Brentrup Guitars and Mandolins - Page 2

Haans · #16 05-08-2013, 06:48 AM

Thanks guys. Good to know there are a few of you out there that still appreciate the old and traditional ways of guitars.
Chuck, the top is red spruce, and the bracing is the same as the white oak you played, the early Larson X with a few mods. I have been using a 3 tone bar setup, and lately have been using a full patch across the sound hole all the way to the bout. It's quite similar to this...

I will use the red/black/white Larson purfling. I have the top bound and will put the purfling center in today.
Maurerfan, I'll get up some photos of the top as soon as I get the purfling center in. Good to hear from you.
Stringjunky, I actually prefer white oak myself, but I have all this BRW. I've got to use some of it sometime...

maurerfan · #17 05-08-2013, 09:01 AM

Haans .. on your modified Larson (laminated bracing) builds, do you have a preferred wood between the spruce lams? Also, are back braces #3 and 4 low/flat? .. or ?

BTW .. I love the compression grain in that top = character and usually yields stiffness.

Haans · #18 05-09-2013, 07:35 AM

Yea, I hate whitebread tops...
I have been using wenge between the spruce for laminated bracing. For the backs on #3 & 4, I use laminated thin bracing, probably as tall as the normal "Martin" wide ones. I use a 10' arch, though and that helps hold it together...
So, here's the latest. Box is about done except for dovetail and sanding.
To make such wide purfling and binding ledges, I have to use a special tool to make the inside slot. As the purfling extends over the kerfing, one has to be careful about depth.

The binding ledge is cut the regular way and I chisel out the remainder of the waste. Outer purfling strips are installed with a teflon center.

Center strips are cut from a laminated block that has a slice cut off. The saw is a Proxxon mini table saw. The cut strips are glued in and sanded flat.

Here is the finished top and purfling...I really love this stuff!

scripsit · #19 05-09-2013, 07:50 AM

Just beautiful, Haans, and I love the fact that your tops have some stripe.

By the way, does the Prairie State type rod, in those models, affect the sound much, in your opinion, or is this a matter of long term stability? Same for the lamination of the bracing which you demonstrate here: is this something that allows less height or weight of wood for a given thickness of top, or does it just make them sound like Larson Bros guitars.

I ask because, after all, the originals have now been around for quite some time. Would love to actually experience some of these 'in the flesh'. Lovely to see such guitars being constructed still.

Kym

Edbuff · #20 05-09-2013, 12:03 PM

Haans: i love those tops. That wide grain top looks really great. I will be interested as to how these sound with BRW.
Ed

Nort · #21 05-09-2013, 12:19 PM

The purfling and rosette are just... Beautiful

Haans · #22 05-10-2013, 05:30 AM

Kym, I have always thought there was some tonal benefit from the tone tubes, but have never been reductionist in theory or speculation. I have always taken more of a holistic approach to building. More sure that there is a structural benefit especially in 12 strings.
Same with laminated bracing. Tone is such a complicated quality and there are so many factors in building instruments that it is nearly impossible to point to one thing and say that is the cause of this tonal quality (except for wood choice).
I had played a Larson BRW Maurer a few months ago, and it sounded very good indeed. However, I felt that the age of the instrument contributed a great deal to the quality of the instrument. I thought mine compared very well, and had it the age, would have been right up there with it...at least.
Ed, Nort, I am very happy with the look and trim on the GC. I am also quite pleased with the evolution of the Stahl shape into my own.
Never did like Wonderbread...too homogenized.

Steve Kinnaird · #23 05-10-2013, 11:08 AM

Beautiful, inspiring work, Haans. Like others said, it's a treat seeing your work again. Thanks for posting.

Steve

maurerfan · #24 05-10-2013, 02:46 PM

Darn nice .. handsome guitar in the works. Love the purfling and rosette! The Larson circa 13" and 15" 12 fretters were typically less than 4" in depth at the tail block. How deep is this one?

Note: I've played several vintage Maurers in BRW and have two Klassen builds of my own. The guitars were back and top radius'd such that you could literally place them back or front-side down on a flat surface and spin them like a football.

Haans · #25 05-11-2013, 06:57 AM

Don't know as I'd care to spin one like a football

, but yea, they had some radius on them!
Mine are not so radiused, 10' back, and 10' cylinder on top. Mine are 3-7/8" at the end pin and 3-3/8" at heel. Larsons were actually deeper near the waist, I understand. One of the unanswered mysteries, I think is whether they used flat tops and "bent" them over the ribs to get the radius or whether they used curved bracing. All that has ever been discerned is that they were built "under tension". I use a flat top and bend it over the 10' radius on the ribs. My backs are curved.
Hi Steve...good to see you around. I haven't been keeping up much in the last year as I've relegated building to a hobby again and build what I want. I have also returned to photography as it gets me out walking; good for my COPD. Lost 26# last year!

Haans · #26 05-14-2013, 10:24 AM

Finishing John M's MJ-12 that is an almost match to the 6 string. Only difference is the purfling...

White oak, of course...

Neck is laminated honduras/black/holly...

Trevor M · #27 05-14-2013, 10:33 AM

Hans, that's gorgeous.

Haans · #28 05-15-2013, 06:10 AM

Thanks Trevor.
Haven't forgotten about you, been really busy this last week.
Here's some work on the GC neck. It's a one piece neck, but I have sliced off the outside !/4" on the peghead to rough out the slots.

Haans · #29 05-19-2013, 06:42 AM

More progress on the neck. Peghead veneer is bound, slots roughed out and glued to neck. Slots are then cleaned up with files and rasps. I use a rotary rasp to rough out the ramps.

Ready for final cleanup.

Neck cut to rough size on bandsaw.

Tuner holes drilled, and inlay glued on, ready to scribe and rout. This time I chose a Larson floral mostly used on mandolins, but was used on some Stahl guitars, most famously, Malvina Renolds' Stahl. Yea, I know, who's Malvina Renolds...

Joe Sustaire · #30 05-19-2013, 07:30 AM

Looking good Haans!
I usually drill for the tuners before cutting the slots to avoid tearout, you cut the slots first. Do you block the slot in when you drill, or just careful use of a sharp bit? And this headstock is integral to the neck, not your usual join, right?

Still watching and learning, thanks!
Joe