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Hi guys,

I am pretty pumped. John built this custom mold for me. It is a 0000 12 fret slope. The sides are .25 deeper. I am going to build a guitar I have never heard but I am excited. I have master bee's wing mahogany, african blackwood fretboard and bridge, tortoise bindings. It will be a 25.125 scale. I am trying to decide how much jewelry to put on it.

I am undecided on a top yet. I want to use a D-18 style Golden Era brace pattern. I can't decide whether to use this Lutz top I have or Adirondack, or .... or .....

Thanks for looking. This will be a slow build I am amassing parts as I go. I am building sinker mahog J-45 at the same time.

I got the sides trimmed and in the mold.

thanks for looking

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing these two get built.

Sounds like the 0000 is going to be on steroids. it should have a top that has enough high end, like adi.
i'l be checking back from time to time ... t

Wow, what a great project. I think you'll like the additional depth. I added depth to my 00, which turned out unbelievable. The wood that you chose is really nice. I have a suggestion for wood that you might want to check out. It's a bit more unusual and some folks think of it as an inexpensive form of adi.

I used white spruce on my 00 and fell in love with it. RC Tonewoods has it. It's really beautiful when finished, and it has projection, attack, and I swear it plays before I touch it. Don't let the price fool you. This is used as piano soundboards. I think it would pair well with the mahogany and this is what I'm going to use with my Honduran mahogany guitar when I build it.

Thanks for the encouragement. This is my fourth build. I am looking at some really nice Adi from Colonial. I used torrefied ADI on my Ziricote blake. If I can find a nice piece might go there. I personally don't like the baked look, I shaded my that top for that reason.

I like big sounding guitars. Playing Bluegrass and Texas fiddle tunes my whole life. I wanted something that was a little different. This should give a good compromise on a dread.

I just have a feeling on a top with that much surface area, I need something pretty stiff. I am shortening the scale just slightly. I don't mind the string tension but I have several songs where my pinky finger just ALMOST ALMOST makes the stretch.

I have plenty of work I can finish until I get my top in the meantime.

Thanks for looking.....

RIP Merle....

Steve from Colonial is excellent to work with. I asked him if he'd be kind enough to choose a couple of knockout torrified adi tops, then send photos for my customer to see. He chose 4 and sent the photos. My guy was happy, which is all that matters.

Well,

I have all my blocks glued in. I got my top. I got an amazing piece of Carpathian from John Preston under the advice of John Greven. I am going to use the ADI I bought from him on the banner J-45 I am building as well. I may start a new thread for that one.

I love the shape of this guitar. It just looks cool to me..
More to come as I get more parts, Has anyone not used a wedge in the back? My glue joint turned out perfect. It looks like one long piece bent around. The wedge, although easy for others, I have struggled in past builds.

Thanks for looking,

On my first two builds I have been referring a lot to my two "store-bought" guitars - a Larrivée D-09 rosewood and a Martin 000-15SM mahogany, and neither has a wedge, but I put wedges on my two builds. Probably a matter of need, if you have to take care of an imperfect seam, or grain mismatch, or choice, if you want to incorporate a design element. I wonder if it looks like better workmanship if you don't need one . . .

starting to take shape nice