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This is my first acoustic guitar build. I must say, that my brother inspired me after seeing his masterful rendering of a Brothers Amati viola that he made. It's really magnificent.

I'm happy to have a lot of the tools I will need from my furniture building days. The top wood is quarter sawn Lutz Spruce from Canada. It was from a bridge stringer (support), so it is being repurposed. It's about 50 years old, so presumedly stable. The sides and back are going to be made from quarter sawn Brazilian Rosewood. The neck is Honduran Mahogany, with an Gabon Ebony fretboard and head plate. There will be some curly Koa binding and some other simple adornments still on the drawing board. Hopeful for a decent outcome. Much can go wrong. Still...there's hope.

I welcome any and all comments and suggestions. I thank you kindly.



Atelier Bollman (aka corner of loft with melodramatic opera curtains)



My toolbox that I made about 15 years ago.



Lutz Spruce



Brazilian Rosewood



Nice sharp blade



Funky shooting board



Possible headstock logo in mother of pearl



Guitar vise mounted onto a thick old chunk of wood and an amazing height-adjustable 90 year old table base that I pluck off the street.



Testing my circle jig.



Inlaying the purfling made of very thin strips of maple and dyed maple. This part is stressful but exciting. I managed a very tight fit. The odd black strips sitting in the circle are purfling strips that I'm using to build up part of the channel because the router height adjustment slipped a bit. It will never been seen again. Takes a rookie...



I'm using my polished jointer's hammer to tap in the purfling.



I'll admit it... I'm pleased. This could have turned out much worse. I still have to shave down the top of the purfling and make it flush with the rest of the top. I will do that in the morning after the glue has had a chance to dry and cure over night.



The rosette has been leveled. I'm very happy with clearing this hurdle.



Detail of leveled rosette.

Wow. That top has crazy medullary rays! Looks awesome! Nice work on the rosette too!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

+1 what Tony said! The rosette is beauty in simplicity, and so well executed! Keep it coming, Steven!

Alex

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

How do you keep your shop free of dust? My shop gets covered in thick layer of dust in only a few minutes of working, and this dust is pervasive!

As for the rosette... I think CA method is going to be less stressful. Fit it in the channel and simply drip CA over that.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I do like that rosette! Very nice. Like the pictures. If you ever do decide to go with the CA method, be sure to seal the channel and area around the rosette with shellac before you use the CA.

Thanks for the nice comments about the rosette! I wanted something simple and stately that suits the guitar design. Tai Fu, the dust is there, though I'm not using much in the way of power tools (laminate trimmer, screw gun). I'm trying to do as much by hand tools as I can without screwing it up.

Working on the back strip today made of curly Koa and white and black maple strips. I'll post the scraped, sanded step later this evening.

Pretty shavings.



So far so good. Koa back strip planed and scraped flush.

Looking nice so far
I like the curtain behind your bench....adds that touch of drama

Thanks, Quine. Drama, there's got to be drama!

I received my Lutz spruce brace wood today. Now to figure out what to do with it. Any suggestions on splitting it?

I'm starting to think about the radius dish. I had an incredibly interesting/useful conversation with Tracy at Luthier Supplier. What I've been able to understand about the Stahl Style 6 design is the braces are glued up under tension (I learned that from American Lutherie magazine (issue 112). So in that issue the radii are stated as 12' across the top and 10' across the bottom. But since its glued under tension there will be some spring back when it comes out of the dish. Getting a dish with a 7-8' radius is unlikely so I had an idea about making a skeleton dish out of baltic birch plywood. It would go into the go bar deck to glue the braces to the front and back sound boards. I know the proportions are inaccurate in my drawing, but it is just meant to convey an idea. Does it seem like this would work?

I know there is at least one tutorial on splitting bracewood because I made one. But the basics are, split in halves to keep the tension on the split even on both sides and avoid jumping grain lines as you split. Go slow to avoid that as well. Get close to the size you want, then plane or use a drum sander to get to your final dimensions. Easy as pie. Unless your bracewood billet has runout. Then you could be in trouble!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Nice to see a build thread.
Great job on the rosette, clean and simple.
I used to use CA for this task - no more.
Braz back and side on the first build?
Cojones!
Go forth and conquer!

Yes, that can be made to work, I do something similiar. You do have to make it work, though. Lining up the supports under the braces is really all it takes to make it work. I glue braces on one at a time, so it's pretty easy. I think it would be pretty tricky to do all the braces in a gobar deck.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Thanks Rodger. From my understanding, this design is glued up with straight braces under tension. So, I think I would need to glue up everything or at least keep the back pushed down into the skeleton dish until the glue dried.

Steven,
If your guitar turns out as well as your tool chest (which is beautiful), it will be a winner. Count me among those who admire the simple beauty of your rosette. I like your wood choices, too. I will be watching.
Patrick

Thanks, Patrick!

Today I started to work on the neck.

Squaring up a big hunk of Mahogany for the neck. This block is actually big enough for two necks.





Smoothing the headstock with my Lie Nielsen low angle Jack plane. Glorious tool it is.



Some good looking quarter sawn grain.



More sawing with a Japanese Ryoba saw



Using the coping saw to get around the curve.

So, I have a feeling you'll be getting a bandsaw soon haha. Nice work, keep it up!

You ever wonder why they call it a coping saw? Because you have to cope with it...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

LOL. Well, it occurred to me. Each time I feel I need a power tool I look at my budget (there is none) and then I see if I can do it with what I have. I like the idea (fantasy) of making it all by hand. I've already used a router so the fantasy is dead, but I will try to do most of it by hand.

Enjoyable thread, use of hand tools is really cool. Just wondering, did you shellac your top before routing the rosette? Looks like it turned out well but shellac is a big help for a clean cut.

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

Hi Terence. No, I did not. I'm a rookie... Should I have?

From the look of you're rosette, no you didn't need to. It does make it easier sometimes, and can be important if you're using CA, which can wick into the endgrain and stain the spruce yellow.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon