Dickinson Portland Guitar OM Cutawy Fisherman Theme Final Pictures +Build Thread

[Portland Guitar]

Hello Everyone,

This is the latest custom guitar to come out of the shop. There was a thread 5 months ago that i didnt update, so here are the final pictures first and following are all the pictures of the build process in order.

Our client settled on an OM florentine cutaway with a beeswing maple back and sides with an adirondack spruce top. The art was based around our home state Oregon.









The wood for the top ended up being a nice piece of adirondack spruce. The back was beeswing maple

Maple is native to oregon so it's fun to work with. The client is a beekeeper,his honey is delicious, so we thought it was appropriate to use beeswing maple.

The idea was to create a sense of the nature and varied terrain of the oregon coast. He is an outdoorsman who fishes and hikes, we felt this helped compliment those hobbies in guitar form.





With the theme decided, the process starts. We join the top and back first. The tension from tape is enough to hold together the two pieces as seen in this picture.



The goal now is to get the body together. We bend the sides then glue the curfing. Then we glue the heel and tail blocks in to hold the two pieces together.

This is our bending machine. It's a modification of the Fox Bender, a local Portland luthier.



We bend the sides and clamp them into our mold to hold them in place.



Then the curfing is put on to allow the top and back some surface area to glue to. It starts with a few clamps.



Then turns into a lot

[Portland Guitar]

Together with the other side and the cutaway we have a full frame.



We've kept the art on the back burner and now a design for the back is finalized. A choice was made to paint faint lines folowing the wood to show a landscape with a fisherman.




Our attention turns to the preperation of the top and bottom. We need braces first so we roll out our carbon fiber. Our braces are a carbon fiber sandwhich with a spruce bun.



We use a curved(falcate) bracing system. The placement of the braces allows for the most flexibility along the major resonant axis and strength along the minor.



The braces are sanded down and shaped after they're glued on to allow for the optimal amount of support for the top.



The rosette was chosen to be reminiscent of a dock. Small pieces of rosewood,paduak,ebony and others were placed around the soundhole.



Fishes were made to go inside the body on the back as our counter point to the rosette.



The top and back are ready and get glued to the frame. Next a chanel is routed along the edge for the binding.



The body is finished!



The fretboard will have streams running down it.



This is our neck blank fresh out of the cnc. We're able to get very precise and flat surfaces this way.



I recorded the tones of the body when taped. On the right was a tap tone with the guitar resting against my body. The one on the left was held at the tip. You can see the crispness that maple delivers in the high ends on the left picture near the right of the x-axis of the EQ graph.



The body and neck are sanded to remove all the imperfections then sprayed with a high gloss water borne urethane.




After a few rounds of spray and sands the finish is done and we can put on the bridge and string it up!






That's all the pictures I have. Thank you for reading!

[prusaw]

Beautiful and fantastic!!

I found Jay and Max on Craigslist-Portland and reached out. They invited me into their home and shop. Over several visits, we enjoyed playing guitars together, they taught me about the building process, Jay even showed me how to repair a crack in one of my guitars... and we all became friends. These guys not only have a passion for innovations in guitar building, they are wonderful people to hang out with.

Jay and Max will be hosting a seminar at the University where I work, spreading their love and creativity for guitar building. Truly people who have time for others and give back. I'm hoping to have them build me a guitar soon!

Pete

[Portland Guitar]

Thank you so much Pete. We're both delighted to have connected. I'm really looking forward to your eventual custom build and I'll make sure to post the build process here!

The presentation we give at the university where Pete works will video tape the seminar we do. I will make sure to upload it here so everyone can enjoy. The presentation will be about intonation errors and how to fix them among other acoustic engineering topics.