HOWARD KLEPPER: Oval Hole, 000/OM (African Blackwood / Italian Spruce)

[iim7V7IM7]

Here is a shot from Howard's shop today of the Italian Alpine Spruce top on his go-bar deck (30' dish). The yet to be carved 15-year old, quartersawn Swiss Alpine Spruce x-brace (100 degree angle) has been glued in place.

[Rocnrollie]

Where's the like button !!!

[LaFaro]

It looks really beautiful... blackwood is (beside maple, walnut possibly some kind of ash) an alltime favorite in the "universe of woods"
it seems to become a fascinating instrument in look and sound... It took some time to realize the guitar to get a multiscale neck, but that this feature is getting more and more interesting for me...
and - if you remember - I also love the mix of classic and modern features as I reported some time ago introducing Miss Maple
what do you expect to be the benefit of the oval soundhole?

[Richard Mott]

Question for Howard: Besides the fact that they are beautiful, are there any acoustic objectives behind the oval hole? It is interesting that oval holes are typically compressed sideways rather than longitudinally, although I noticed that John Monteleone has one model where the oval hole is compressed diagonally. What is your acoustic thinking on this? Thx! --Richard

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by LaFaro

It looks really beautiful... blackwood is (beside maple, walnut possibly some kind of ash) an alltime favorite in the "universe of woods"
it seems to become a fascinating instrument in look and sound... It took some time to realize the guitar to get a multiscale neck, but that this feature is getting more and more interesting for me...
and - if you remember - I also love the mix of classic and modern features as I reported some time ago introducing Miss Maple
what do you expect to be the benefit of the oval soundhole?

Thanks!

I really don't have a specific sonic goal associated with the "shape" of the oval soundhole. The aesthetics are what drove the design decision. I am simply fond of the look (a historic Lloyd Loar design) and believe a masterful luthier can achieve a great sounding guitar with it. The aspects of the oval beyond its aesthetics are its surface area (similar to a 00 and not a 000) with a small soundport so the combined surface area with a soundport equals a traditional round soundhole. Additionally, a robust upper bout bracing should prevent the guitar from folding under string load. I suspect that Howard may express his views.

[Howard Klepper]

I have no special acoustic objectives with the oval. They have a tradition in American lutherie going back to Gibson mandolins. I think they can look good, can be accommodated structurally, and, mainly, my client wanted it. But one thing that they can do is allow room for another fret without going lower into the top than a round hole of similar area or extending the fretboard over the hole. This will be a 21 fret guitar.

[iim7V7IM7]

The gluing up of the Italian Alpine Spruce top bracing pattern continues on Howard's go-bar deck. Two Swiss Alpine Spruce tone bars have been added to the X-brace in the lower bout, a Sugar Maple bridge plate and a set of A-braces framing the oval sound hole in the upper bout can also be seen.

[iim7V7IM7]

Here is a shot of a Italian Alpine Spruce (top cutting) reinforcement strip being glued to the African Blackwood back on the go-bar deck.



Now four Engelmann Spruce ladder braces have been added and are ready to carve.



Howard has chosen a beautiful, quartersawn African Blackwood fingerboard blank for this project.



The Honduran Mahogany/Yellowheart neck has had two carbon fiber reinforcement rods installed. A book-matched Brazilian Rosewood headstock veneer showing a bit of sapwood can be seen.

[Steve Kinnaird]

I've seen Howard use yellow on black before. It was lovely then and surely this one will be as well.
I wish I remembered his comment he made regarding that build, but something along the lines of choosing the yellow (in your case Satinwood) judiciously. It can get away from you, if not careful. But you're in careful hands...as you know!
Congrats, Bob.

Steve

[iim7V7IM7]

Hopefully, there is a judicious method to our madness...

The use of the pale, golden yellow Yellowheart (Euxylophora paraensis) in the neck laminate should be a very close visual match to the light golden color of the Ceylon Satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia) used in the bindings. The presence of the book-matched sapwood in the Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia Nigra) headstock veneer should also tie into the theme as well. The design thought was to create a warm hued, yet contrasting binding against both the dark brown, purple hues of the African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) and harmonize with the colors of Sunburst top. The colored marquetry for the top binding should both analogously harmonize with its warmer earth colors and be complementary with its blues and greens causing a bit of visual interest through disharmony.

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

I've seen Howard use yellow on black before. It was lovely then and surely this one will be as well.
I wish I remembered his comment he made regarding that build, but something along the lines of choosing the yellow (in your case Satinwood) judiciously. It can get away from you, if not careful. But you're in careful hands...as you know!
Congrats, Bob.

Steve

[Marcus Wong]

I think we may need to start a crowd funding to get Howard a camera so that we can enjoy this wonderful build in HD

That's a really nice BRW headstock veneer! And a great piece of ABW for the fret board

[Steve Kinnaird]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

The colored marquetry for the top binding should both analogously harmonize with its warmer earth colors and be complementary with its blues and greens causing a bit of visual interest through disharmony.

Whoa...there's a sentence! I coulda stayed up half the night and never thought of such verbiage. Still deciphering that...Remember, the bulk of us are mere mortals.

[iim7V7IM7]

Forgive me Maestro...Too many years of design school critiques..

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Whoa...there's a sentence! I coulda stayed up half the night and never thought of such verbiage. Still deciphering that...Remember, the bulk of us are mere mortals.

[iim7V7IM7]

Howard pre-bends the backstrap veneers before gluing them up and laminating them. Here are the pre-bent backstrap veneers of Wenge, Bigleaf Maple and Brazilian Rosewood (top) and in his clamping set up (below).



The book-matched heartwood/sapwood Brazilian Rosewood headstock veneer (left) and heartwood Brazilian Rosewood backstrap veneer (right) are shown. Howard used an asymmetric elliptical arc for the end of the headstock reiterating the curve of the oval soundhole.



The Brazilian Rosewood/Bigleaf Maple/Wenge laminate structure can be seen in this image. Once the neck gets carved the decorative aspects of the backstrap laminate structure will be revealed.

[iim7V7IM7]

Howard sent along a few shots of rough carved top and back braces. He likes to rough carve them to a point and then come back to them the next day with a fresh set of ears to refine them. After that, they will be sanded smooth. A couple features that noticed in his Swiss Alpine Spruce top bracing pattern that differ from a classic Nazareth inspired scalloped x-bracing pattern are:

• The use of extra bracing adjacent to both sides of the bridge plate. I have seen other luthiers utilize similar reinforcement schemes such as Steve Kinnaird, Don Moser and Mario Proulx
  
• The addition of a carbon fiber reinforcement cap to the Upper Transverse Brace
  
• A-frame braces spanning from the x-brace through the upper transverse brace to the neck block.

The Engelmann Spruce ladder braces are now also rough carved and can be seen here overlaying the Italian Alpine Spruce back reinforcement strip against the 30' dished African Blackwood back set.