redwood 00

Take us through building your guitar step by step. Post pictures and tell us what you're doing.
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ruby@magpage.com
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redwood 00

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

I will never build enough guitars to be able to make meaningful comparisons of similar instruments, so I have decided to make a range of instruments. I have a friend who recently bought a 1954 fancy ranch house with redwood on the living room walls. She did not like it and carefully took it down and sold it. There were no seams and the longest piece was 19 feet. She let me go through the pile and find a piece for a top - found a 3/4" 1 X 8 with absolutely vertical grain at 30-50 grain lines per inch. I recently saw the Frank Ford cycloidal banjo tuners that he has been using for replacements on early OM's that had them and thought they would be fun to try out. So for my #9 I decided to make a Martin 00 body in maple with a Stauffer neck and this redwood top.

So the tuners showed up today and I am getting ready for a fall project

Ed
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Ed M
Morecowbell
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Re: redwood 00

Post by Morecowbell »

Ed,

This looks like an interesting project! Can you elaborate on your Stauffer neck plans? I had no idea what that meant and now that I've looked it up I'm still not sure - also curious how that redwood sounds.

Thanks,

C
"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
ruby@magpage.com
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Re: redwood 00

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Stauffer was an Austrian luthier that C F Martin apprenticed under. He developed a few guitar things but is mostly remembered for the tuning machines that are recessed into the back of the "scroll" head shape that he also developed. The tuners are all in a row. Martin brought the machines and shape with him when he came to America, and used that shape on and off for, I believe, about 25 years until the Civil War.

I think that Bigsbee and then Fender adapted this shape, and the tuners in a row, when they put the modern electric guitar together.

I am also curious how the redwood will sound. The surface is pretty hard - and brittle

The first picture is a rather fancy one of these instruments - you can see the body shape and the tuner knobs out the side

The other 2 shots show the mechanism being installed. These guitars had a decorative, chased plate over the area. If you look at my original picture, this neck that I am copying has the head shape, but uses straight-through banjo tuners so the knobs are on the back. I didn't want to spend the $800 to buy a set of the Stauffers, and didn't want to play around with adapting stock ones as some have done, and the 10:1 cycloidal tuners fit the bill for me.

Sure wish this site allowed more than 3 pictures per post (and more than one URL)

Ed
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Ed M
Morecowbell
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Re: redwood 00

Post by Morecowbell »

Looking forward to following the build! Just listened to this one and I mean, wow....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cJ5d9k0y9Q
"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: redwood 00

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Love the idea of the repurposed wood.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
carld05
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Re: redwood 00

Post by carld05 »

I had a redwood hot tub for 30 years that finally quit holding water. I took it apart and repurposed it into a large planter for a ponytail palm tree. Two of the bottom boards were VG 2x8s that I guess could be called "sinker redwood". I'm going to try to mill a few tops from them.
ruby@magpage.com
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Re: redwood 00

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

So I have started. First a rosette.

1) I like the one on this Loar era mandolin.

2) I tried a couple of the "rope" purflings and hit on this one

3) I splurged on the Axiom ivoroid - it bends with a hair dryer and I fit it into a groove I routed
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Ed M
ruby@magpage.com
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Re: redwood 00

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

1) Here it is against my redwood top with a bit of shellac on it. Note the cross grain in the ivoroid

2) Now for a mold. Cut one side and make it perfect, then use a router with a guided straight bit to make 3 more just like it. This pattern was generously given by someone on another forum. He worked on Norman Blake's 1934 0040-H and made this pattern from it, including the location and height of the scallops in the top braces. They won't mean anything on a redwood top as they were originally on a red spruce top

3) Add some 2X4 pieces at the ends with "ears" for clamping together the two halves
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Ed M
ruby@magpage.com
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Re: redwood 00

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

1) Now I use a bunch of small squares to line up the opposite side and screw it to the other face of the 2X4 ends

2) I mark short pieces of 2X4 and cut them to fit most of the perimeter of the mold and screw them in

3) I drill a hole through one of the ears and half way through its neighbor, and glue a dowel in - this is used to align the halves of the mold
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Ed M
ruby@magpage.com
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Re: redwood 00

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

1) Last step is to cut the excess off the mold. I am making it 2-1/4" so my 3" clamps can reach the rim to glue on the back and top

2) I have a very nice set of flame maple for back and sides - I took them to .070 thick as I was a little apprehensive about bending them - they bent beautifully

3) clamp them in the mold to rest a little
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Ed M
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