Official Luthiers Forum!

Some of you may recall this 10 string guitar-bouzouki I've been working on. It's finally nearing completion! Here are a few photos Joe White has sent me. The ones of the body hanging (sounds a little morbid) were taken with just the first coat of polyester on it. The others show it all done and buffed up nice 'n' shiny. It'll be coming back to my shop within a few days. Joe White rocks.

Sitka top, palo escrito B&S, curly walnut neck and bindings, Tasmanian tiger myrtle decorative stuff.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Gorgeous back wood.

Holy ........

That is gorgeous.

Say, now that I look at it more closely, how did you do that backstrip? Looks wider than a traditional backstrip, but narrower than a middle strip for a three piece back. Did you reinforce on inside with a strip of spruce? Two strips of spruce? Nothing at all?

Really nice work.

Looks great Todd,

I am glad you found some nice tiger myrtle, that end graft looks awesome. I wish I would be able to see it in Newport! I will be very interested to hear about its projection with that unique back bracing you did on it.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Man, that's awesome, Todd. Beautiful work!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Wow, Todd, that's pretty!
Of course, the Tiger Myrtle catches the eye, but that curly walnut is reaaallly something. Don't know if I've seen walnut that deeply curled, or that evenly figured.
Your client is in for a treat for sure.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Nice one Todd!
I like the variation in body design too.
I hope you get a chance to record the sound of this one.

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

Thanks, you guys! I really appreciate the positive feedback.

Corky, I originally didn't intend to have a center strip in this back, but after I had braced the back, I realized I wasn't completely happy with the way the bookmatch looked at the centerseam, so I routed a channel and inlaid the strip of myrtle and purfs. Not the best way to go about it, but it worked out, and I'm very pleased with the way it looks. My back bracing includes a 3/4" wide centerline brace, spruce, with the grain running lengthwise, capped with CF. I did not rout all the way through the palo escrito, though.

Here's a pic of the boat -

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I don't know if the angles in these shots quite reveal the similarity in our body shape ideas that I was talking with you about at Burton's place, but this body has that "hip" thing going on. I'm an incurable hippie, what can I say.

I probably won't have time to do much more than play a couple tunes into my Zoom H2 before I have to take this to Newport, and then it will be going home to Ireland with my customer. However, he is going to play a mini-concert on it at the festival, and that will be video-recorded and put on youtube. Also, I imagine I'll be able to get some more recordings of him playing it at some point.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Bruce Creps - Notable Woods

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

BEEUTIFILL !!
Nice clean work and design Todd.
The player should be happy with that instrument.

Mike

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Mike Collins

Thanks, Mike!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd,

You really do some amazing work. This is another winner.

How did you like working with the Palo Escrito? I have a set of Palo Escrito set aside to make 2 tenor ukuleles. I really like the tap tone on my set and it is quite lite weight so it will work quite well for the ukuleles.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

Todd,

You really do some amazing work. This is another winner.

How did you like working with the Palo Escrito? I have a set of Palo Escrito set aside to make 2 tenor ukuleles. I really like the tap tone on my set and it is quite lite weight so it will work quite well for the ukuleles.

Philip

_________________
aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

Todd,

You really do some amazing work. This is another winner.

How did you like working with the Palo Escrito? I have a set of Palo Escrito set aside to make 2 tenor ukuleles. I really like the tap tone on my set and it is quite lite weight so it will work quite well for the ukuleles.

Philip

_________________
aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

Thanks, Philip! Thanks, Philip! Thanks, Philip!

Palo escrito is a very interesting wood. In so many ways, it has the "vibe" - and certainly glassy the tap tones - of other rosewoods, and yet it is so much less dense and softer. I've found bending it somewhat challenging (I bend by hand on a pipe), because it discolors from the heat VERY easily. It bends pretty easily, too, but you still have to get it hot, and then it's wanting to discolor. It darkens, and this discoloration goes deep and is hard to sand out. My solution so far is to make the sides a bit thinner than I otherwise would, so it doesn't require as much heat to bend, and then to use a wet rag (actually a blue paper "shop towel" - the kind you get at auto parts stores) over the bending iron. The rag prevents any discoloration from happening, as the wood is not in direct contact with the hot iron. I've found that woods that need a lot of heat to bend will not bend when I try using the wet rag technique, but the palo escrito will, as long as it's thinned to around .075"**. If you use a bending machine, I suspect you'll find it easy to bend.

**My body shapes have tight waists; if it wasn't for that, I could probably bend it easily at thicker thicknesses using the wet rag.

It seems to have some tendency to develop cracks along the grain, so keep your eye out for them and glue them shut if they appear.

Be careful with sanding as you're finishing things up - it sands away quickly, so it would be easy to sand away more material than you intend to, or even to sand through the sides or something, if you're attention drifts as you're working.

The only other thing I can think of about it is that the color runs a lot if you put alcohol on the wood. Can be an issue if you wipe with alcohol for whatever reason, or even if you're using shellac or alcohol-thinned epoxy. Not a big deal, just something to be aware of.

It's lovely wood. Smells great.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/