Redcedar and Bubinga mongrel

[Stray Feathers]

Several posts in a row here to play a little catch-up:
One of the things that helped get me started making guitars was a gift of some odds and ends of tools and some pieces of wood from a friend who turned from making instruments to doing wonderful bird carvings. One piece was a two-piece Bubinga back. I looked for several years for Bubinga sides (reasonable) but no luck. Meanwhile I was given some salvage Western Redcedar picked up by my wife's brother on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I decide to try the Bubinga and cedar together in an OM. So I bought a piece of Bubinga from a local wood dealer for the sides. It's not a close match, and the sides are more face grain. The cedar is dark, but when I looked at some "sinker cedar" guitars (some with Bubinga) I realized they looked a lot like this. This was not in the water long enough to be a sinker, but I wondered what a "floater" cedar top might sound like. So I split a piece and resawed it and it had a very nice tone. The Bubinga has a peculiar pale line across the lower bout which I can't explain. I managed to line it up under one of the back braces as a structural backup. Here are the top and back braced; the sides and bindings are clamped in the mould in the hope they would fit better (thread about this here:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9495&p=54614&hilit=bubinga#p54614

But in the end I put them back in the bender which was better but not perfect.

[Stray Feathers]

I took the time to make some radius sanding dishes to try for a better fit of top and back to the sides, and it helped quite a lot. The kerfing went in quite well. Here the side struts are clamped as Jonathan Kinkead does, except they are let in to the kerfing a little. And closing the box. I think in the process of rebending the sides, I may have skewed or twisted something, because I still found some not perpendicular sections of the sides when I was done.

[Stray Feathers]

Bindings are always a challenge for me, so I saw this guitar as a not-too-precious practice piece. It mostly went pretty well, but there were a couple of spots that needed patching. When routing the binding channel I got some chipout, even though I was going the "right way". I think it might have something to do with the face-ish grain of the sides; small triangular chips torn out. I have patched them so they are not too ugly, and will try to blend them better. They start at the right edge of the photo and extend 3/4 of the way across. Frustrating but at least it was not a $200 set! You can see that the back, which was older, is darker, and the newer sides quite rosy. (The bindings and back centre strip are cut from the same material as the sides.) The cedar looks pretty good with it. I understand Bubinga will darken with exposure - I hope so. In any case I think the wood will darken with finish on it. The rosette ring and end flash are rosewood, and the fingerboard, bridge, and headplate will be too. I bought a mahogany neck, which, it turns out, has been laminated. So you can see why it's a bit of a mongrel. One nice thing is that, now that it's together, the cedar top has a nice drum-tone when tapped. It's sort of fun to put some bits together and just see what happens.

[Diane Kauffmds]

It'll probably be one of your best sounding guitars.

[BEJ]

Looking good, Bubinga a great wood to work with. A few years ago I was driving by Crosscut Hardwoods Seattle and stopped by for a look, big mistake and costly as always. Passing by the Bubinga rack there was a NICE 90-95% quarter sawn board about 10-11" x 12', how it slipped by into general stock I don't know, someone screwed up. The frick'n board spoke to me "Buy me, buy me......" Soon I was $156 poorer but I did get 6 B&S out of it and a lot of stock for small pieces. Built 3 guitars and still have 3 B&S sets.

Grit Larson did mention in his 3 part FineWoodworking articles ('87-89) that Bubinga might be the next great wood to fill in for BRW and LRW. So we're in good company.

[Stray Feathers]

That's a great story! I'm hoping a little of that Bubinga pedigree might sing through in this cobbled-together guitar.

[Stray Feathers]

The mahogany neck is near-finished; just a little final shaping and sanding. There was enough material to try another volute so I did. It's a little bulkier than the first one I tried, taken from a design I saw online. I may slim it down a little, but I've seen others like it. The rosewood fingerboard, in the background of one photo, is slotted and shaped but needs to be thinned some yet.

[Diane Kauffmds]

Very nice!

[Stray Feathers]

I got the rosewood fretboard slotted and radiused, and glued it on. I was pretty happy with the fit and geometry of the neck, but left it to sit for a time before gluing it. Good thing! I did notice a little vibration when I bumped the neck, which could only be the truss rod. I began to think the prudent thing was to remove the fretboard and fix the problem BEFORE I glued it to the guitar. I consulted my luthier friend Steve, who agreed with me (dang!) At least I had listened to myself on this one - unlike my story in the thread about my dreadnought. I had removed and reset the neck on my first guitar because of a geometry problem, and I figured this would be simpler because it was not fretted, and not glued to the guitar. The removal went okay. I got my old shop iron to about 340º and marked the setting for reference. I used a piece of sheet metal under the iron to help spread the heat and reduce abrasion on the fretboard. I have two spatulas I use in various ways. On this job I also tried a new thing - I tied the ends of an old high E string to wooden "handles" and used it to slice and saw through the softened glue. I don't know if it would work on its own (perhaps with more heat?) but alternating the tools worked well. Now I have to clean it up, reseat the truss rod, and put it back together.

[Stray Feathers]

I found the truss rod slot was a little sloppy, so put a very this shim along one side which tightened it up. I have since bought a 6 mm router bit and used it (instead of a 1/4" bit) for the truss rod on my next build, and it is a perfect fit for the truss rods I am using. I was a little concerned that the edges of the neck and fretboard might have been worn a little by the removal, so I did a little judicious sanding, and also made a clamping caul that was fretboard shaped (tapered) and had a channel down the centre, and then angled the sides to fit well on the edges of the fretboard. It went smoothly and there is no longer any buzz. The neck is fitted but not glued down to the body, waiting for fretting and finishing when the weather improves.