12 fret Parlor guitar from Mark Swanson

[Mark Swanson]

Ok, I just posted one over in Electric Guitars, so I may as well post one here too!
I just finished this one up and it's going bye-bye today. It has Indian Rosewood back and sides, and an adirondack top. I used no truss rod here, just CF in the neck and I am quite confident that it'll be fine...the neck is stout as well.
It's got the Stew-Mac Vintage tuners, I like them just fine.
I have moved to a butt-joined neck joint, and I am pleased with it. it worked out fine and I'll be staying with that for a while. Enjoy!

[Bob Menzel]

Nice, I'll bet it sounds as sweet as it looks. How much CF is in the neck, and have you built any others like this? (w/o a rod, like the Yankees) If so, I'm kind of curious on how they've held up.

[Mike Sandor]

Very pretty Mark. Love the head stock. How does it sound compared to a 14 fret?

[Mark Swanson]

I have not built any with just the CF in the neck, but with a stout 12 fret neck I don't expect any problems. I used two hollow 1/4" rods just under the fingerboard.
And as far as what it sounds like compared to a 14 fret, that is hard to answer...it's bright and loud and I expect it to develop further too. A 14 fret guitar would have many other differences and it makes it very hard to compare!

[Jason Rodgers]

Nice. Real clean. So that's just a straight up butt joint with the fretboard on the top? Do those CF tubes run to the end of the fretboard?

[Bill Raymond]

Pretty little guitar, Mark. You should be proud.

[Douglas Ingram]

Nicey, nicey. What size constitutes a parlour in Swansonland, Mark? This has the look of a size 0.

[Ron Belanger]

Very nice work Mark. I am just in the process of setting up a Size 1. I will post it as soon as it's done.

[Arnt Rian]

Lovely guitar, Mark, looks like a really nice dark set of EIR.

About the CF bars; if they are 1/4" hollow (square tubes?) and you place them right under the FB, they are probably quite near the necks neutral axis, which is where the bending stesses are lowest. I like to use taller CF bars, and bury them as deep as I dare, putting them mostly in tension. I've read that CF bars should actually be stronger in compression, and that routing groves for them in the FB, putting them as close to the frets as possible, it the best way to take advantage of this property. From Rick Turner, maybe?

[Mark Swanson]

I don't really know what size this is, technically! I have an nice old Washburn guitar that I used as a model for this one and I traced the shape from the Washburn.

Arnt, the CF is round tubes that I get from Into The Wind kite supply. They are indeed half routed into the fingerboard and half into the neck itself. This one has no trussrod, but with adding CF it's possible to make the neck so stiff that a trussrod won't even move it! As I said this neck is pretty stout as well, I made the neck like the Washburn guitar too and it's a big neck.

[Jim McConkey]

On Mark's suggestion, I just got some of the same rods for a forthcoming mando project. They are 0.254" or 6.45 mm diameter circular tubes (they come 32.5" long). Light as a feather, and they really don't flex much at all!

[Bryan Bear]

Beautiful Mark! What are the body dimensions (upper lower and lower bout, length, depth)? What is the scale length?

[Chuck Tweedy]

Nice!

[Matthew Lau]

Pretty work!

[Clay Schaeffer]

Very nice Mark. What finish material did you use for that nice high gloss shine?

[Mark Swanson]

It's just lacquer, Clay. It does make it hard to get good photos with no glare!

[Michael Lazar]

Hey Mark. That's a really tasty piece of work there. Congratulations.

Mick

[Randy Roberts]

Really, really nice, (as usual)!

I can't figure out the rosette wood.... going to give any hints?

[Jason Rodgers]

It's just lacquer, Clay. It does make it hard to get good photos with no glare!

Lovely little problem!

[Dave Hooper]

Nice work Mark

Dave