Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

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jread
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Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by jread »

I am behind on posting about my other 2 active projects so why not start yet another thread? I don't know if I'd call this a kit but it's not scratch. Here's where I am:

A friend gave me his LMI project from 1980. East Indian rosewood back and sides, Englemann spruce top.

He bent the sides and glued them into the blocks and installed some interesting home-made lining back then and then abandoned the project.

I joined then thicknessed the plates using planer to 1.20" then Stanley #5 block plane, cabinet scrapers, sandpaper, and a lot of work down to about .11 for back and .10 top. about. Used old stewmac caliper and worked to get the entire top consistent.

I then added the rosette which I bought from John at Blues Creek. I got the spacing messed up. Dry-fit went well but I just could not get the rosette strips to go in with glue so had to make the center channel bigger which then messed up my spacing. Also installed the vintage style back strip from John as well. I learned about the side reinforcement on this forum: Tesa 51608. Worked great.
I got some glue drips inside when installing the top last. Going to try to avoid that next time.

Next, I bought John Hall’s super nice scalloped Adi bracing set and 1937 forward shifted rim templates. Really enjoyed working those and doing final shaping. which I did to make it more visually pleasing as I made no connection to shaving braces and the tap tones on try number 2. I would like to make my own braces next time but geez those are nice. I left off the popsicle brace just because some reference guitars I looked at didn't have one.

Now I have the box. I have celluloid and plastic binding appropriate for D-28 style. Bent bold herringbone purfling gain from John Hall.

I plan to purchase a Martin dovetail neck from Stewmac and make my own inlays. The big challenge left for me is cutting the dovetail slot. I am considering options such as the Stewmac router bit or using my fret saw and chisels. Since the block was already glued to the sides when I got them, I decided to wait until now to try it. One note on the blocks. They are a bit oversized compared to the Martin spec and the grain runs vertically. Prob better for me when cutting the dovetail but we'll see.

Pretty happy with this! Not really a cost efficient way to build guitars I guess but right now they are all for me so am trying to make them as nice as I can while building my skills so I can go more “scratch” as time goes on.

If anyone got his far, here is a decision I have to make:

Would you stain these sides? They are bit light. I like the back as-is. Even the pre-stain conditioner on my scrap pieces make it too dark for me so am just going to seal, fill, and finish that but the sides are not a color match. Would you work to match the back and sides in color?
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ruby@magpage.com
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Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Looks nice - how about a close up of the rosette

Ed
Ed M
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Have you looked at the sides wet with naphtha? If not, wet the back and sides with naphtha, before making the final decision to stain. Rosewood darkens considerably when finished. Naphtha will allow you to see how the wood will look when it's finished, no matter what you finish it with; it won't raise the grain like alcohol or water.

I'm a natural wood person. I don't touch the natural color of the wood, except to match existing wood during repairs. But, that's my preference.

Use the naphtha on the back and sides, and make your decision based on how it looks and what you like.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
Danl8
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by Danl8 »

I think it will be a more interesting guitar without staining the sides, so like Diane, I wouldn't use stain except to fix a problem of some type. Naptha suggestion is a good one and could help inform your decision. BTW, it's looking really good.
jread
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by jread »

Thanks! I honestly thought everyone stained rosewood. I didn't want to which is why I asked so thank you very much. I use naptha when cleaning and yeah like that look. Sounds great! I'm going to pore fill this one and then rub shellac to see how polished I can get it.

Here's the wonky rosette closeup. Reminder that is the vintage d-28 style from Blues Creek. It wasn't easy to work with and i'm really happy with it. I'll get it sorted next time. My stewmac down-cut bits slots seemed to be perfect but for some reason, I felt that the duco just wouldn't let me fit it in there with the middle one. My theory is that I had some glue get in-between the ribbons. I ran out of time and had to clean the glue out from that channel and make it slightly bigger and got that part uneven. It's unique anyway and pretty smooth. The gap at the top is all covered by the fretboard extension.
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Diane Kauffmds
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Very nice!
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
jread
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by jread »

Updating this older thread of mine. This was number 2 and when it needed a neck, I put it aside and learned how to build necks. I built 6 and then 6 guitars ahead of this one and they are in another thread. "Three 0's"

This one was my 1st build started after the kit and it's racing for last to be completed. This side is done so I'll show it off. haha. I'll post final pics and video when it gets to over to her new owner over in Ireland. That shipping is gonna be a pinch.
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ruby@magpage.com
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Looking good. When I opened this thread it said "August 14" and I thought, wait a minute, that's tomorrow. Then I noticed it was 2019. At least the glue is dry

Ed
Ed M
jread
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by jread »

I'll close out this thread w/ this pic. It's off to Ireland to her new owner. Come on USPS, you can do it!

If he posts video, I'll come back and drop a link. (here)

Pickguard is not attached. I like it without the pg so just put in the case and he can have it installed if he wants to.
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jread
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Re: Project 2 underway - Rosewood/Englemann dred

Post by jread »

https://youtu.be/HTH8dw2e61M

The guitar finally made her new home outside of Kilkenny, Ireland. Here's her new owner just over opening it! He and the guitar will be attending Cork School of Music in a few weeks!
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