Guitar #2 1/2 White Spruce/Cherry (Start Over)
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:10 pm
The guitar that has tortured me until the last minute is finally finished! As most of you know, I had to scrap my first attempt for various reasons. But it paid off. Even with all of it's warts, it plays surprisingly beautifully. You can feel it vibrate through you and the sustain is the longest of any guitar I've ever played. I'll try to make a decent recording to add to this post.
The inlay turned out well. I took elements that I didn't use for the fretboard and designed the simple motif for the headstock.
It took some searching, but I found a paper on the history of lumber sizing in the US. In 1956, the industry was standardized to 3/4" thick, by law. Downsizing from 1" stared in 1940, in preparation for WWII. The cherry that I used for this guitar, was a scant 1" thick, even after initial planing on both sides. The back is from a billet that was a full 12" x 1", which was not in the inventory of the lumber company, so hey charged me for 8" cherry. I have no doubt that the cherry used in this guitar is at least 60 years old, probably older. It was in a forgotten area in the rafters of the lumber yard. It had a great tap tone, even before I cut it; it's probably the reason for the richness and long sustain.
The specs are:
00-12 fret, short scale 24.9"
4 1/8" deep body
forward shifted X-bracing (engelmann spruce bracing)
White Spruce top
Cherry back and sides
ebony fretboard
ebony bridge
bone nut, saddle, and bridge pins
pommel mahogany wedge
pommel mahogany rosette
curly sapele binding
The inlay turned out well. I took elements that I didn't use for the fretboard and designed the simple motif for the headstock.
It took some searching, but I found a paper on the history of lumber sizing in the US. In 1956, the industry was standardized to 3/4" thick, by law. Downsizing from 1" stared in 1940, in preparation for WWII. The cherry that I used for this guitar, was a scant 1" thick, even after initial planing on both sides. The back is from a billet that was a full 12" x 1", which was not in the inventory of the lumber company, so hey charged me for 8" cherry. I have no doubt that the cherry used in this guitar is at least 60 years old, probably older. It was in a forgotten area in the rafters of the lumber yard. It had a great tap tone, even before I cut it; it's probably the reason for the richness and long sustain.
The specs are:
00-12 fret, short scale 24.9"
4 1/8" deep body
forward shifted X-bracing (engelmann spruce bracing)
White Spruce top
Cherry back and sides
ebony fretboard
ebony bridge
bone nut, saddle, and bridge pins
pommel mahogany wedge
pommel mahogany rosette
curly sapele binding