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Friends,
I recently strung up my twelfth guitar. It's OM-sized with a Western red cedar top, wenge back and sides, walnut neck, and curly maple bindings. I made this one for my sister, who will be giving it to her boyfriend for Christmas. (Boyfriend doesn't seem right for a couple nearing retirement, but it will have to do.)

The rosette, headstock veneer, end graft, and heel cap all feature a look that I've been developing using scrap pieces from other projects. Look closely and you'll see that in lieu of a complete veneer on the back of the headstock, I decided to just cover the visible line left by the scarf joint. I think it's kind of cool. The wenge was as splintery as advertised and had pores deep enough to swallow a finger plane--my pore filling skills need more practice! It wasn't particularly difficult to work, though, and had a nice stiffness and almost glassy ring to it that I think works well with the damping nature of WRC. I fail miserably at describing tone and will just say that it has a pleasing sound, at least to my ears, with the full mid-range presence and relative balance between bass and treble that I expect from an OM.

While I do this solely for fun and go about my work rather slowly, I feel as though I'm starting to get the hang of things. This is in no small part thanks to all of you for being so generous with your time, expertise, and encouragement. So, thank you!

With a tip of my cap to Haans and the rather unique approach he takes to photographing his instruments, here are a few shots:

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George :-)

Very nice George - I'm sure the boyfriend will be thrilled. What did you use for the purfling on the back? Maple and ?

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Beautifully done. That is some great looking wenge.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Really beautiful, George. Do you have a shot of the end wedge? All of those elements are great!

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Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
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That is really beautifully done George - the pickguard shape is a nice touch as well.

Excellent work George!!! Love the shape. Nice touches with the rosette, headstock and trim.

A couple of questions,
What finish did you go with?
What body depth did you use?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Thanks, fellas. Your compliments are greatly appreciated. I won't have much time to spend at the computer the rest of today and tomorrow, so may be slow to respond from here forward.

Steve - The purfling is all either LMI's standard b/w/b or their b/w doubled up to create b/w/w/b.

Brad - I snapped a pic of the end graft just now (see below).

Daniel - Have to credit Bruce Sexauer for influencing that pickguard shape.

Joe - The finish is Pratt & Lambert #38 Gloss varnish. I put it on with foam brushes. Easy to do and I think it looks nice but I'm still buffing and polishing by hand, so I'm definitely not getting a perfect glass-like finish. The body depth on this one ended up at 3.5" at the head and 4.25 at the tail.



Thanks again!

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George :-)

Incredible!

Sweet all round!

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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.

Beautiful guitar, George, and I think you got the hang of things quite a while ago!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Very nice, what was your process on pore filling?

I used Pore-O-Pac on this one. First time with that product and I liked it well enough. However, I used lampblack to tint the filler darker, which did the job, but I had to go back and scrape or sand every little nook and cranny of the light purfling strips and bindings I did seal them with shellac first. Seems like there must be a better way to keep those clean.

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George :-)

Great looking guitar. I really like the way you treated the end wedge.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Thanks George. I'm always interested in finishes. And, I'm making a SJ soon but the sides I have will only give me 4.5". I usually go 4.75. Sounds like 4.5 should be fine.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Fine looking instrument, that!

Pat

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

Really nice, classy guitar and the wenge was worth the effort. It looks great.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Nice job all around George! I like the bauhaus touches.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Beauty! I love Wenge.

Nicely done! It kinda looks closer to a parlor rather than an OM... Also, unless it's just the photo, the fingerboard looks kinda thin. What is the width at the nut and the string spacing at the saddle? Very pretty guitar!

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Very classy. I love the wide open space of the Wenge back. Looks like one piece.

Yup, it's just the photos. The nut is 1 3/4" and string spacing 2 5/32". The body length is 19 1/2", with a lower bout width of 15 1/8" and 11 1/8" at the upper bout.

Yeah, wenge is a lovely wood. The back looks like a huge chocolate bar or something and the long, straight grain lines leaves the joint invisible.

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George :-)

Such inspiring work, and as always, I love your pick guard design! Looking forward to seeing number 13!

George
That is a great looking guitar. You should be very proud - Mike G

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guitarsbygiltzow.com

Very nice George!
Although somewhat splitty, wenge does make a fine instrument. It has sometimes been called "African rosewood" like Bubinga. I guess we should buy it before F&W find out and list it with the other "rosewoods".

Just to keep things clear in light of a couple recent threads on restrictions on wood species, the rosewood species weren't put on a list by F&W. That was done by the parties to the CITES treaty, which include almost all the countries on the planet. On the other hand, F&W is involved with the endangered species list under the US Endangered Species Act (the list doesn't include any rosewood species), but that's a different kettle of fish.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter