Wake me up, please. What are you working on?

[Mark Swanson]

Joel, I'd like to see more of those truss rods!
Were your broken rods from Allied? I always use theirs, and I have had a couple break. I asked them about it and they said they had a bad batch and they sent me a bunch to replace mine.

[Chuck Tweedy]

Hey Pat, nice looking body there.
Great idea about padding up the case. I have a similar problem with my 00'ish body shape fitting into a 00 case. I'll have to go do some surgery on that thing.

BTW - be aware that your buffer that will shed an un-godly quantity of fluff when it is first used. I first turned mine on in the shop months ago and I'm still finding bunnies to this day. Might want to set it up outside, first, to get the buffs prep-ed, combed, and loaded with compound for a first run.

[Pat Foster]

chuck,

I've used the buffer already, so I found out about the "shedding mist."

Thanks,

Pat

[Arnt Rian]

Working on some electrics, sorry no pictures... but I recently just delivered a 'sinker' redwood / ziricote steel string guitar, and I do have some photos of it!

[Arnt Rian]

About those Allied truss rods: I've stopped using them, and started using Martin DA rods instead, which seem sturdier. I've not had any of the Allied rods break in my instruments (knock on wood), but I've heard the horror stories, and I'm thinking perhaps the design is a bit flimsy.

[dave Fisherman]

Wow! the ideas are really good. Beautiful custom guitar and the craftsmanship are superb. Thank you for sharing

[Doug Shaker]

Pat-

Nice shape! What is the scale length?

[Doug Shaker]

Arnt-

What made you decide to use a sinker redwood soundboard. I hear they are very lively, but dent very easily. Lovely work...

[Mark Swanson]

Have you ever used redwood, Doug? Its rewards outweigh the denting issue...it isn't that bad.

[Michael Lewis]

Very nice Arnt! Certainly not a clone of anything I am familiar with, and over all it exudes high class. Nicely integrated design.

[Arnt Rian]

Thanks Michael! It might not be an exact copy of anything else, but certainly inspired by many; the customer, a professional singer-songwriter lady, originally wanted something similar to a Gibson J-200, so this is my take on that body shape. Through our discussions we decided something a bit smaller would be better for her, so this one is probably closer to a J-185, or one of the many popular 'small jumbo's' in size. The rosette design is influenced by Jason Kostal etc.

Doug, this is the first time I've used any type of redwood, this top was given to me by a US Builder a number of years ago as part of a trade. The customer liked the colour... I did some research before building, and some folks have commented that redwood sometimes is a bit brittle, and it doesn't like a lot of bridge torsion, which is one reason this bridge is "deeper" (north/south) than I usually make them. As Mark says, it doesn't dent that easily, its not as bad as red cedar anyways. It made a very responsive, warm and balanced sounding guitar, in my unbiased opinion... I'll certanly use redwood again, if I can get some more like this.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I just finished a new Jumbo. It is a modified J200, with a flattened lower bout. Almost like a very large OM. I used ambrosia maple for the back and sides, (with a cocobolo center panel),and some nice bearclaw sitka spruce I got from Alaska Specialty Woods. It has bloodwood bindings, and a Fishman pre-amp. I am now in the process of designing a vihuela de mano with my younger brother. He plays classical guitar, and has been playing a baroque guitar I made from the GAL plans, and now wants a vihuela. We have just started this project. He is checking out some neck profiles I sent him with different string spacing, and some body shapes I printed from my cad program. If anybody has any experience with the vihuela, I would love to hear about it. Marty and I have searched the web and have found some info, but I am all ears.

[Andrew Porter]

This has to be finished first, a cradle boat for my (4 year old) grandson. In between I'm converting a 3/4 Fender classical quitar with a popped saddle into an octave mandolin.

[Steven Smith]

Andrew, that boat/cradle looks very cool - how bout a bigger pic?

[Pat Foster]

Pat-

Nice shape! What is the scale length?

Doug,

I missed your post. It's 24.9", 12-frets clear, 19 frets like the old L-00, leaving the whole rosette visible, though it makes more work to get it seamless.

Pat

[Jamie Unden]

Not an acoustic, but I've been working on this a LONG time and can't seem to finish it. I got the final coats of waterborne on but sanded through! On the las coat I accidentally tipped over the can so now I have to wait for more finish!

So while I'm waiting I decided to convert this cheap plywood Tele knock-off into a Res-O-Lectric:

And, totally unrelated... Here are some Brazilian Redwood dominoes with pearl dots for my son and his wife:

[Kerry Werry]

Sorry late getting back to this thread..

The scale lengths are 24.75" on the treble and 26.25" on the base it "might" effect the bracing, in my case i was starting from scratch but if I was using a stock plan the bridge patch would change (due to the angle) and thus the bracing might have to change.

Kerry,

Nice project. Could you tell something about the used scalelengths. Does the compound scalelength also affects your bracing?

Hans

BtW: cool jig for holding the body in place.

[Kerry Werry]

Doug you give me a lot of credit for a plan the principle was completely random...

Just using up scraps...

Sorry for the slow response, life getting in the way of fun..

Kerry

Kerry,

What's the principal behind the rosette? It isn't axial symmetry, but you clearly have something in mind.

[Hans Bezemer]

Kerry,

Thanks for your reply.

[Schennelly Stoughton]

I'm slowly working on an acoustic bass for a customer , red wood top and walnut back and sides . I really like that combo of tone woods . I will be posting some pics soon.