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Hello all.

Build #1 is on a bit of a break at the moment while I wait for tools and a few things to come though the post over then next 2 weeks or so. I have decided to start build #2 in the mean time. Mainly as I am bored of waiting and also because that way I can use the skills I have learned quickly enough to stop forgetting things.

I am looking at making something different than my first build. I have sourced some western red cedar tops from a local supplier to me. With my first guitar I had ideas for what I wanted but this one I'm blank. I want to keep cost at a decent level as I still don't want to splash out on fancy backwoods on such an early build, but still want something that goes well with the top Any suggestions on what goes well with red cedar that bends, sands and cuts easily? ( I will be bending by hand ).

Any ideas would be great. I will probably make a dreadnought sized guitar with this one as my first is a parlour.

Materials I have lying around are bloodwood & ebony purfling, some scraps of rosewood which I could use for a head plate or rosette.

Walnut bends like butter and works easily too.

I was thinking walnut, but #1 is Peruvian walnut.

This is not what you're asking about, but I'll give this bit of unsolicited advice that I was probably given and ignored back when I first started. I hope you don't mind this little detour, not trying to derail the thread.

Seriously consider getting all the way through your first build before you begin the second. It is nice to be able to repeat an operation on a second guitar quickly, but then you'll have two guitars to complete before you get to do it again instead of just one. And you'll likely want to change the way you do certain operations on the next one, and to some extent you're locking yourself in if you build concurrently. It also can kill the momentum when things take nearly twice as long. That progress can be a big motivator, it is for me, at least. You can worry about efficiency later when you're more set in your methods.

I could wax poetically for a few more paragraphs, but that's the gyst of it, with all the usual disclaimers about grains of salt, not needing my permission and diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Indian rosewood is one of the easiest-to-work (especially bending) woods IMO, and looks good to boot- even the 'lower grade' IRW looks good to me.
Mahogany is also a pretty easy-working wood, but thicknessing can be tricky in the varieties (like sapele) with 'rowed' or alternating grain direction. Good sounding, too.

You can make a great-sounding guitar out of quite 'ordinary' wood - no need to spend a great deal.

Cheers
John

This is good advice from Jonathan.
There are a few steps you can 'safely' do in advance, but I'd be careful about making any decisions 'too early' in the 2nd build.
Assuming you are sure of the size/shape you are going to use for your 2nd, you could spend quite a few hours doing things like:
Making molds and templates
Drawing out the 'geometry' and plan
Making drilling and routing jigs for headstock, etc
Joining (but not bracing) plates
Doing the soundhole trim aka rosette if you are sure of the location and design you want. (e.g. do you want 12- or 14-fret join?)
Thicknessing and bending sides

There are plenty of folks out there with a pile of pre-fab parts (e.g. bridges that seemed like a 'great idea at the time') to remind them of the folly of 'getting ahead of yourself' !

Cheers
John

Maybe you're right. I've been told the date for some deliveries may be up to 3 weeks so felt I needed something to keep me going but I'm sure I can find something to keep me busy.

Remember even seasoned wood should be let to acclimatise to your shop conditions, maybe for a couple of months, so no harm in thinking ahead and gives you some time to plan and dream.
East Indian Rosewood I like, but maybe cedar is better paired with less expensive Mahogany (African/plain Sapele/Meranti), Walnut or perhaps Wenge (beautiful dark chocolate brown - cheap but big pores to fill and watch for splinters) maybe.
Also Imbuya (similar to Walnut?), and plainer Maple are well priced and reasonable to work.
All bend quite well and are inexpensive. If you get wide sides, you may get bindings out of them too. (Especially if you decide on an OM, they're not as deep as dreads) Stealth bindings, as they are sometimes called, can look really good with contrasting purfling.
Good luck.

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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.

Here's some ideas to keep you going.

Jigs
Practice finishing (that can take you your whole life.....)
Jigs
Do a set up on your current guitar, it will help you on your first
Jigs

you get the idea...

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