$100 Local Materials Challenge, California redwood, walnut OM (Completed 5/19/12)

[Patrick DeGreve]

I put my challenge listing in the wrong place, so I am moving it here where it belongs. I plan to make two instruments for this challenge. This one is going to be an OM with a California redwood soundboard, and walnut back and sides. The neck will be a laminate of walnut, and oak. I am using walnut for the fretboard, and bridge as well. Here is a shot of some of my materials.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I started with the bridge. I read with interest the thread on using walnut for a bridge in the flat top guitar section of this forum and made my bridge deeper for a better footprint. I think this is a good idea because of the redwood soundboard as well. I think I will dowel the bridge as well. Here I set up a stop to route the saddle slot.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is a shot of the bridge after drilling the pin holes and shaping the bridge.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I had a chance to get back to the challenge instruments yesterday. I re-sawed the walnut for the back and sides. I cut the sides about 1/8", and then planed them to .090". I cut the backs a little thicker, so I could plane them down to 1/8".

[Patrick DeGreve]

After trimming the sides to their profile shape, I bent them in my fox style bender.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Next I made the neck and heel blocks. I made these out of some mahogany, (not a local wood),but I was not sure if walnut was suitable for the neck block. I had some mahogany that I have used for neck blocks before, and was afraid that walnut might be more prone to spliting. Here I am gluing them in place.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I made some kerfing from a piece of hard pine I pulled out of the trash at work. I work in TV a production shop in Hollywood, and the carpenters throw out pine cut offs all the time. I ripped it down to 1/4" X 3/4 ", routed one side with a round over bit, and cut the kerfing with a stop on my band saw.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here I glued on the kerfing. I bought some small spring clamps for this purpose, clothes pins alone just don't have strength.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here I am thicknessing the soundboard. I double faced taped the soundboard to a plywood sled, ran it through the thickness planner. I thicknessed the soundboard to .130". This is just a bit more than spruce would be, because of the redwood.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Gluing the soundboard pieces together.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Using Stew-mac's precision routing base, I routed four rings for the purfling strips. I also routed the same rings in pine, walnut, and redwood. I will use the ridges between the rings for inlay material.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is the finished rosette.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I cut out the soundboard, leaving about 1/2" outside the line.

[Patrick DeGreve]

After finishing the rosette, I glued up the back the same way as the soundboard. Here is a shot of the back after sanding.

[Eddie McRae]

Very nice! I'm crazy about black walnut and use it quite a bit. Nice to see someone else using it too! Nice job on the rosette also. Looking good!

[Chuck Tweedy]

That back is outstanding!! Can't wait to see the whole thing.
Rosette is cool as well.

[Thomas Dooher]

Yeah, another one that make me ill...wish I had as much talent! with envy...

[Patrick DeGreve]

Back to work on my projects, I cut the walnut and oak into strips, which I glued up into a neckblock.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is a shot of the neck block. The center piece is 1/2" X 1" X 32", the two oak strips are 1/4" X 1" X32", and the outer strips are 3/4" X 1" X 32".

[Patrick DeGreve]

I decided to use the spruce bracing wood that I had, instead of the pine that I was going to use. I just thought that the pine was not stiff enough for the redwood soundboard. I pre-shaped the braces to a 15' radius with a plane, and scraper, and sanded them smooth. Then glued them in place on a radius disk.