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Danl8 wrote:

Diane Kauffmds wrote:Well, I suppose... if I keep the written receipt from the payment made to the person who I bought it from, and he keeps his receipt, therein lays a paper trail. YES?

Yes, I think that's correct. BRW got listed the first appendix in early June 1992, so a proof of purchase paper trail should be sufficient. I got my BRW in 1975, but CITES hadn't been ratified, so there wasn't much concern for having papers and I don't think I kept receipts. Do you know about taking BRW offshore now; has it become like ivory in a finished instrument, hard to move thru customs everywhere?


Edited 08:31 am: I should have checked the CITES site;
"If you believe that the wood or finished wood product was harvested/made before the date of the CITES listing, you still cannot legally travel with or export the wood unless you have written proof or other evidence that it was obtained before the listing date. If you have the required evidence, and are willing to pay a processing fee and wait 2-3 months for processing, then you may be eligible for a Pre-Convention Certificate."

I went to the CITES site and researched it, and I informed my customer. I told him that I wouldn't travel anywhere outside of the lower 48 states with it, not even to Hawaii and certainly not Alaska (going through Canada).

I realized just now that I've not updated this post for a month.

The box is together. Given the complexity of the 45 inlay, John Hall is helping me. I inlaid the fretboard and the rosette is inlaid.

Since this guitar is BRW, I put in more struts than is normally used in an OM. The struts are brown satin ribbon, which I soaked in hot hide glue.

The bottom was assembled. The zipper center brace was put in and the ladder bracing. In the 1931 Martin OM, the bracing is quite substantial. The top 2 braces are "normal" width, but the bottom 2 braces are 3/4" wide.

The top plate is joined and thicknessed to .120, which leaves room for sanding later to an eventual .100. The rosette channels are routed and 45 style the rosette is assembled. The bracing is put into place per the 1931 template and top measurements. The scallops are premade by the measurements of the '31, but are refined after being glued. The entire guitar, save the rosette, and inlay, is assembled with hide glue. I used cold hide glue for closing the box, since it afforded me more working time.

I found that all of the hide glue cleaned up much easier than Titebond. I sanded the back, top, and sides, then burnished them with 0000 steel wool. I did the same to the braces. You'll see that a small small piece of cotton cloth was used to stabilize the x-brace, as was done in 1931.

The box is assembled. The fretboard is inlaid, as well as the torch for the headstock.

Awesome!

Wow! I haven't lurked around here for awhile, just poked my nose in and look at what you're up to! The shop space looks awesome too.

It's been a while since I've posted and updated the build. I've had medical issues and if you go to the "repairs" section of the forum, you'll see why!

I'm inlaying the abalone. A Teflon strip was inserted to maintain the channel between the multiple lines of purfling. I scraped the purfling even with the top, then I removed the strip and crunched the abalone into place, carefully pushing it together so it maintained one continuous line. Once in place, I used CA glue, wicked into the channel on the abalone with a pipette. I was careful not to get CA glue on the spruce top.

I'll get busy on the sides in the next couple of days and the inlaying will be complete (thank goodness!).

Beautiful wood and work. I missed seeing the May posting and had been wondering what was happening with the OM-45. If I hadn't checked the Repairs section, I would have asked if you could put up a few pictures of the side inlay. But I can see you're sufficiently busy. :-)

Great job! Beautiful. You are an artist with wood! Can't wait to see it as you progress.
Jerry