#16
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With the f-hole guitar out the door and off off for finishing, it's time to finish up the woodwork on this one! The emergent theme on this build has been incorporating four main elements (koa, ebony, spalted maple, maple) in an offset design to echo the asymmetrical nature of a cutaway. With the rosette up next, I realized I'd have to venture into some new territory for me -- I think every rosette I've done has been symmetrical! An additional challenge was to maintain consistency with the very linear headstock design, but obviously in a circle...
First up is making the bulk of the rosette, in this case ebony. To do this I have use a table saw sled with a fence set at the correct angle for a twelve piece ring. As I cut up the initial pieces from a larger block, you'll note that I keep track of the direction of the grain with a little arrow on each segment. I want to make sure that the arrows always point in the same direction -- this helps insure the light reflecting off of the wood (chatoyance for fans of fancy words) will be consistent and minimize visibility of joints/color differences. Joined up in to a ring... I typically inlay my rosette rings slightly larger than their final size but still a bit smaller than the final rosette dimensions. This allows me to rout for the inner and outer strips once the inner ring has already been glued. It's much much easier, and I find more accurate, than to glue everything at once... First piece in and a bit of mid-process mess! After routing for the koa section, I realized it looked pretty neat holding the top up to a lamp. Turning that picture black and white then isolating the initial color shining through led to a pretty cool picture... And the final rosette! There's a whole bunch of golden ratio stuff tucked away in there -- the various arc lengths relative to each other and the overall circle, etc. Definitely a fun and satisfying one to work on! Up next bracing and tuning the top! |
#17
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Our idea on this was to have these elements repeat across the headstock, rosette, bridge, and endgraft. I think Mike has developed a really nice cohesive style language and I can’t wait to see it all come together! The bracing should be fun to watch! |
#18
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Exquisite work, and the process photos are works of art in themselves!
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#19
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So glad you're enjoying it! Quote:
Thanks! It can be a challenge sometimes trying to keep the photos interesting when you're basically trying to take pictures of the same things but that makes it extra interesting when you come up with something new! |
#20
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With the rosette finished, it's time to brace up this top and turn it into an official box! First step is to very accurately lay out the position of the braces...
I always start by gluing on the support pad underneath the soundhole. Something I've just started doing in the past year or two is using breather mesh while bracing my top. Using the breather mesh (the white stuff between the top and radius dish) has a couple of benefits -- primarily it allows me to leave the top clamped up overnight and know that air is able to get to all sides of the piece. With humidity and moisture in the wood so critical for the whole process, I like knowing there won't be an imbalance during the glue up. Second, it's a safe and even surface to press against -- no little bits of wood waiting to press into my nicely sanded top... And here it is stuck on and with the soundhole and tornavoz channel cut. One thing I'm a big fan of is bevels! If you look closely you'll see that all of the edges have slight bevels with the upper sides having a more gradual tapering down. The bevels are a prime example of form/function working together -- I think they make everything look more refined while at the same time reducing potential contact area for buzzing and decreasing stress risers. The pattern for this one is something I've been developing and evolving over the past ten years or so. Even though this guitar has a cutaway, I still like to brace it as if it's a full top -- it allows me to compare and reference to my standard tops to make sure frequencies, deflection, weight, etc. are in line with my standard measurements... Tornavoz installed... Braced and carved! Something I always get a little kick out of -- when I date and sign the top, I write the date backwards. That way when someone peaks inside with a mirror they can read it properly. Still have not mastered the backwards signature! Becoming a box in a forest of go-sticks... Up next will be binding and working on the neck. There will be some fun stuff on both the headstock and endgraft so stay tuned! |
#21
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Really interesting stuff Mike, thanks for posting.
__________________
PS. I love guitars! |
#22
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Tornavoz ???
Really interesting!
Could you pls explain what the „Tornavoz“ does? Is it to somehow stabilize or enhance the Helmholtz frequency ? Thanks ! Edit: just ecosia‘d it.. would be interested to hear why you use it. PS: Ecosia is a search engine that plants trees.. works fine and does sth good Last edited by Lonzo; 03-12-2020 at 01:02 PM. Reason: Add on |
#23
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Thanks! Quote:
When you build with structured sides (very thick laminations) it raises the pitch of the air cavity. Including a sound port, which I almost always do, also raises the pitch. Using a tornavoz drops the pitch and can help balance out the other two. Basically it's another way to help aim for target frequencies! I hadn't heard of Ecosia -- I'm curious to check out what they're about! |
#24
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When you build with structured sides (very thick laminations) it raises the pitch of the air cavity. Including a sound port, which I almost always do, also raises the pitch. Using a tornavoz drops the pitch and can help balance out the other two. Basically it's another way to help aim for target frequencies!
I hadn't heard of Ecosia -- I'm curious to check out what they're about![/QUOTE] Thanks for the explanations ! Highly appreciated. As for Ecosia.. if they live up to their promise as I believe they do, then it is a very good thing to do. CO2 levels most effectively can be reduced with plants, trees, algeae, swamps... even if it wasn‘t for that.. there is so much forest being destroyed for palm oil plantations, to feed cattle and whathaveyounot... I as aguitar and wood lover want to help, and this is a little contribution. A little like mine multiplied by 1000‘s or more... |
#25
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I feel that building guitars is a relatively benign profession as far as impact on the world, but right from the get-go the use of exotic (and sometimes rare) hardwoods stuck out as the biggest negative drawback. Fortuitously when I was first setting up shop on my own, a friend of a friend in Montreal was setting up a reforestation organization, Taking Root, that was (and is) doing some amazing work. Over the years I've tried to continue to support them and figure if I can use some of the money made from cutting up trees and turn it into a whole bunch more being planted it will help keep things balanced on the positive side! |
#26
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#27
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Even though this one is now officially a box, I decided to set the body aside and work on the neck over the past little while. The initial idea for the aesthetic theme came from the headstock so I wanted to get that done before working on the end-graft. I felt it was important to see it in reality before committing to an end-graft design so I could have a more concrete understanding of what we're dealing with. So, first thing is to stick a head veneer on with a whackload of clamps!
And bring it down to thickness with the spindle sander and a parallel fence... The plan... And here's what I came up with as a method to cut the channels exactly where I want them. I started by making a couple of blank spruce inserts that fit perfectly in the bottom of the guide and cut different sized channels in each (1/4", 1/8", .5 mm) by plunging a router down. As long as I keep track of what direction the router was facing as well as the inserts, everything (in theory) should stay in line. It would be great if routers and their bases were all perfectly centered, but when dealing with such tight tolerances, that just ain't gonna happen. When I want to make a cut, I pop in an insert, line things up by looking through the channel, take the insert out, and make the cut. One benefit of this system is that I can line up the edge of my 1/4" channel but use an 1/8" bit and know that I'll have a perfect 1/16" offset from the edge of my 1/4" insert... With the teeny-tiny channels cut... Maple strips glued in... With the bigger bits... And of course with the secret hidden door! I'm quite pleased with how this is turning out and also inspired to try some more of this type of fine inlay. Luckily, I'll get a chance with the end-graft coming up next! |
#28
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I just love your flush-flip-flop truss rod cover design Mike ... brilliant work as always!!!
__________________
David Wren |
#29
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Brilliant routing guide concept or rather routine. I have seen many great builders on here and their respective truss rod cover solutions, and yours takes the cake.
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#30
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Thanks so much! Now that I have the basic idea of how to make the covers work, it's pretty fun thinking about the different design possibilities it opens up. |