Well after 4 months or so my first acoustic is done. I had purchased a partially serviced LMI guitar kit with pre bent sides and stuff. My second guitar is an unserviced LMI kit (I already have the stuff, it's just getting used to Taiwan climate). The top is spruce and back and side is plain Bubinga. I think it was a fun build while I do build kinda fast (I seen people taking almost a year for one acoustics) since I work when I get off of work and there are things that can be done. This guitar is going to be donated to a missionary group that is going to Afghanistan so I pray it gets there safely and doesn't become Taliban loot or anything like that... that place is about as dangerous as it gets for missionary work. Thing I found about acoustics is that most of the money goes into wood (tools too if it''s your first few build) and unlike electrics you generally don't spend a whole lot of money on hardware and pickup if present (I know expensive tuner and hardware and pickup exists for acoustics but I feel that a gotoh tuner is good and I hadn't put a pickup on this because I can't decide what to use... ) The neck was bought from Ebay, it was probably a Martin kit neck or something. I had to modify the neck extensively to get the truss rod to fit and there were too much variables to where I'd rather make a neck from scratch than use a neck that doesn't fit. Fretboard and bridge is ebony and fret is Stainless steel fret from LMI (FWSS110) because I like the way it feels. I wouldn't use a fretfile for crowning though, use a cheap triangular file for this (it will cut, doesn't have to be diamond) and grind the corners off.
As far as sound I showed it to a few friends and they said it sounds real nice and open. I think it has more low end compared to most of the cheap guitars with solid top and louder (at least sounds like it) as well. I might play around with top thickness and bracing a little more on my second build to see what it does to the sound. Any idea what is the minimum thickness I should aim for for sitka spruce? I don't want it to be too thin.
As far as neck angle goes I aimed for default angle (which the straight edge would be right on top of the bridge if placed on the fretboard with the neck in place) but the straight edge ended up being a little high over the bridge but once the neck was screwed in and stringed up I guess the string tension arched the top a little bit and bringing the bridge up a little so now the straight edge would touch just a little below the top of the bridge. I think it's good now. I really didn't have much saddle to work with since the slot was quite deep on the bridge...
Here are pictures:
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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.
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