Ping: Alan Carruth

 

Ping: Alan Carruth

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While interwebbing earlier this evening I ran into this Alan Carruth creation.
Struck me as unique since I had never seen that treatment in lieu of a cutaway.
Rosette is pretty darn nice also.
So Alan, could you please share with us everything about this great looking Carruth guitar?

-tommy
carruth.jpg
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Alan Carruth
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Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by Alan Carruth »

I first saw 'bevel' cutaways on some of Burton LeGeyt's guitars a few years ago. They looked pretty cool, but also a little bit 'unfinished' (if anything he makes could look unfinished!). I thought it might look better if I blended the outer end into the binding, rather than just having it come to a point. It took a couple of tries to get it right, but I've made several guitars since with this feature. I'll note that the cutaway is bent to shape; not a solid carved out block. Aside from bending the tight curves, the biggest issues are fitting it, and then cutting in the side and top purfling.

This is one of my 'domestic wood' guitars. The B&S wood is some curly oak that was given to me by one of the Boston area luthiers, who cut the tree a few years back. The top is Engelmann spruce, and is one of the ones that I used on the plate tuning video: it was the easiest one to tune, and the guitar sounds it. The neck is butternut: very similar to cedro, but it grows locally. The fingerboard is persimmon wood, bound with walnut, and stained with a walnut hull tea. Most of the trim wood is walnut, maple, and cherry, with a little bit of Euonymus atropupureus: a small tree that has wood that is very reflective and gold colored. That was salvaged, too. The finish is 'Rockhard' varnish, and since I just did a varnish fill, it has shrunk back quite a lot on the open pored oak. I like that look myself, but it probably won't help in selling the guitar. It's too bad: that's one of the better sounding ones I've made recently.
JVan
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Location: White Pigeon, MI

Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by JVan »

Very nice work!
I do not have 'nuff spare wood to attempt sumptin' like that~

Awesome job Alan!

JV
Alan Carruth
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Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 5:21 pm

Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by Alan Carruth »

JVan wrote:
"I do not have 'nuff spare wood to attempt sumptin' like that"

?

The actual piece for the cutaway is not much bigger than a headplate, if that. I start with it about 1.5-2mm thick, depending on the wood; you do have to make some tight bends! There are two 'tricks' with this:
1) bend the wood at 45 degrees to the grain. This makes the grain direction follow on properly from the binding. If you bend it straight across, the insert will meet the binding at a 45 degree angle, and
2) the axis of the cut is not normal to the side, but rather parallel to the center line of the guitar. If you cut it in perpendicular to the side the outer 'recurve' part will be very hard to fit.

If you look closely at the picture, you should be able to see the grain angle, and maybe even the way the cut is done.

I assemble the box and make the initial binding rabbet before cutting in the bevel. I bend the bevel first, and then make the cut to fit. Saw out a chunk of the corner of the box, and trim up (I use a sharp knife for a lot of it) until you've got the opening pretty close to 'right'. I then glue in some liners, using willow abut 5mm thick with the grain running across the side and along the top. At that thickness you can bend it to match the side curve. Once those liner pieces are in, I chalk fit the insert, and glue it in with Titebond.

Now comes the fun part; the purfling. I bend the bindings on a mold with a blanket, with the side purfling glued on with Titebond3. I then strip the purfling away from the upper bout of the binding for the left side of the top using a hot knife. The binding is trimmed to length, and the side purfling bent in the 'vertical' plane to more or less match the curve of the cutaway on the side. The groove is cut by hand, with a very sharp knife that I ground from a straight razor. The same knife is used to make the cut around the insert on the top, and the rest of the purfling rabbet is made in the usual way with a router, and the top purfling glued in with CA. The side purfling has to be put in when the binding goes on: doing it this way avoids the need to splice a white line, which never turns out as well as you'd like.

Hope this helps.
JVan
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Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:03 pm
Location: White Pigeon, MI

Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by JVan »

Thanks Alan, Your explanation was very helpful and easy to understand. Would you or anyone else have any different angles ( photos) of this to look at?
tippie53
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Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by tippie53 »

can we trouble you for a side shot?
Nice of you to share your knowledge
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Alan Carruth
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Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 5:21 pm

Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by Alan Carruth »

I don't use an on-line photo service, so I can't post anything right now. I actually have shots of the whole sequence.
tippie53
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Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by tippie53 »

if you have the photos on a disk or the computer , it is easy to upload . let us know we can help
thank you Alan
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
ColestineGuitar
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Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:30 pm

Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by ColestineGuitar »

I was super pleased to play one of Mr. Carruth's guitars at the recent Healdsburg Guitar Festival. In person, that cutaway is very sculpture-like. He explained his procedure to me there, and to me the main point was this: There's no trick or fancy procedure for this... you just gotta be real good. Both the guitar and Mr. Carruth are among my best memories of the festival.
Slowest builder on the forum. These things take time. Apparently.
tippie53
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Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm
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Re: Ping: Alan Carruth

Post by tippie53 »

Yes they are great instruments. Alan was at ASIA Symposium and I got to see and play one of his. Alan is also a great entertainer. He was a lot of fun to be around.
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
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