Roadtrip Dred! Build#4

[Danl8]

Killer wood! Good binding choice, too. Keep the pictures coming...

[Bobby M]

I really like everything on this guitar! I'm a huge fan of bearclaw and the back is gorgeous. Not usually a fan of tortoise but you're correct it does pop! Great work so far.

[Phil]

Great looking build!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Wow, this guitar is looking great! Tell us about those wild sides in the first photo, why couldn't you not use those?

[Diane Kauffmds]

that's some seriously cool wood Benjy! now, that's my kind of road trip. it's looking great.

[Benjy]

I will tell you guys that you need to plan to take your family to Niagara Falls (Only 30 minutes from RC Tonewoods & Sons, they have a huge assortment of cool looking wood!) Then drive across Pennsylvania to Hershey, chocolate capitol of the world (45 minutes from John at Blues Creek Guitars and 1 1/2 hours to the Martin factory). My girls loved visiting John and the tour at Martin. This was easy to "sell" this trip to my family! Oh and we did see the falls, and the Hershey Chocolate Park.

Thanks for all the comments, I am working on my funds to get all the parts for the neck. I am still debating on the fret board, I really like the looks of a bound fret board but I don't know how well the tortoise shell binding will show up. I also like to bind the headstock. I may put a thin white purfling strip between the binding and the fret board...

Kevin, unfortunately the "wild" sides both broke when we tried to bend them. That would have been a wild looking box! They are turning into knife handles!





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[Diane Kauffmds]

it's been 30 years since i've been to niagra falls. it would be dangerous for me to set foot in rc tonewoods for sure. but, rc tonewoods, to the martin factory, to john hall, then back to west virginia sounds like the perfect. i ear ROAD TRIP singing in my ears.

i would think that tortus shell binding would show up nicely as long as you use some kind of purfling, but rather than white purfling, i think a thin piece of maple would look better. maple would bring continuity of color between the fretboard, binding, and the box. i don't know if this will help, but when i'm trying to make a decision like this, i photograph the separate pieces, in this case the binding, fretboard and box, then i put all photos into any photo processing software like photoshop, or Gimp (freeware). Then i crop the photos and place the stuff and assembled on a new blank page. i usually get a pretty decent idea of how it will look.

BTW, the bearclaw figure in the top really brings out the figure in the back. since we're really limited to what we traditionally use for top wood, relatively speaking, the combination was a truly great artistic choice. I don't think i've ever seen this kind of a match in figure between a spruce top and back/side tonewood.

[Talladam]

Looks awesome! Your binding jig looks pretty crazy. I'd be interested to know what's going on there.

[Benjy]

Looks awesome! Your binding jig looks pretty crazy. I'd be interested to know what's going on there.

Ha! Ha! I enjoy making and figuring out my own stuff. My jig is made out of 2 clamps from Harbor Freight, a 2x4, bungee cord and a metal brace. My router came with the base and the 2 rods.

What I learned is that the trick to getting the binding and purfling channels correct is to keep the bit perpendicular to the SIDES of the box. My jig holds the router horizontal and allows the router to move up and down. I have a jig that I put spacers under the box until I have the sides as perfectly vertical as I can get them. I use levels to get this set up. You also have to have a guide that runs on the outer most edge of the top or back. If I was going to build a lot of guitars I would buy a jig, but for now, this is working for me!

[Benjy]

it's been 30 years since i've been to niagra falls. it would be dangerous for me to set foot in rc tonewoods for sure. but, rc tonewoods, to the martin factory, to john hall, then back to west virginia sounds like the perfect. i ear ROAD TRIP singing in my ears.

i would think that tortus shell binding would show up nicely as long as you use some kind of purfling, but rather than white purfling, i think a thin piece of maple would look better. maple would bring continuity of color between the fretboard, binding, and the box. i don't know if this will help, but when i'm trying to make a decision like this, i photograph the separate pieces, in this case the binding, fretboard and box, then i put all photos into any photo processing software like photoshop, or Gimp (freeware). Then i crop the photos and place the stuff and assembled on a new blank page. i usually get a pretty decent idea of how it will look.

BTW, the bearclaw figure in the top really brings out the figure in the back. since we're really limited to what we traditionally use for top wood, relatively speaking, the combination was a truly great artistic choice. I don't think i've ever seen this kind of a match in figure between a spruce top and back/side tonewood.

I can say "Road Trip"!!! You should make it work! Thanks for the ideas to see how the different woods look together, great idea!