Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hello Fellow Luthiers, my name is Frank ET and I reside on the eastern side of the pacific in Oakland, California USA. About this time last year I embarked on a journey to build my first guitar. Being the self educating type my search for something esoterically luthier, landed me here at the ANZLA. I was bulding a Cedar and walnut grand symphony sized steel string guitar. I had some plans I found out there and was winging it. But that’s another long story.

Piont is, I found the Trevor Gore / Garard Gilet book “Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Desighn and Build”. It had so many great tools that I used for the tail end of my first build, that I decided to build strait from Mr Gore’s plans “concert classical steel string guitar” for my next build.

On a scavenger hunt for virgin old growth forests and historically note worthy trees in Coastal Oregon, I found a beautiful piece of re-claimed old growth redwood. Reportedly it had been a stringer in a mineshaft that was recently decommissioned. Black Limba sides back and neck blank were also obtained through Gilmer in Portland. I also got some nice figured Myrtle that was salvaged from the beach but that’s another story. Another guitar.

I built a spread sheet to compute an elastic constant for different specimines of wood. I now had a target thickness for the front and “live” back panels.


Bent the black limba sides over a hot pipe. The Limba didn’t really resist bending but wasn’t realy even about the way it did it either. I guess that’s the whole interlocking grain thing at work.

I laminated the top linings from some nice strait cherry I had around. Reverse kerf linings of mahogany for the back. Marine ply butt plate. Head block and splints black limba.

I milled all blood wood binding and holly purfling . The rosette was all wood and included some nice figured Limba

Live back design. Spruce bracing redwood marriage strip.

Falcate bracing was fun to make. We don’t have king billy here. I got some Alaskan Yellow cedar for the braces. It bent nice but was heavier than spruce and not as strong . I bent and laminated the bracing out of spruce . No problem bending.

Bridge plate was made from VG rock maple laid over carbon fiber. I trimmed the braces to spec for king billy, even though I had a feeling I should have taken more off. I guess when you don’t do the math or follow your intuition you open your self up for a lesson.

Top bracing glue up had to be done in stages with epoxy dry time in-between. Took days to complete the top.

Hey Frank,

Looks awesome, love the headstock and rosette. I got Trevor and Gerards' book a couple of weeks back and intend on making the same guitar, hope it turns out as great as yours does.

Cheers

Col

Thanks ColI I learned a lot. Good with yours. Hope to see it here when your done.luck

Frank

Got any more close ups of the headstock and finished rosette? Did you go with the compensated nut as well, I cant tell from the photo?

Col

There was a lot of broken blood wood before I got the hang of it. Seems you got about a 10 degr. F window somewhere around 250 for bending. It has to be hot all the way through. Guess that’s why you use a machine. A little Super Soft goes a long way.

Bolt on bolt off neck. Zercote, finger board.


Head stock top laminate a high figure Black limba, Headstock back laminate Blood wood. Bound and perf’ed.


The Eye of creation is looking out through over 50 pieces of shell.

Yes thanks for the interest. I did compensate the nut. I believe it helps.

Finish is French polish shellac. I love the process, the feel the smell the look. Use grain alcohol, it’s nicer.

I made three different carbon fiber reinforced bridges. Black limba, Paduk, and Zericote. Black limba was the lightest, but the ugliest. Didn’t seem strong enough even with the carbon fiber. The paduk weighed about 16 grams had the best tap tone and the color mached the blood wood now but I didn’t like the fact that it would change later on. The zercote matched the fret board and was a real looker. It weighed in at 18 grams. Vanity prevails.

I was hoping to tune the box to 90, 170, 214 .

The jpg in the previous post shows the finished guitar with about 400 gm of mass loading compared to the (green) non loaded guitar. 94.5 170 214 I think I missed my target of 90 because I didn't compensate for the extra strength of the spruce bracing compared to the King billy. I also fell short of my target for bridge rotation.

I had everythink tuned and nailed down nice and stable at 90 170 214 and then I installed K&K pick up that brought everything down a bit. I removed some mass and ended up with what you see above.

Just a few more photos. Thanks
Frank E T

Frank

Great attention to detail, I do like the way you finished the binding with the swirl, very clever. I can see how it would bug you if it didn't some how flow into the heel.

Cheers

Col

Thanks Col

Yeah, as Col says, I like the rosette and the littel curl on the bindings. Gives a finish to an area I've been thinking about......

I will say I'm not too fussed on the headstock, but that's the asthetic that jars a bit with me. The workmanship is very nice.....

Hi Frank
Realy nice work great looking guitar love all the detail.
And that is only no 2 wow!
Regards Steve

A very ambitious and difficult build to be sure. Especially for so early into your journey. Some really nice details too.

Thanks for taking the time to show us.

Mate if that's your second one I can't wait to see what you do next.

Congrats , Nice guitar and very nicely built.

Cheers,

Excellent job Frank, well done heaps of nice little details all over and ty for sharing.

Steve

Frank

I meant to ask - how does it sound? Afterall, that is the purpose of building using Trevor and Gerard's methods. I'm interested to know if you think that all the extra effort was worth it, and your guitar does sound awesome.

Cheers

Col

Got some nice touches on this one Frank And welcome to the forum, hopefully we'll see more nice instruments emerging from your shed

Very cool

that is sweet as mate I love all the little details

Some very nice details going on thre, absolutely love the sound hole and the eye inlay. Excellent work

+1 very nice work, binding and inlay details. Like.