Official Luthiers Forum!

I hope this will be of interest to some of you... Sassandra (a type of African mahogany) is something I haven't seen mentioned here on the OLF so I thought I'd share these pics I took today...

I tried to make a "vintage looking" guitar... I distressed the top with stain, and built it really light (3.5 lbs.) It's only had strings for less than a day... but I can tell you it's really fun to play!

Sassandra was salvaged from backing boards
Lutz top from Fry
Jacaronda FB, HS overlay, truss rod cap, bridge from Bob C.
Zebrawood binding and rosette

Critiques welcome... thanks for lookin' ... Click on the pics to make 'em bigger.

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Hey, what a nice looking guitar. Never heard of the wood. What kind of backing boards?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Hey thanks, Waddy... The board I got was used to protect other lumber from being damaged by strapping during shipping. They use a different type of strapping now I understand, so backing boards are a lot harder to find.

long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Well Dang, then!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I recently was lucky enough to purchase a few backing boards my self, I got Walnut and Curly Cherry for $1/board ft the wallnut board is long enough to make 4 guitars. I love backing boards.

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Tomasz Cudzich

Bob,

I really like guitars that are made out of Cinderella wood - stuff that wasn't originally meant as tone wood. Shane's packing material falls in to that category a lot. The Sassandra looks very nice - is it mahogany like as a tonewood? The jatoba appointments are very classy as well.

Lovely guitar!

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Sassandra is a port city in Africa and the Khaya that is shipped from there is renamed sassandra mahogany by the locals. From what I have read, it is mostly a red variety and very course due to the area in which it grows

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Dean

VERY nice. I like the burst on the neck especialy.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Looks great Bob!

Great looking guitar Bob! And lightweight at 3.5 lbs
How did you get the weight down so low?(Maybe eliminate the truss rod?) I have a hard time staying close to 4 lbs. and I prefer light guitars.

Chuck

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Thanks, Dave... The Sassandra is really Khaya that is exported from the city of Sassandra (as Dean said)... The thing that struck me as different about this wood is how light it is... it's some of the lightest wood I ever used.... similar to Spanish Cedar. Also... the appointments are Jacaranda... I really like this stuff alot!

Mike, Thanks... I've done the little shading thing on quite a few of my necks lately... Since I was going for an "aged look" it seemed fitting to do it on this one.

Hesh! 6 Clappers? Wow, thanks!

long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Beautiful Bob. I love the look of the mahogany.






Don't you just love the fact that Shane always throws in a nice set for free? Don't understand how he can afford to keep doing it, but I love the freebies.

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Aoibeann

Very, very nice! Well done!

Bob, that's a cool little guitar.
Well, at least it looks little. (It definitely looks cool!)
What's the scale length?
And did you do anything different (than usual) in the interior to lighten the weight?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you like my little guitar... and yes Steve, it is little... it's the same size and shape as the Martin "Single-O" and it's a short scale (24 27/32") I made much of the interior from Spanish Cedar and most of the braces with WRC... I'm not sure if it really makes that much difference in weight, but it is lighter than any guitar of this size I've made before. It's my attempt at making a new guitar that looks, sounds and feels like an old guitar.

long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Thanks Bob. I bet it smells great as well!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

She's a sweetie, Bob! Very nice. Love the rosette and the top itself looks really cool!

I've found that the best way to give a guitar the "distressed look" is to simply leave it on my bench.

Ding #1. "That'll sand out"
Ding #2. "I can fix that."
Ding #3. "&$%#$!!!"
Ding #4. This is the point where it becomes officially distressed.