How does this make sense?

Let me try to explain.

I number my guitars at the time I start them, that way I can document them as I build them.

I guess that wasn’t so hard…

I guess the point is that #6 was finished quite awhile ago, but I technically STARTED it after I started #4 and #5.

Ok, enough blabbering, here are some pictures. My goal is to finished #5 before my wife has our first baby. God knows how much time I will get for this hobby when I have a newborn…

Thoughts about #5
I am trying something a little different with the rosette. Its big and beefy, but I like the unfinished loop it has. I think it looks a lot better with the supporting ebony ring. The soundboard is western red cedar, which is a bit weaker than spruce, so I plan to over-brace it a bit. My last cedar soundboard cracked on the side after I strung it up, so I am trying to avoid that now.

Thoughts about #7
I am trying to push my design outside my typical interests on this one; hence the white and red. I love to use black in my work. so when I was trying to decide on what purfling to use on the outside of my center strip, I instinctively went for the black and red… but then I realized that I use black a lot. So to push myself in a new direction, I decided to make this a lighter guitar by using now black…. just white or red.

The wood is Khaya, I got it from a semi-local guy for a great price. I think I bought 4-sets of this stuff, so get used to it! It’s not a spectacular wood for tone, but it has lots of figure, so at least it’s pretty to look at!

The soundboard will (most likely) be western red cedar, mostly because that’s all I have at the moment. The binding will be bloodwood with red and white purfling. I don’t have any ideas on the rosette, fingerboard, bridge or inlay just yet.

Until next time!

I have to wait for the lacquer to cure before I can sand and buff it. But here are the last of the pictures pre-buffing.

Here is another photo dump of where I am now. I got the frets installed, leveled and polished. The bridge is made and polished with the pin holes drilled and beveled. All the pore filling is done and I have level sanded everything ready for spraying. I have about 4 or 5 coats of lacquer on the body and headstock, it’s looking really good. I am going to use Tru Oil on the neck.

So I am pretty sure the neck I am using sucks. The laminate is pretty weak, I tried to adjust my truss rod and the rosewood center started to de-laminate… super! I glued the crap out of it and released the tension on the truss rod. Lets just hope I wont need to use the truss rod… I also sanded down to the carbon fiber rods by the 1st fret. I blame my brother Joe because he said that all my necks are too thick. It is good in the long run though, I will just have to use smaller rods for my necks.

I got the fretboard all finished and glued on. The last coat of pore filler is on the guitar now. Lastly, I started shaping the neck.

I finally got the nerve to finish the bindings! It was slow and tedious, but in the end it worked great!I’ve found that if I glue the binding on right after I finish bending it, it is a little easier to work with. I guess that makes sense, wood is a more malleable when it is hot.

Here are pictures of my progress. I need to finish up my fretboard with some binding, glue it on the neck and fret it. I also need to shape the neck and rout the headstock. After that it’s all downhill 🙂

The Fretboard inlay… yeah, I know its crooked… I am pretty pissed about it, but I am not going to start over, I just need to push on. This is why I need a CNC machine!