Official Luthiers Forum!

Well after threatening to finish my second Selmer build a few weeks ago, events conspired against me so I've used the chance of the easter break to finally finish the project off. After making one for a customer recently, I was so taken with how it came out & sounded that I've made this one for myself.
First a few details:
Scale length 25" - my personal preference to play.
Top is Sitka
Back and sides are Tasmanian Blackwood
Bindings are black plastic ( ). I went through numerous ebony strips trying to get it right on the cutaway but because of the 3D nature of the top it didn't want to play nicely & I kept getting gaps between the spruce & ebony,hence the drastic decision to go plastic. At least with the plastic I was able to apply abit of heat and they formed right into the curves. May the god's of wood forgive me.
I'm a fan of the 'clean & simple' look so I didn't install any purfling on this one. I don't think it's lost anything by leaving it out?
Neck is a 2 piece Sapele with ebony headplate and ebony fingerboard.
Floating bridge and moustaches are ebony with an ebony insert in the brass tailpiece.
As with my first petite bouche, I again used pickups in this one as it seemed to work well in my first build (as per it's customer's instructions) & went for the "Pure Maccaferris" K&K's under the soundboard & tried an EMG FT (an active tele neck PU) in the neck. Used a Fishman endpin preamp again which allows for seperate volume controls of the piezo's and active.
Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the bracing but this one has the straight brace between the bridge and tailblock removed. Wanted to open up the top a little in conjunction with a slightly longer scale length & it seems to produce the volume so I'm pleased about that.
So the pics:












Another shot showing the slight angle of the cutaway as it meets the neck. Gives a nice feel as there is no ledge for your hand to negotiate at the body join.


A classic "head shot"


My Kiwi inlay on the tailpiece.


& finally a close up of the rosette inlay. Does anybody else notice the optical illusion? The oval curve of the rosette lines makes the string look curved, it's kinda weird when you look at it straight on, the two E strings look as though they 'neck inwards' as they go past the soundhole.

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com

Way cool, congrats!

May I ask about the bridge? I suppose the center is not glued? Is it carved from the bottom to reduce weight? I am talking about carving inside the bridge, not about the center span.

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Build log

please take this in the spirit in which it is intended. i almost didnt even click on this thread just because im just not that interested in selmer style guitars, but im glad i did. i really like that guitar. and hey, the binding looks great! good job.

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sweat the small stuff.

Thanks Alexandru. Yes the bridge isn't glued so once the strings come off it's free to fall off the guitar! The mustaches (the little pointy bits at the ends of the bridge) are stuck to the top so it's not hard to relocate the bridge in the right spot for the correct scale/intonation. Following in the Selmer tradition it is carved away inside to reduce bridge mass as well as being relieved in it's centre section so that only two 'feet' at bridges end are in contact with the soundboard. Two small longitudinal braces then sit on the underside of the soundoard underneath these contact points.

Here's a view of the bracing from a previous build.

Thanks Heath for your comments, it's all very much appreciated.

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com

That looks amazing, Nick. I'd love to try playing one of those Selmer's someday. Everything about your guitar looks beautiful. What kind of finish did you use?

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-Clint Beacock

Very nice! Love the tailpiece.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Thanks Terence & Clint for your positive comments.
Clint, it's a 2 pot Urethane . It should be Nitro and purists will hang me but I find it more resilient & able to take the knocks better than Nitro. Plus in our little corner of the world the weather can be......"changeable" rather quickly. I spray out in my garage so unless it's high humidity or pouring with rain where blushing is a problem, I find the Urethane will cure independently of outside temps so I can spray almost year round. The lacquers don't like low temps.

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com

Very nice! I have a soft spot for Selmer type guitars. I just wish that I could play Gypsy Jazz better. Or anything better...

I've built one petit bouche and will sooner or later build more, but in the meantime the classicals are what occupy me.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

That's one killer guitar!!

Beautiful

The body looks huge, is it just because of the sound hole or is this larger than a J-200 lower bout?

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Congratulation, this is a very nice guitar.
I have to make one of these eventually .

Did you make the pliage?

That heel and cutaway are beautifully executed--I love it! Love to blackwood, too... sign me up!

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Evan McCartney

Nice job! The Selmer style is on my list "to do", which is much larger than my list "done".

Looks like you did the pliage. How did you do it, did you scribe the underside?

Kirt

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Horton, MI

Thanks everybody for your kind words

Bill, the lower bout is only 15 1/4" across, slightly bigger than a 000. The sound hole is 3" x 2" so that may be is what gives it that 'big' look.
Alain & Kirt, yes the pliage was heat bent, I have read of people scoring the bend but wanted to retain the tops integrity so just bent on the pliage line using my trusty heating iron. I didn't bend all the way out to the edge though, I only went out about 2/3rds from the centre seam, that way the edge pulls down into a straight line when gluing to the sides.
Here's a picture I took before any of the 'hardware' went on which shows the pliage line nicely.


And another of a previous build, although this one I bent from the pliage back to the tailblock forming a gentle curve back to the tail, whereas the build I have shown just had the one bend at the pliage.

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com

Thank you Nick for the picture. If I remember correctly, the Selmer have no side profiles, ie the sides are straight ( also at the waist) is that correct?

Thanks for sharing it with us Nick. I'd love to hear some sound clips of it

Maybe I scanned too fast above and missed it but what kind of finish did you use. It looks great

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

The Selmer is very much a 3 dimensional shape, not only does it taper 1/2" from neck to tailblock but because the back and top are domed the sides are anything but straight.
Here's a pic I took of my previous build illustrating this, the waist is probably the widest part of the sides & the lower bout the narrowest. The top (as well as the pliage) has a 12 foot radius changing to a 7 foot at the bridge with a longitudinal of about 25 foot & the back is a 12 foot radius. The top is uppermost with the back sitting on it's dish (which gives the impression that it's flat but it is pretty close to the top profile).


Bill, I break with tradition and use a 2 pot urethane for my finish. I find it a little hardier than Nitro in general use, doesn't polish up probably quite as 'deep' as nitro but still does a worthy job. I only apply enough coats to avoid rub throughs when polishing up, I don't lay it on thick like modern solid bodies!

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com