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I just finished an OM with a cutaway. Back and sides are African Blackwood. Top is Adirondack Spruce. Neck is bolted on, one piece Mahogany. Fingerboard, headplate and bridge are Ebony. The binding is curly Eucalytus. The rosette is Afzelia burl. And the pickguard is Cocobolo.

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beautiful work. very tasteful. with the adi and blackwood, i bet it thunders!
phil

Beautiful. It looks like you blended the heel. Very nice.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Very nice D. I've been getting interested in the Blackwood. I like the look of it. How does it work and sound?

Great looking guitar. Nice work.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Nice work. Did you happen to play the guitar before and after the pickguard installation? Did it have a significatn impact on the tone?

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

I'm now the proud owner of this guitar. To answer the questions as to its sound... The tone is very balanced. It has excellent bass but not overwhelming as in a dreadnaught. It's a guitar that can whisper as well as "speak" above the crowd. The sustain is forever.

The response is excellent. In other words, you barely have to touch the strings to get sound, which is very helpful for my arthritic hands. This is an excellent guitar for "tapping", which places the onus on me to become a little more accurate in fretting because any sloppiness on my part is going to be heard. The size of the guitar is very "comfortable". I gave up dreadnaughts long ago because of their size. The OM size is perfect for my needs.

This guitar is the quintessential guitar for any singer/songwriter who fingerpicks and/or strums. When one adds to that its beauty and the flawless craftsmanship (I love the cutaway heel contour), one can't help but become a better player over time. By the same token, I'm sure this guitar is going to get better also over time as it ages.

BTW I'm afflicted with GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome). I own 15+ guitars of all stripes...Martins, Rainsongs, Fenders, Alvarez Yiari, Harmony Sovereign, and more. This guitar looks, sounds, and plays better than them all. I couldn't be happier.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words. I didn't play the guitar before attaching the pickguard so I can't comment on how it affected the tone. Chris to answer your question blackwood is very hard and brittle, splits easily. It's also very dense. I resawed the back and sides from a board that I bought in Atlanta. It completely dulled the blade. Going through the thickness sander it quickly caused a black buildup on the paper, even going through at an angle to the grain. I took the sides down to .075" and treated them with Super Soft II before bending. Once the sides were glued to the end blocks they rang like a bell. The wood is great to finish. I filled the pores with System III epoxy, sanded back to bare wood, and shot it with McFadden's nitro.

Very nice , last year in Montreal Bill Tippin was beside me and he had a couple ABW and Adi guitars .. they were amazing .. went out and bought some ABW the next month !!!

how was the cutaway bent ... pipe? or bender ???

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Bender with two heat blankets.

Congrats, looks GOOD!

Dave

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God, Family, Carreer

How did you treat it with SSII and what was your bending temp. and time?

I lightly sprayed the sides with SSII the night before bending. By the next morning they were dry. When I was ready to bend that afternoon I sprayed them again with water, wrapped them with kraft paper and made the usual sandwich of spring steel and heat blankets. I heated to 300 - 320 range for 15 minutes and cooled to room temperature. You have to be really careful removing the cutaway side from the bender with the spring steel.

Fantastic work...bravo!

Nice! I really like the look of the eucalyptus against the blackwood! Where did you get the bindings? Or did you cut them yourself?

The binding is from RC Tonewood.

Nice work, Dave. I'm a big fan of that type of heel to cutaway transition.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com