Showing posts with label Wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wood. Show all posts

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Next Cab Off the Rank? A Manchinga OM.

This set of manchinga has been gathering dust in my modest tonewood stash for several years. From the time that I acquired it I resolved that wood this remarkable should be set aside for as long as possible in the hope that my skills would eventually grow to a point at which I'd consider myself able to do it justice.


Whether I'm at that point or not, the reality is that I'm not getting any younger, so while my eyesight is still in good shape I'm preparing to take the plunge and begin construction of a guitar using this beautiful wood, coupled with a drop-dead gorgeous Engelmann spruce soundboard I've also been saving for something special.

I'll post a progress report on the other three guitars I'm working on very soon.


Cheers, Pete

Sunday, December 19, 2021

The Bubinga Lottery

The task of bending the sides gave some cause for concern when I decided to use my one and only set of Bubinga recently. I was already aware that bending this wood can pose challenges, and on researching the topic it became apparent that unhappy accidents are commonplace. To mitigate the potential for disaster, I took the cautious approach and doused the sides in Supersoft veneer softener and shrouded them in plastic for a couple of days before unwrapping them and allowing them to dry completely prior to bending them.

 


When I finally took the plunge and inserted them in my Fox bender, sandwiched between layers of damp craft paper and wrapped in aluminium foil, I cranked the temperature of the heating blanket up to around 320F and allowed them to cook at that temperature for a good ten minutes. When the sides had cooled to room temperature and I was able to remove them from the bender, I found that they'd survived the ordeal with no sign of the cracking or faceting that others have experienced.

What I've learned about this wood is that there are several Guibourtia species marketed as Bubinga, which perhaps explains the variety in appearance encountered between individual examples. With the sides successfully bent to shape, I've concluded that either the precautions I took contributed to my success or that the particular variety I'm working with tends to be less troublesome than other species. With Bubinga now listed on CITES and therefore no longer available in this country, I guess I should count my blessings as I forge ahead with this guitar, safe in the knowledge that I'll never have to deal with it again.


Cheers

Pete

Monday, September 27, 2021

Too Good to Burn!

Pictured are some chunks of red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) that I snatched from the wood delivery man's hands as he stacked a delivery of firewood at the rear of my house.


I guess this only goes to show that we're not always conscious of the beauty surrounding us, and that more enduring and meaningful use can be made of such precious materials if only we are open to their possibilities.

I'm sure this wood will find its way into a future guitar in the form of a bridge, rosette, or headstock veneer.

Cheers, Pete


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Recent Wood Purchases

My heart beats a little faster when I look at wood like this. Wood lovers will understand!


And what better wood to pair these Sinker Redwood soundboards with than this beautiful Claro Walnut.:


Given my dismal rate of production, it would seem that I now have enough wood to last me well into old age!

Supplier links:
Allied Lutherie
Oregon Wild Wood

Cheers
Pete

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

What's Your Favourite Back and Sides Wood?

I've placed a poll in the sidebar that allows you to vote for your favourite back and sides wood species. I think I've covered the usual suspects, but I'm sure I've omitted some other popular choices! If you voted "Other", perhaps you'd be good enough to add a comment to this post to let everyone know what it is. I'd also welcome your comments as to what particular characteristics you feel your favourite species offers.

Cheers
Pete

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Kerfed Linings

I've fabricated kerfed lining strips from mahogany in the past, and while that's a popular and appropriate choice, on this guitar I was in the mood to use linings that closely match the colour of the spruce back braces. Spruce doesn't exactly grow on trees in my neck of the woods (puns intended), so I substituted Jelutong - a lightweight, light-coloured South East Asian hardwood species that serves this purpose well.


After bandsawing and thickness-sanding the strips, I set up a crude but effective jig on the bandsaw that helps me cut kerfs of a consistent spacing and depth. I leave a little more wood between the extremity of the cut and the opposite face of the lining than it seems is common with the off-the-shelf product, and the strips I prepare are a little more robust as a result. If there's any trade-off, it's that I feel the need to pre-bend the waist and upper bout portion of the linings on my bending iron prior to gluing them in place, more as an added precaution against breakage than out of any real necessity. 



A pet peeve, and the motivation for devoting a little time to preparing my own snap-resistant kerfed linings, is seeing an otherwise carefully crafted instrument whose linings are joined at some point, particularly when such joins are in plain view through the soundhole. Sacrilege!




Cheers
Pete

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Claro Walnut - Not So Subtle!

With the luxury a few days off over the Christmas/New Year period, I'm proceeding steadily with the pore-filling process while I wait for delivery of the KTM-SV top-coat material. I'm perpetually amazed at the figure in this guitar's Claro Walnut back and sides, hence the repeated attempt at a photograph that will do this wood justice. Thanks Allied Lutherie!




Cheers
Pete

Monday, August 22, 2011

New Wood Purchases

I have a love/hate relationship with our strong Australian dollar at present. It's too convenient an excuse to click the "Buy Now" button when I spot particularly desirable pieces of wood on favourite web sites such as Allied Lutherie's but, of course, it's also of benefit once I've given in to temptation. Resistance is futile, it would seem.

Ample evidence of my recent weakness can be seen below. Those poor souls similarly afflicted with "Wood Acquisition Syndrome" can click the pictures for a closer look. 

European spruce soundboard
European Spruce

Port Orford Cedar soundboard
Port Orford Cedar
European Spruce needs no introduction, but Port Orford Cedar is a relatively uncommon tonewood. Luthier's Mercantile has this to say about it:

Similar in appearance and scent to Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Port Orford Cedar is stiffer, lighter and thus more suitable for soundboards. Indeed, it is highly sought after for the bold, robust, responsive tone that it imparts on an instrument. It is very even textured, with a slight golden-white color and tight, even grain. A great advantage to the builder is that this wood is more immune to splitting than absolutely any other soundboard wood.

The Port Orford Cedar is in transit as I write this and I'm impatient to inspect it, flex it, tap it - and smell it! Aside from its promised tonal and structural advantages, I'm looking forward to experiencing the pungent peppery smell it's said to impart to a completed instrument.  It's almost worth combining it with a back and side set of Claro Walnut for that reason alone given walnut's delicious aroma.  Such an instrument would surely be the ultimate "perfumed guitar"!

Useful links:
Port Ordford Cedar - Stansell Guitars

Cheers
Pete

Saturday, December 12, 2009

New Rosewood Back and Sides


Here's a recent acquisition which I hope to begin work on early next year, assuming I've managed to complete my current crop of guitars. As much as I've grown to love it, East Indian Rosewood can sometimes look a little bland and uninteresting, but in this case the colour variation is a little more pronounced than usual and I found myself unable to resist the urge to click the "Buy Now" button when I spied it on Allied Lutherie's web site! It should look terrific under a finish, and the tap-tone in its current raw state suggests that it has the potential to sound pretty impressive too.

East Indian Rosewood is something of a staple in the guitar-building world and, unlike some of the other rosewoods, is still reasonably priced and has a fairly secure future. I always smile when I see sets of this wood marked down to a lower grade when they're not exactly quarter-sawn or exhibit anything less than perfectly straight grain. Some of the other more coveted rosewood species are offered to instrument builders for astronomical prices even when they're flat-sawn or have been salvaged from stumps and have the wildest grain imaginable. The bar is obviously set pretty high for their Indian cousin!

Cheers
Pete


What's In a Name?

The back and sides of this guitar are of narra, which is an alternative name for a wood that's most often marketed here in Australia as ...