Oregon myrtle and Italian spruce J45-ish build

[TomBicknell]

I'm a little nervous about posting progress photos of my current, and very first, acoustic build, given my very beginner skill level, but here goes. I'm building this at Jim Cargill's workshop with his guidance.

It's a lefty J45-ish body, but with a 25.4" scale length. The back and sides is spalted Oregon myrtle (AKA Californian laurel), and the top is Italian spruce with a bit of bearclaw figuring.

I just closed the box on it, and this past weekend trimmed the soundboard, got the tail wedge in and made the bindings, which are ebony with WB purfling like the backstrip.

I felt like my bracing wasn't as exact as I'd like, but it's got a pretty good, loud tap tone now that the top is on, so fingers crossed.

[Joshyouare]

Good work mate! Shaping up nicely.

[kiwigeo]

Anyone with the balls to post up warts and all photos of his very first gets my full respect.

You're doing fine for a first build.....looking good.

[TomBicknell]

Thanks very much guys!

[Mark McLean]

That does look beautiful. I love how you numbered it #0001, meaning that you expect to make enough guitars in your lifetime to need a four digit numbering system.
Did you pay attention to the ambient humidity when you were at the stage of gluing braces, and closing the box? If so, you are on your way to a gorgeous instrument.

[TomBicknell]

Thanks Mark! Yeah, I thought #0001 might be a bit ambitious .

Re the humidity, I’ve been building it in Jim Cargill’s very nicely set up workshop, which is well insulated and (reasonably) climate controlled. The timber has mostly come from his stash stored in the workshop, so it’s about as acclimatised as it’s going to get.