NUMBERS 7, 8, and 9

[Ron Wisdom]

Well, the photos aren't very good, but here's what I've been up to for the past 8 months.

Nearly twin OM cutaways of EIR with German spruce tops and curly maple binding. One neck is mahogany with two strips of walnut but it doesn't show up in the photo. The other neck is walnut with a wide strip of birds-eye maple. Both also have K&K mini pickups installed. They sound great with and without the amp. This was my first attempt at a cutaway. Both are gifts for former students.

The dread is claro walnut with a sitka bearclaw top and curly maple binding. It is a gift for my brother in law.

Ron

[Rod True]

Very nice Ron! You're getting very good at this

[kiwigeo]

Nice work Ron...love the bearclaw on the Dreadie.

Youre giving these lovelies to former students??? Its normal for the student to bring the teacher the apple isnt it?

[Allen]

Ron, you've been holding out on us. Those look great.

How did you find doing your first cutaways? They look very well done. A nice balanced shape, and that Dread is just stunning.

What do you think of German Spruce. I've got a OOO and OM to build with it at the moment, and have never used it before.

Very lucky students and brother in-law.

[Ron Wisdom]

Thanks, guys. I'm glad to be finished with this lot. Three at a time is too much when there is a deadline (graduation).

Allen, the cutaways came out really nice, but it was a lot of work cause I had to build a new bending form and make an insert for my OM mold. I won't do another, though, unless it is a paying customer.

The German spruce is nice. It and lutz both seem quite a bit softer than sitka, although they are stiff and sound good. I prefer working with sitka.

Ron

[Stephen Kinnaird]

The German spruce is nice. It and lutz both seem quite a bit softer than sitka, although they are stiff and sound good. I prefer working with sitka.

Ron

Hey, hey, HEY! My kinda guy!
Glad someone else likes the lowly Sitka.

Ron those look just great. Nice looking cutaways, and I love that Claro.
If this is how you typically treat students, could I come study with you for awhile?

Steve

[ozziebluesman]

Beautiful guitars Ron. Thank you for sharing with us.

Cheers

Alan

[Nick]

Nice job Ron. The dread has some lovely timber combinations. The Claro and Bearclaw just wonderful, not a dready fan but I'd be pleased as punch to own one as good looking as that. Great looking cutaways too and well done on tackling 3 guitars at once.
I'm with you & Steve with the Sitka too

[Bob Connor]

Gee you have been busy Ron. They look like beauties.

Agree with all of the above comments. The dready is really nice and what a nice piece of Walnut. I don't know why people don't like them.

[Hesh1956]

Wow Ron my friend triplets!!! Soon you are going to be giving the octomom a run for the money....

Beautiful guitars as always bro and I too wish that I had had a teacher as cool as you are to gift a guitar - good on ya!!!!

:serg :serg :serg

[Craig]

the cutaways came out really nice, but it was a lot of work

Ron

I'll second that Ron . In fact , a bit of an understatement It always amazes me how little some charge to upgrade to a cutaway.

You should be very proud of this trio Ron . They all represent superb craftsmanship. Three at a time would be too much for me to handle also. Man that's a lot of time and effort , but well worth it when you end up with these three beauties .

The finish is impressive too. What is it ? . I'm not normally a fan on scratch plates , but yours really suit these guitars. Where are they from ?

You say the O M's are almost twins , but do they sound the same ?

Beautiful work Ron.

[Ron Wisdom]

Thank you all, fellows. It's nice to see all those clapping hands. (and the Sergeicons, Hesh)

Steve, you're welcome to come to my class. I teach honors algebra II, but if all goes well, one more year will be it. It will be my 40th year. Man I've been in school since I was 6 years old.

Craig, the finish is tru-oil. The pick guards all came from LMI. The dread is just one of the cheapo things, but the OM's are the very expensive tor-tis. I would have used a cheapo for the OMs if they had the right size in that material.
Hard to describe the sound, as I only strung them up today. I really can't tell any difference in the sound quality of them, but one "seems" a tad louder than the other.


Also, I don't think I mentioned that the neck on the dread is cherry. I really love the feel of the cherry neck, no pores and it finished as smooth as a baby's butt.


Ron

[Craig]

Thanks Ron. Now , could you give us a rundown on the True-Oil finishing schedule. Did you seal with shellac first ? How did you apply it etc . It's a great looking finish !

I'd love to use Cherry for necks also . It has a wonderful silky feel .Anyone know where I can source it ?

[Dave Anderson]

Hi Ron,
Nice job on all three! Your first cutaways turned out great.
A cherry neck sounds interesting too.I want to try something other than mahogany....
Man,that is one beautiful dread-Love that Claro !!

[sebastiaan56]

Wow Ron,

Im impressed mate. Particularly the dred, that bearclaw is insane as is the Walnut.

[Kim]

Great work Ron! x 63 (21 each axe )

I remember the guitars you built for your boys and commenting at that time what a stellar jump you had made in fit and finish since the first. Well I gotta say it again mate, your really moving forward as a builder, every one a beauty and worthy of a pro. Excellent effort

Cheers

Kim

[Dave White]

Ron,

Lovely guitars and eight months well spent !!

[Dennis Leahy]

Wow, Ron, I too want to sign up for your Algebra class! Or maybe even calculus!

Three beautiful guitars, and three very lucky recipients!

Dennis

[Lillian]

Well done Ron and I would agree, time well spent.

[pat foster]

Really, really nice work, Ron! Like the headstock shape on the OMs a lot.

Pat

[Ron Wisdom]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. You're too kind. Photos, as we all know, can be deceiving. My finish isn't quite as nice as it appears, but it isn't bad and it is improving with each build, which is what it's all about.

Craig, here's what I do:

For the neck, I use no filler and no shellac. I apply the first two coats of tru-oil with 0000 steel wool and let the sludge partially fill the pores. After about three hours I wipe on another thin coat with a cloth. After drying overnight I lightly use the wool to level, if needed, then wipe on the next coat. After 3 hours you can wool it and do another coat. I put on three coats a day and end up with 6 coats after the first two that were applied with wool. Then I set it aside for a week to really harden.

On the body, I fill with z-poxy, sand back to wood and apply shellac. When that dries I smooth it with steel wool and apply then apply tru-oil pretty much as described above. The top doesn't get the z-poxy, just a seal coat of shellac then the tru-oil.

After everything has dried for a week, I hand rub it out with medium, then fine, rubbing compound buffing till my arm gets tired. I then wipe down with lemon oil and buff with burlap.

My fretboard, bridge and head plate are just wiped with stewmac FB oil and buffed with a cloth.

Ron