Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello All

I just signed up today, but have been lurking here for about 5 months. I recently finished my second guitar based on the Kinkead book, however more than a couple methods used were influenced by information I found here on the forum as well as from a couple local luthiers I've had the good fortune to meet. Thanks to everyone who's shared here, it helped.

Here are the specs:

OM with 25.4 Scale

Back and sides: Bloodwood
Top: Engelmann
Binding and Bridge: Snakewood
Neck: Mahogany
Fretboard and Headplate: Ebony

Again, thanks to all who share their experience here. Knowing I'm not the first to make some of the mistakes I did AND there is a place I could go to find solutions made #2 a little less stressful.

Hey Donald and welcome to the OLF!

Your 2nd guitar looks great and that snakewood bridge is pretty cool too!

Welcome aboard!

Looks great Donald! Welcome to the OLF.

Chuck

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Looks great, Donald!

What's your overall impression of the sound and playability?

What finish did you use? (Your finish looks great, by the way)

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-Clint Beacock

Very nice looking guitar. What is the inlay on the 3rd fret?

Welcome aboard Donald. Your guitar is very nice. I love your choices of woods. Bravo!

Good looking guitar! I like the bridge alot Donald.

Thanks for the welcomes and compliments.

Thank you. I can't take credit for the wood selection though. I built this for a friend and told him to go to LMI's website and select what wood he wanted to use. Being an 80's metal fanatic, he was thrilled to find there was wood available that included the words blood and snake. I was concerned in the beginning but am happy with the outcome.

Nice work and welcome to the forum

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Don,
First,Welcome aboard.

Second, how did you find the bloodwood to bend? Any tricks you figured out?

I'm planning a build for a friend, and he wants bloodwood.

Third, great looking guitar!

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Rob

Don,
First,Welcome aboard.

Second, how did you find the bloodwood to bend? Any tricks you figured out?

I'm planning a build for a friend, and he wants bloodwood.

Third, great looking guitar!

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Rob

Rob,

Thanks for the welcome and the compliment. I used a fox bender with a heating blanket. The first set of sides I tried to bend were at .090 and I had some problems. There were cracks along the grain on one side. The other side cracked when I got a little careless putting it in the mold. It probably could have been CA'd but I had more wood available so I thinned the second set to .080 and they bent nicely with just a little spring back. The problems I had with the bloodwood is that it seemed to be very brittle. The cracks along the grain when bent were one issue. Joining the back was another. The plane was sharp and I could get a beautiful curl off any other piece of wood I had to try it on, but the bloodwood just seemed to chip and shatter, not curl off. I wound up getting a straight edge and sanding the joint flush.
Please bear in mind though, this was only my second wood working project, my first being guitar #1. I'm sure there are lots of possible explanations from bad technique to wood not best suited for guitar building. I'm just not experienced enough to know exactly what the problems were, only that I had them and I believe I got past them. I'll know in a year or so if it's still holding together.

Beautiful guitar Don !!
Welcome to the addiction of guitarmaking!

For joining woods that want to splinter or rip I use a router jig that holds the pieces and the jig runs up against a pattern bit with a bearing on the up side-works great -no ripping or tearing.

Keep making gitars!

Mike

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Mike Collins