Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:16 am


All times are UTC - 5 hours





Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:23 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:30 am
Posts: 202
Location: Central Coast, NSW
First name: Martin
Last Name: Taylor
City: Central Coast
State: NSW
Country: Australia
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
So, to yet again try to reduce my impact on my bank balance (oh, and maybe the rainforests) I have embarked on another recycled timber guitar. The back and sides are from an old desk that was discarded on the roadside. From what I can tell it was manufactured in the 1950's from Tasmanian Mountain Ash. All the timber was perfectly quarter sawn and after resawing had a fairly good tap tone. The top is a piece of Australian Red Cedar (Toona Australis) that was an offcut given to me from an old builder. He reckoned he had it for at least 20 years in his pile of offcuts he just couldn't throw away.
The Rosette is made up from left over rounds from the inside of previous guitar rosettes (I struggle to throw them out). The neck will be recycled cedar from an old fence. Fretboard and Bridge to be decided on yet. I do have some old blanks but I'd love to use something completely recycled.

I build fairly simply and am regularly inspired by some of the work that appears in these forums. One day I will venture into some more complex builds but for now I am enjoying the basics.

Bending the Mountain Ash
Image

Old rosettes rounds
Image

Snapped up and joined into a random pattern
Image

The Cedar top is quite stiff and taps nicely. The rosette is coming together too.
Image

Mixture of old offcuts of Cedar and Bunya Pine for the bracing
Image

Joining back and sides
Image

Image

Joining the top to close the box.
Image

Binding channels routed and recycled Jarrah for the bindings
Image

_________________
Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:53 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:17 pm
Posts: 190
First name: Raymond
Last Name: Pipkin
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
That looks great! I'll be using your rosette idea in a couple weeks. Thanks!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 12:19 pm 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:08 pm
Posts: 1958
Location: Missouri
First name: Patrick
Last Name: Hanna
State: Missouri
Country: USA
That's neat, Martin. I'm interested in your rosette technique. Not the assorted sound hole scraps, but the way you have glued them. They appear to be glued to a thin piece of cedar or something similar. Would you elaborate a bit about this? For example, do you sand or scrape most of that cedar away after your glue-up has cured? Or after routing the rosette to shape? I'd be very interested in knowing how you do this.
Thanks in advance.
Patrick


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:54 pm 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:08 am
Posts: 1905
Location: Raleigh, NC
First name: Steve
Last Name: Sollod
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Yes, do tell about your rosette... [:Y:]

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 6:19 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:30 am
Posts: 202
Location: Central Coast, NSW
First name: Martin
Last Name: Taylor
City: Central Coast
State: NSW
Country: Australia
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Thanks for the interest everyone.

The rosette "technique" was just a guess but what I did was draw it up very roughly first (as you can see in the pic), break my pieces into the shapes and sand straight edges on them and then glue them to a thin piece of hardwood scrap. I then sanded the top flat (using my drum sander).

I then routed out the rosette shape as normal with my dremel.

When I routed the groove on the soundboard the depth was slightly less than the "mosaic" layer.

The trick was that when I glued the rosette into the soundboard I did it upside down with the thin hardwood on top (for the really observant you can see that the final result is reversed) Then I planed off the "backing" so that the mosaic layer was fully in the soundboard. I then sanded it smooth. I must say I am happy with the result.


Image

_________________
Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:10 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:08 pm
Posts: 1958
Location: Missouri
First name: Patrick
Last Name: Hanna
State: Missouri
Country: USA
Martin,
Yes, of course....perfect. It's so obvious, so simple, but ONLY after you point it out to me. How cool is that?! Thank you for explaining. Pretty soon, lots of people will be following your lead on this.

Patrick


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com