to the shed and now a case/road case is born.