Official Luthiers Forum!

Now the questions are:

1) Should I save and build an "O" or parlor out of it at some point?
2) Should I swap it for an Erlewine Neck Jig or other tools/wood combinations?

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Bobby Masten

Those sides don't seem to be a very good match for the back.

Just send them all to me and I trade you a well matched set of plain honduran mahogany, not too far off quarter, big enough for a Jumbo.
















As if...

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I wouldn't be too excited about building with those sides...

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Exactly the type of discussion I was hoping to incite. So is wood that is perfect in appearance more important to you than the ring or potential sound that may come from it? No it's not a perfect match, but all the pieces ring as BRW should. I was able to purchase this for the cost of wood that while much more uniform won't make as good a sounding guitar. Shouldn't the sound be more important?

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Bobby Masten

Aw just build the sucker and look around for a head stock cover and bridge that has similar graining...you know carry the theme throughout the build.

The minuet me hear talk that visual aesthetics should be this or that or the other, my ears close down.

blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I think the sapwood looks awesome.

Too many builders get stuck in a rut of thinking that all wood must be perfectly quartered, straight-grained, no sapwood, blah blah blah.

If you have enough experience to know how to make the "inferior" woods work, you can make the "imperfections" work in your favor and create an instrument that is far more visually interesting than instruments made with woods that most luthiers would call ideal. They can sound just as good and, IMHO, look far more interesting. I think your sapwood guitar will be great.

Sapwood is great in general, but the various knots and localized defects in those sides are not too cool.

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Build log

Not only don't the sides match the backs and are full of little knots, but the sapwood can be highly unstable and fragile... Specially for sides. I have seen lots of sets like that on EBay. Not only are they subpar in quality but most importantly they are harvested illegally and exported into the US.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

The knots are all stable/solid at this point. As to illegal or not, this is a set from John Arnold from the Ted Davis estate so while there is no paperwork, it's pre-Cites ban material. It'll be awhile before I get to using this set as I don't have Parlor plans or template at this time. My 13 year old daughter wants to help build a guitar for herself, so this will be for a father/daughter project. Personally I like the look of sapwood and I'll be thinking long and hard how to incorporate these sides to the back, top and head/back plates to pull off a decent look. But even if it still has a mismatch look to it, my daughter will be estatic to get the time with her father.

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Bobby Masten

Well if that's Brazilian let's say the knots are acceptable
Need to put the sapwood towards the top and the heart towards the back unless you want a zebra look. Mismatches of back-sides color always look worse in one plane - it gets better when they are at 90 degrees and separated by some bolder purfling scheme. This one is not a disaster especially since there is some sap in the back too. I would try to preserve that part.

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Build log