Building Course: African Blackwood/German Spruce OM

[swiftz07]

This really does look fantastic can't wait to see how it looks under the finish!

[racman]

Looking good, almost there...

[CoolerKing]

Have you picked out tuners yet?

[Badcrumble]

Thanks again all
Yes I have picked out the tuners,I am going with plain-old 510minis, in chrome. I may yet switch the colour or even buttons for something wooden, however I don't think ebony would be the best fit...For now I am gonna stick with the chrome.

So, yesterday the neck joint got glued in...




As you can see, the end grain kiaat in the rosette got quite a bit darker with the finish. I guess this would be a result of the end grain sucking up the lacquer. Either way, I expected it to darken somewhat, but not as much as it did...oh well.



A little shot of the sound port:


and the headstock:

[CoolerKing]

Gotohs on a slot head, interesting! I'm really looming forward to seeing that come together.

[Badcrumble]

Well, this is not a traditional slotted headstock. The tuners will be on the outside facing backwards, with the capstan on the inside of the oval hollow.

Here is a picture of the Casimi headstock on which this design was based. The only real differences being that I opted to have a "sandwich" of all the kiaat, maple and african blackwood layers visible in the centre hollow, where the Casimi design has a beautiful flame maple instead. Also, they soften the top left hand edge, above the logo, where mine meets the side at a sharp 90 all the way around.

[CoolerKing]

nice! thanks.

[Badcrumble]

So tomorrow is string up day
I am so very excited.
I can hardly focus on anything here at work, so far, this morning.

A tiny bit unrelated, but does anyone have any experience with tonerite? I have access to one, and have heard great things about the results it produces.
I am wondering whether my new guitar would beneift from a day under a tonerite? and if so (I presume the majority of folks would say it would) , would it make any difference if I were to do that immediately after stringing her up, or after a few days/weeks of playing her in?
Any thoughts?

[CoolerKing]

I have a tonerite, and use it frequently. There are some new guitars where I've really needed it, particularly new red spruce tops. However, I have a 000-28 EC madagascar/carpathian that I would never tonerite, because it sounded perfect right out of the box and I'm afraid to change the sound. Play your guitar first and then decide.

[Wasper]

Wow.

How can I put this....

Wow!

That is awesome. If this is your first guitar, I hope you make more and showcase them

[invguy921]

First, I am extremely impressed! Wow. Great work!

Regarding Tonerite, I love the thing. I have use it frequently on virtually every guitar I have owned. I even use it on guitars I play sometimes if I think they need a little more tone because it wakes up the wood. I have found no ill effects, only very subtle but noticeable benefits.

As was said before, play the guitar without it, but then put it on as recommended and see what happens. I don't think there is any way it won't make it even better.

[Rodger Knox]

Save the tonerite for later, one of the benefits of building your own is getting to hear it change in the first few hours of being played. Not all of them change significantly, but some do! The first 2 or 3 hours can be quite amazing, almost like listening to your child learning to talk.

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Or observing how a good bottle of wine changes from the beginning of the bottle to the end...

[CoolerKing]

Originally Posted by Rodger Knox

Save the tonerite for later, one of the benefits of building your own is getting to hear it change in the first few hours of being played. Not all of them change significantly, but some do! The first 2 or 3 hours can be quite amazing, almost like listening to your child learning to talk.

This is sage advice. Learning its voice can help you decide whether or not you want to change it. Like I said, I tonerite the bejeezus out of my OM18 adi, but I left the carpathian alone.

[Carbonius]

Originally Posted by Badcrumble

Well, this is not a traditional slotted headstock. The tuners will be on the outside facing backwards, with the capstan on the inside of the oval hollow.

Here is a picture of the Casimi headstock on which this design was based. The only real differences being that I opted to have a "sandwich" of all the kiaat, maple and african blackwood layers visible in the centre hollow, where the Casimi design has a beautiful flame maple instead. Also, they soften the top left hand edge, above the logo, where mine meets the side at a sharp 90 all the way around.

I have never seen this style of open headstock before. I absolutely LOVE IT!! I have long preferred the look of slotted headstocks but have yet to own one. I love that you can use standard tuners with this style.

I am quite shocked how ambitious your first build is. I really like the look of it. I will be watching!

Can anyone go to this school and build a guitar??