Page 1 of 3

Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 11:51 am
by Kevin Sjostrand
So this is the third restart on a guitar for this grandson.
Now the guitar is Sapele with a spruce top. The Sapele neck I started on will go on this guitar.
Fretboard will be Indian Ebony. Bindings pretty sure will be black walnut as will the end wedge, but I may use Olive burl here.. I think the headstock veneer too. Not sure about the bridge, but I may use some claro walnut, olive, or ebony, same for the rosette; undecided.

The end blocks are glued to the sides, the back is joined with a walnut center strip and the inside cedar back strip is glued on. All bracing will be sitka, bottom linings will be solid redwood, and the top linings will be mahogany kerfing......just cause I can, I have some left over short pieces I'm going to use up here.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 7:25 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
I want to build a sapele/sitka guitar. I'm sure this one will work out fine for you. I like the idea of the Olive. I think it would bring out the undertones of the Sapele.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 2:50 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
I have the back made and braced, but not carved. I have the linings installed on the rims, and an Olive wood end wedge installed. I have the top thicknessed to .110" with a bwb/walnut/bwb 5/8" wide rosette installed. Ready to start making top braces.
Trying to catch up for lost time and maybe still be able to spray lacquer on this guitar before it gets beastly hot here by the end of June.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 2:51 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Rosette for this guitar, walnut ringed with BWB. Sides are lined with side braces and profiled.
Back is braced, and rosette is installed.
Next is to brace the top.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 9:21 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
Looking good. The rosette turned out very nice.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:03 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Thanks Diane,
Here are pics of the back and top bracing. I actually have the box closed with the bindings and purflings now installed and all scraped and sanded down.
I'll post a pic of the box later.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:25 am
by Diane Kauffmds
It looks great Kevin. It's clean and flawless.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:47 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Here is my progress as of Saturday. The truss rod, a Gotoh 2 way is embedded in the neck with a cherry filler strip over the top. The adjuster nut comes in right behind the hole in the transverse brace on the top.
With the neck bolted on and the fretboard pinned on center, the angle is near perfect and the fretboard lays flat on the top. Yes!
I will have to fit the neck cheek to the boy better after I've carved the heel.
I have some minor gap filling to do on the sides along the binding, but I got a great fit on the BWB purflings on the top and bottom. No obvious gaps at this point. Some will probably show their face.
The neck is Sapele and will be a heavy neck especially with the Gotoh truss rod which with the steel channel and extra length is a bit heavier than some rods.
But, the body is on the heavy side too as Sapele is dense and heavy. The end wedge is olive wood. The heel cap will also be olive, and I'm thinking about making a burly olive wood pick guard. The headstock veneer is walnut, and my brush script "S" inlay is maple. That is what I will do next, rout out and inlay the "S".
So it is looking like a guitar now. I was hoping to be spraying this guitar by now as it is beginning to get really hot, but I got behind starting over on the body after the cherry guitar fiasco. Anywhere, this is where I am now. Thanks for looking.

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:49 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
last pic for now

Re: Sapele and Sitka Spruce OM

Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 7:41 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Carving the neck with the fretboard glued in place.
Almost have it done. Using my Lee Valley kit spoke shave too for the first time on a neck. Sweet!