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Quilted mahogany/Appalachian red spruce OM

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:27 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
I've started another OM. The back and sides are Honduran mahogany, and the top is Appalachian Red Spruce from the Pocahontas National Forest, here in WV.

I've thinned the wood, joined the top/back and have braced them. I've glued the neck and tail blocks. I'll get the kerfing in tomorrow. I should have the box closed by Monday.

Lots of photos.

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Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachisn red spruce OM

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 7:39 pm
by ruby@magpage.com
Diane

Great looking piece of Mahogany. Did you have any trouble bending the figured sides?

I had a friend and his wife who taught grade school in Marlinton. Is there any more of that Red Spruce available - for sentimental reasons?

Ed

Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachisn red spruce OM

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 7:55 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Beautiful quilt on that back. This one looks like fun for you.

Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachisn red spruce OM

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:05 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
ruby@magpage.com wrote:Diane

Great looking piece of Mahogany. Did you have any trouble bending the figured sides?

I had a friend and his wife who taught grade school in Marlinton. Is there any more of that Red Spruce available - for sentimental reasons?

Ed
I had no problems at all bending the mahogany.

I got this top, along with 2 others, from the estate of one of the men who found this old growth red spruce. They worked with the forest service, who identified which trees to harvest. I remember seeing a documentary about the wood.

But, you can buy Appalachian red soruce from Old World Tonewood. I spoke with the owner John, who prefers to call it Appalachian Red Spruce, rather than Adirondack. We talked about the harvesting of the wood.

Here's a url to his site. You'll find a catalog on the site.

https://www.oldworldtonewood.com/catalo ... cts_id=821

Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachisn red spruce OM

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 10:56 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
I decided to make a different top. It's still ARS, but I used Costa Rican Mango with an abalone ring. Theres still some cleanup that needs to be done around the rosette. The I've not sanded the soundhole yet, so it may look uneven.

I'm using padauk for the tail wedge and binding. Tomorrow I'll make the braces, and brace the top.
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Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachisn red spruce OM

Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:29 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
I braced the top with forward shifted bracing, then voiced it. I've closed the box, routing the top and back to take off the excess wood. I've cleaned it up, so it's ready for me to rout the binding/purfling channels.
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Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachisn red spruce OM

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 5:51 pm
by johnnparchem
Wow! an amazing looking guitar. I love the Quilted mahogany

Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachian red spruce OM

Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 4:09 am
by Diane Kauffmds
Box is bound with bloodwood. I put 2 coats of shellac on the top to protect it from the bloodwood dust. The box is sanded to 220g. It's ready to polish, but first I need to make and set the neck.

Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachian red spruce OM

Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 4:47 am
by Diane Kauffmds
I'm making a laminated neck for this build, but I'm not inserting a contrasting wood. I ran into a sale on sapele boards at Woodcraft, so I picked up 2, which can be made into 6 necks. Each board is 1"+ thick. I split the blank into 3 equal pieces. This board was 4" wide. I turned each piece on its side, then glued the 3 together.

This guitar will be a 14 fret short scale. I made all of my measurements, marking the headstock, 14th fret location, etc. I needed to cut a 15° angle for the headstock. I have a wedge of wood that I cut at a 15° angle. I temporarily glued this wedge using CA glue to the headstock location, and ran the blank through my table saw. The wedge easily popped off. Then I cut 3 blocks from the end of the blank, to be glued together to form the heel.

The result was the formation of what looks like an ugly duckling neck blank. But as I sand, those glue lines are disappearing. With a thickness of almost 1 1/2", I have plenty of wood to carve a Martin arrow volute and any neck profile I want.
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Re: Quilted mahogany/Appalachian red spruce OM

Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 5:32 am
by Diane Kauffmds
I'm slowly turning the ugly duckling into s swan. I have a side view pattern that I traced onto the blank. Working with my table top spindle sander, I did a little sanding on the heel, just to see how the glue lines look. I'm happy with them; they almost disappear. I'll finish sanding after I make the dovetai
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