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I have been building this one since April and summer got in the way - finally strung it up. If you are interested I have way-too-many pictures in "Blog Your Project" under the same title.

So here it is

It is built of Alaskan Yellow Cedar - all of it. Top, back, sides, neck, braces, and some of the lining. I was wondering what an all softwood guitar would sound like and I found that this construction is sometimes used on Flamenco guitars. I laminated the braces of AYC with Osage Orange for the middle 1/3rd.

The shape is a mid-1920's Gibson L body with a 1-11/16" nut and 25.4" scale with 13 frets clear to the body. The first couple of days the sound was not balanced yet and the low E was very quiet, but the trebles sounded like my Martin rosewood 000, and it had as much sustain as that guitar. Just 4 days after stringing it up, the sound has changed radically. It is balanced throughout, very crisp and jangly, and it has impressive volume - much more than I was expecting out of a softwood bodied instrument, and as loud as a 000 twelve fret I built recently

The Yellow Cedar has about 30 grain lines an inch, and all of it is vertical grain. The head plate is ebony. I switched the nickel tuner buttons for ebony. I like the look of the Martin volute where the head meets the neck

The neck joint turned out just fine. The whole guitar is made of Alaskan Yellow Cedar which is really a Cypress - very lightweight. All of the inlays are abalone. The fretboard, bridge,and various smaller pieces are ebony. The sides bent beautifully

That big round lower bout of the early L-1 really appeals to me, as well as the color and that it is all the same wood.

My daughter is fine player and she tried it out with bare fingers and a plastic thumb pick:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCEMYpr8Vpc

Also:

youtube DOTCOM

/watch?v=6NUD-bdNR0g

Sorry that this site only allows one URL per message - just piece together the second one

I really like the look, the feel, and the sound of this guitar. Don't know if sounds so good already because of the all-Alaskan-Yellow-Cedar construction, the laminated braces, or, like the chief said in Little Big Man, "sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't".

Thanks for looking.

Ed

What a fantastic instrument. Its very stunning. Love the MOP inlays too. Hope I can build to that level someday. The volute is beautiful. The magic worked there as well.

Thanks Karl. After 8 of these I am at the point where I have an understanding of WHAT has to be done and am working on how best to accomplish the end result. I was very confident in the mechanics of this guitar and the playability and sound turned out better than I anticipated. The decoration is what bit me a couple of times. Also - finishing is my weak spot - I am thinking of never putting a finish on one again, maybe just wax to keep most of the dirt off.

Holy Crap is this addictive

Ed

Hey Ed, this guitar turned out so good. I didn't realize how small the body is until watching your daughter play it. She and the guitar are very cute!

Building is addictive. I haven't started my next one yet, finishing the last one back in March. My shop is a mess still working on rejuvenating kitchen cabinets, but my goal is to be starting a OM right after Thanksgiving.

Keep up the nice work, I like how you go after the old style guitars!!!!!

Kevin

Kevin

It is a small guitar at 13-3/8" at the lower bout. But my daughter is 6 feet tall - so there's that

Ed

Beautiful guitar, Ed. Yellow cedar/cypress is such a nice wood to work. Seems really well-suited to your daughter's country delta blues repetoire and is also reminiscent of the bright percussive blanca guitars for flamenco.

It's gorgeous Ed. You always do such nice work my friend.