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  #106  
Old 07-20-2015, 07:32 PM
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Today I put the fifth of a probably eight coats of varnish on the mini-D, but it's not what I'm thinking about, mostly. That fire will be rekindled in a couple of weeks when I string her up!

Today I also put two of the three side parts onto the JZ-16, and joined the back. Now this is what I get up in the morning for!

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  #107  
Old 07-21-2015, 07:53 AM
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ff hole:

Hey Bruce, that is clever! That small (suggested) triangle is wonderfully creative.

Steve
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  #108  
Old 07-21-2015, 06:37 PM
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Hey Bruce, that is clever! That small (suggested) triangle is wonderfully creative.

Steve
Thanks, Steve. The triangle is a nod to the violin tradition which uses small notches to indicate the bridge position. It isn't obvious in the picture, and probably not in any come either, but they aren't just notches, they are ebony inlays! Notches would have been too fragile with this grain orientation.

I have begun the genuine hard work, which will likely take a week or so:

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  #109  
Old 07-21-2015, 07:32 PM
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I really liked the headstock on the "Walnetto", so I repeated the concept on the current build. It is so beautiful to me, that I cannot imagine it being the reason it was ignored, for the most part, at Memphis. I do imagine that the reason was that people weren't thinking all walnut, so it probably didn't look like a guitar to most casual observers. I think this new one would be more likely to show up on the radar.

Today I completed the major constructon and put on the first sealer coat, which is when the wood requires little to no imagination to envision it's true coloration.





The photo of the beautiful back of this guitar reminds me of one of the amazing butterflies or moths I sometimes see with the camouflage eyes on their wings to deter potential attackers. Cool.
  #110  
Old 07-21-2015, 07:51 PM
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The top and back look great Bruce!
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  #111  
Old 07-22-2015, 12:07 AM
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I can't imagine the up close and personal work that's being done here. Really beautiful guitar
  #112  
Old 07-22-2015, 07:59 PM
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I spent too much time today on the carving, and may have to lay off tomorrow. I am up to scraper work on the outside, and have my center thickness in place on the inside. It seems to be going well.

For those of you (many, I suspect) who think the carved stuff is not what you are interested in, you might note where you saw this for future reference. Many guitar players (and makers) have a way of becoming more interested in archtops as they, um, mature. It's a whole new frontier!



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  #113  
Old 07-22-2015, 08:34 PM
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Coming right along maestro! Hope you're having fun and all that scraping doesn't hurt your ability to throttle your motorcycle...
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  #114  
Old 07-23-2015, 06:23 AM
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Bruce, any thoughts on Western vs. Eastern Maple for your maple guitars?
  #115  
Old 07-23-2015, 10:32 AM
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There are quite few Eastern maples, Rich. I have used rock/hard maple, and won't likely do that again. Aside from being EXTREMELY difficult to work, it sound pretty dead to me. There is something called soft maple whispch I have seen offered for architectural work, but never seen offered as I instrument wood. I have heard of Red maple as viable for carved instruments, but again have never been offered any.

The Big Leaf I use seems great for the task as it carves well, is very nicely figured, and has the acoustic properties I would seek. Besides, I have more of it than I am likely to use in this life, and I have had it for a long time.
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  #116  
Old 07-23-2015, 03:48 PM
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Default Hard Maple vs Soft Maple

Hard Maple is a generic term used for Sugar Maple and Black Maple. All other maples are considered "soft". That includes Big Leaf, Red, Silver, Box Elder and a number of others too small to lumber. In the Eastern US Red Maple is the predominant native soft Maple of commercial interest. Imported Maples include a wide variety of Japanese Maples and Norway Maple (European Maple). Gibson used a lot of Red Maple as well as Big Leaf Maple. Most Birdseye Maple is Sugar Maple. The Birdseye figure only shows on the flat or plain sawn face.
  #117  
Old 07-23-2015, 04:09 PM
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Hard Maple is a generic term used for Sugar Maple and Black Maple. All other maples are considered "soft". That includes Big Leaf, Red, Silver, Box Elder and a number of others too small to lumber. In the Eastern US Red Maple is the predominant native soft Maple of commercial interest. Imported Maples include a wide variety of Japanese Maples and Norway Maple (European Maple). Gibson used a lot of Red Maple as well as Big Leaf Maple. Most Birdseye Maple is Sugar Maple. The Birdseye figure only shows on the flat or plain sawn face.
Most tonewood marketed as "European Maple" used in cello, guitar and violinmaking is actually Sycamore Maple, Acer pseudoplatanus.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
  #118  
Old 07-23-2015, 05:20 PM
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The back is thick enough on the edges to self-caul, I hope.

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  #119  
Old 07-23-2015, 05:27 PM
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That's a bunch-o-clamps! I count 28...
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  #120  
Old 07-23-2015, 06:10 PM
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Self-caul....does that mean to seal down to the sides without braces to interdigitate with the kerfing?????
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