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Well my name is Mike for all of you...

This all started when I bought a Martin D-35MP. I loved it. My father built a beautiful Maginni Violin in 1986. I was looking at wood prices an ran across a set of BRW, at least that what they tell me. I bid on it thinking not to win it the previous sets sold for big money. I won because it was New Years eve I guess.

So I figured I better build it. John has my sides to bend because if it truly is Brazilian, I will never have a chance to buy a set for sub 400 again. I order the D45 prewar strip from Blues Creek. I have a beautiful bear claw Red bruce top as well.

I took the back and side to be joined at a friend who is a professional furniture builder. He has a huge shop. They joined the back and sides. The strip broke out of the sandwich glue twice when trying to plane it, so I had them join it at the rosewood.

I then routed .085 deep of my .150 back and glue the strip in and hand planed it level. I will take it to be thickenessed tomorrow. I drew an outline and took a photo for a journal.

My plan it to put a custom cnc neck from Birconium to match my Gretsch but with the full length scale and 12" radius fretboard.

I am sure I will need advice from you guys as I get stuck, but I appreciate this forum.


Thank a lot guys,

Michael Kelley

Looks like some good wood to build a guitar. Post pictures has you go!

Well, folks. I have my back braced and rough cut. Mr. John bent my sides. There is some question to the actual wood species. I saved all my router shavings from cutting my back and sanded a bunch of wood under a 75 watt blacklight, I am not seeing any glow.

Here is a question though.... This guy from IL told me this wood came out of a sunken trade ship. So if that is true, would the salt water dry any resins out of the wood no matter what kind it was?

The sides sold to me were very dark. Blues Creek bent them for me and he thinks it could be Cocobolo. I really don't know. But the type of wood I have definitely will define what ornaments I add to this instrument like whether I "pearl" it up or not,

This was a copy of his email and photos of the wood.

hi
these sets were brought back from Bahia, Brazil by me in my luggage.
they (the logs) were brought up from the bottom of the ocean off of a sunken trade ship - then resawn into sets -
they are ready to work-
you got these very cheap- i am taking a decent loss
i have 3 more that i am selling - i can do a deal but i'm not selling cheap
the pic is the log-owners workshop - VERY primitive resources-
also that CITES certification IS ALL BULL****.
even the Brazilian government doesn't issue such a thing -
ANY cert that you see is a COUNTERFEIT -
trust me, i spent a considerable sum of time AND money to find out the hard way -
the system is SO corrupt there that its a JOKE

these photos ARE FOR PERSONAL USE PLEASE
THANKS


Let me know what you guys think...

Has any had any success getting flat sawn rosewood to hold a radius? I had trouble once the back was thinned to .095 keeping it from cupping. I braced it with red spruce bracing to the direction it was cupping. But after a few days the wood bent the other way and I had a concave back.

I chiseled of the bracing, a small one inch section split off. I was able to repair it with CA glue and a small cross grain strip planed down. I hope it holds. Its almost completely invisible. form the back.

My plan is to re-brace the back with some taller bracing on the bottom bout. This is all done indoors. I just wonder am I going to have constant turmoil with the finished product.

Frustrated,

Mike

the braces will do that. The unknown is the water content of what you have,. Was it kiln dried ? Etc. You want this seasoned. the more damp the wood the higher the risk of failure.

I have seen flat sawn backs work out great. A difference in the moisture content of you wood and the relative humidity is your shop can cause the cupping. It could settle down after a bit as the wood equalizes. You might want to wait until it does before you brace it.

The note from the seller sure was interesting, actually deliberately aggressive ... trust me, i spent a considerable sum of time AND money to find out the hard way ... I never trust anyone who asks me to trust them or who CAPITALIZES odd WORDS in an email.

the back has been my nemesis so far. It is clamped between some mdf. My RH is 51% constant. Which is normal for Houston.

I did inlay my rosette. Not too awful for my first try. It will look better after I sand and polish it. I have som bear claw red spruce. Beautiful piece. I hope I do it justice.

Looks great!

Well. I am kind of feeling my way through this by making due with most tools I have.

Rocker by the way has a great deal on cam clamps for around 8.00.

I am almost done with my bracing. I still have to glue and shape the finger braces.

I glued my blocks in and am currently working on the kerfing.

Nice workmanship. That's an interesting neck block you're using.

Ed