Official Luthiers Forum!

I am planning a couple of L-00 builds based on the Nick Lucas inspired Santa Cruz H13. 13 fret slothead, pyramid bridge, 25.4" scale, deep body, etc. One will be Honduran Mahogany/Sitka and the other EIR/Lutz. I will probably keep my favorite and sell/gift the other.

I am a rhythm/singer guy with a somewhat heavy handed strumming attack. My first build was a 25" scale slope D that sounds great when played fingerstyle, but lacks bass and headroom. I am looking for advice on how to build these guitars to suit my playing style. The Sitka top (ebay) is stiff with "master grade" and tree numbers and signatures of the supplier all over it. I have a couple of options out of Shane's low grade bundles for the Lutz, one very stiff and the other moderately stiff.

I have Lutz brace wood from Shane and Adi brace wood from Colonial. Which should I use for each guitar and why? A little advice top and back plate thickness would be appreciated, too.

I will be working from the Grellier L-00 plans. Is it okay to simply shift the soundhole and X brace south without modifying the angle and brace dimensions? Does anything in the upper bout/UTB need to be addressed? Thanks in advance!

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Anyone?

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Maybe one 'specific' question at a time.

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Pat

Respondents need not answer every question in each post. Any tips are appreciated.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Rosewood .090
Mahogany .100
Sitka .110
The Gore/Gilet books will answer your questions much more thoroughly. The broadness of your questions makes a concise answer difficult.

That sounds like a good start. Here's 12-fret L-00 I built a few years ago. I would guess something between this and the Grellier plan would get you started on the layout for the components on the top.



It's just a snapshot of my drawing, not 1:1 as stated on the drawing.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Bump, because I want to build one also.

Have you checked the dimensions on the SCGC site? Theirs is pretty thick.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Thanks, guys. Pat, using an A-frame for these builds makes perfect sense and I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. Thanks!

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Thanks, guys. Pat, using an A-frame for these builds makes perfect sense and I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. Thanks!

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Have you reached out to Paul Hostetter? He frequents mandolin cafe website and often offers helpful advice.

Since he is the "H" in H13, I may just do that. Thanks, Randy.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Hi Casey
I have travelled this route. I built a 13-fret Nick Lucas style L-00 a few years ago. It was only my second guitar build, so I do not claim expert status. But I can tell you what I did in terms of measurements and plans. Most of it is described in this thread on the frets.net forum so have a look at this and then see what you think, then ask more questions if you need to:
http://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/n ... 1#comments

Randy is correct - The real guru regarding these instruments is Paul Hostetter. He is the one who designed the Santa Cruz H-13, which is pretty much the perfect modern realization of this style of guitar. Paul did make a comment in that thread - and Paul's website has lots of information that you should check out. He is also a very generous contributor to various forums, and might answer specific queries if you direct them to him through his webpages.
http://www.lutherie.net/model_h.html

Good luck with it. I love my one - it is the most played guitar in my house.
Mark