#2 a 00 12 fret
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:10 am
Just finished my #2! It's a 00 12 fret. Here's the specs:
-Honduran Mahogany b&s
-an unknown type of spruce top (it's much lighter in color than the sitka I used on my first, but who knows, maybe it's sitka)
-mahogany bracing on the back, spruce 5/16 scalloped martin style x bracing top.
-15' radius back, no radius on the top (I was just curious what it would sound like, so I didn't radius the top, thinking that the string tension would round it out just a tad)
-mahogany neck, compound dovetail joint, v profile
-25.4 scale length
-rosewood binding with maple laminate
-rope type wood purfling, as well as rosette
-ebony pyramid bridge 2 5/16" spacing
-gabon ebony fingerboard
-1 3/4"bone nut and 3/32" bone saddle
-tru oil finish -gloss body, satin neck
-grover open gear tuners
I learned a lot while building this one. I got the wood as a kit from someone on ebay, advertising it as a parlor with seconds from martin. I was hesitant because of people's advice on buying these martin seconds 'kits' (that is, don't do it). But it worked out. The wood, to my eye, is high quality, and thankfully the neck and block joint was a good match. I was nervous about the dovetail joint, as this was my first time working with it, but I have to give John Hall many thanks for his extremely thorough videos on the joint. Using his ACE technique, I was able to get the neck setup perfectly in about an hour. This was my first time bending sides, bindings, and purfling. I made a homemade pipe bender using a pipe and a small propane torch. It worked but it was quite difficult getting the sides just as I wanted them, and in the end, they're really not perfect. On the next build I may seek out another option for bending, but I'd rather not spend big bucks on a bending machine. I also learned some big things about staining and finishing in general. I stained the back and sides prior to assembling the box, thinking I'd avoid accidentally getting stain on the bindings and top that way, but I soon realized that wasn't going to work. Of course when I sanded the neck joint area flat, the stain came off with it. And then scraping the binding obviously took stain off as well. So I just sanded all the stain off. It left me with nice dark pores, which I actually think look nice, so it wasn't such a fail after all haha. But lesson learned. The gabon ebony is super nice and buttery feeling, I like it a lot. And I used the gold fret wire from LMI, which ended up being a real joy to work with, compared to the standard wire I used on my last build.
I'm used to the sound of my rosewood dreadnaught so when I first started playing this guitar, I thought it was too quiet. But the more I play it, the more I like it. It sounds especially beautiful when playing jazz or ragtime finger style tunes. It doesn't have much bite, it's a pretty mellow sound. I don't really like the sound I get when flat picking it, but then again, I'm used to flat picking a dread. It's a gift for my wife for valentine's day, and I did all the building at 'the office', so she was pretty excited when I came home with it all done. (Now I just have to make sure I don't play the thing more than she does)
-Honduran Mahogany b&s
-an unknown type of spruce top (it's much lighter in color than the sitka I used on my first, but who knows, maybe it's sitka)
-mahogany bracing on the back, spruce 5/16 scalloped martin style x bracing top.
-15' radius back, no radius on the top (I was just curious what it would sound like, so I didn't radius the top, thinking that the string tension would round it out just a tad)
-mahogany neck, compound dovetail joint, v profile
-25.4 scale length
-rosewood binding with maple laminate
-rope type wood purfling, as well as rosette
-ebony pyramid bridge 2 5/16" spacing
-gabon ebony fingerboard
-1 3/4"bone nut and 3/32" bone saddle
-tru oil finish -gloss body, satin neck
-grover open gear tuners
I learned a lot while building this one. I got the wood as a kit from someone on ebay, advertising it as a parlor with seconds from martin. I was hesitant because of people's advice on buying these martin seconds 'kits' (that is, don't do it). But it worked out. The wood, to my eye, is high quality, and thankfully the neck and block joint was a good match. I was nervous about the dovetail joint, as this was my first time working with it, but I have to give John Hall many thanks for his extremely thorough videos on the joint. Using his ACE technique, I was able to get the neck setup perfectly in about an hour. This was my first time bending sides, bindings, and purfling. I made a homemade pipe bender using a pipe and a small propane torch. It worked but it was quite difficult getting the sides just as I wanted them, and in the end, they're really not perfect. On the next build I may seek out another option for bending, but I'd rather not spend big bucks on a bending machine. I also learned some big things about staining and finishing in general. I stained the back and sides prior to assembling the box, thinking I'd avoid accidentally getting stain on the bindings and top that way, but I soon realized that wasn't going to work. Of course when I sanded the neck joint area flat, the stain came off with it. And then scraping the binding obviously took stain off as well. So I just sanded all the stain off. It left me with nice dark pores, which I actually think look nice, so it wasn't such a fail after all haha. But lesson learned. The gabon ebony is super nice and buttery feeling, I like it a lot. And I used the gold fret wire from LMI, which ended up being a real joy to work with, compared to the standard wire I used on my last build.
I'm used to the sound of my rosewood dreadnaught so when I first started playing this guitar, I thought it was too quiet. But the more I play it, the more I like it. It sounds especially beautiful when playing jazz or ragtime finger style tunes. It doesn't have much bite, it's a pretty mellow sound. I don't really like the sound I get when flat picking it, but then again, I'm used to flat picking a dread. It's a gift for my wife for valentine's day, and I did all the building at 'the office', so she was pretty excited when I came home with it all done. (Now I just have to make sure I don't play the thing more than she does)