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A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 12:50 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
I've just gotten started on this OM for Micah. He will be turning 11 in 2018 when they come for a visit from India. That is when he will receive this guitar so I have lots of time to build it.

It is Cherry back & sides. The top will be a 4 piece top from reclaimed redwood. The bindings and headplate will be walnut. Neck block is honduran mahogany, the end block is luan mahogany. The neck is Sapele with a stacked heel. I am doing this one with a neck block made with a mortise to fit the neck tenon before gluing it to the sides. I use two pieces laminated together to do this. In this way I can cut out the mortise on my bandsaw, then glue it up. I've done this a few times before and thought I'd revisit the process. I also cut the tenon on the bandsaw, and cut the cheeks using a simple jig and a handsaw to get the compound angles. The first side I cut went flawlessly. The second side the dang jig slipped a little and my cut did not match the other side. I caught it part of the way through the cut, but it was too late to correct. So I will have a little more hand work to do on fitting the cheeks to the body when that time comes, but all in all it went pretty well. That truss rod is the Gotoh 2 way rod. They are a little longer than we usually use, but I've used them a couple of times before and the adjusting nut will come right behind the hole in the transverse brace above the sound hole. It works out fine.

I thinned down my solid redwood linings to .100" and they bent great. They will be glued in doubled up, but glue one at a time, then another stacked on. First time to do this but I think it is going to work out great. I have them clipped to the outside of the rims as they came out of the bender until I'm ready to glue them in.

I have an olive bridge blank I'm pretty sure to use, and the fretboard will be Indian Ebony. No rosewood of any kind on this guitar as it is going to India and I don't want to fiddle with any CITES stuff.

I will try and post more as I go along, but you've all seen it before, right? :)

Kevin

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:40 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Solid redwood linings installed. I layed two strips .100" each, glued them one at a time. It went pretty well, but I think next time I will take them down to about .080" before I bend them so they are more flexible. The resulting width with the sides will give plenty of surface for gluing. They look nice, stiff but light weight. I like that.

I also glued up the back plates with a strip of walnut down the middle. The bindings and end wedge will be walnut also, or I might do an olivewood end wedge. Not sure yet.

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:48 pm
by johnnparchem
Looks good so far. Nice to be so far ahead of the delivery date.

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 6:57 pm
by ruby@magpage.com
The solid linings look great - wouldn't they bend any thicker? I have bent 3/8" stuff by boiling for about 15 minutes and gotten a very tight bend out of pine. Might be less work in the long run without having to line up and glue layers -although the layers do look nice.

Ed

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:17 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Ed they bent okay at 1/8" too, but the waist area going into the upper bout was not a perfect match, for some reason, so I'm just thinking a little more flexibility will help. I don't want the linings to dictate the shape of the sides, and I was close to that being the case. It didn't happen, otherwise I would have not used these linings.

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 10:52 am
by Kevin Sjostrand
Slow progress on this one,

I have reinforcement bars glued to the inside of the rims, the back is braced and fit to the rims. The top has the rosette installed; birdseye maple ringed with BWB purfling.

I am now cutting out sitka brace stock for the top, should have the top braced by the end of this weekend.

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:53 am
by Kevin Sjostrand
The back is glued to the sides. The top is ready to glue down. I brace a little heavy as this top is redwood, and, more importantly the guitar is going to India where the humidity will be much higher. I've done this was the other 3 guitars I've made for India and they are holding up pretty well, so I'm sticking with that plan.
Its good to get this guitar to this point.

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 7:49 pm
by ruby@magpage.com
Kevin

What kind of a case do you use to ensure they end up in one piece at the other side of the globe?

Ed

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:36 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
The best case so far without robbing a bank is a gator tsa hardshell, or the skb tsa. SKB for an OM or dread. The Gator for the classical.

Re: A Cherry, Redwood and Walnut OM for grandson #2

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:38 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Twice Qatar Airways let my son in law carry the guitars on. That is really nice.