Members GuitarSlim101 Posted March 30, 2015 Members Share Posted March 30, 2015 So, this isn't an effect in the pedal sense, but it's something different that can be used as an effect for those times when a standard acoustic tone isn't desired, so hopefully it's appropriate enough. Plus, this is always where I've been comfortable on HC, so I'm putting it here for the handful of people who are still around. Long story short, I've been building a small bodied archtop acoustic between customer repairs for the last 14 months, and it's finished. I got the bug to build a small archtop because I'm a big fan of the sound David Rawlings gets out of his little Epiphone Olympic and my old Harmony archtop needs quite a bit of work. My Dad got his hands on some reclaimed old growth Redwood slabs that were used as brine vats at the Gedney pickle factory, and he was willing to part with some, so for the sake of science and my own curiosity, the top, back, and sides of the body are solid Redwood. The top and back are hand carved and hand graduated, the sides were bent using a $20 curling iron from CVS, braces are some well seasoned Engelmann spruce from a rejected half of a cello top, and the neck is a nice chunk of Walnut with an Indian Rosewood fretboard. Here are a few pictures: And a quick and dirty little tune I recorded earlier today. It's a bit noisy as I recorded it with an old Astatic mic straight in to the sound card on an older macbook pro, but my decent recording gear is in storage at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Wow! That's really impressive! What's the scale length? While it's noisy, I really liked the sound of the guitar on the recording a lot - it has character! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Would you mind if I linked to this thread in the HC DIY forum? I'm sure they'd love to see your work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted March 31, 2015 Author Members Share Posted March 31, 2015 Thanks, Phil! Yeah, feel free to link to it. The scale length is 25.5 inches, and the body is a similar footprint to a 000 Martin. It's a little less than 14 inches across the lower bout and about 19.5 inches long, so it's a bit of an odd duck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted March 31, 2015 Members Share Posted March 31, 2015 Beautiful guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted April 1, 2015 Members Share Posted April 1, 2015 Wow, what a great project, and it does indeed sound beautiful Thanks for posting this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Yeah, it's really cool - thanks for posting the dimensional details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Another question - how is the redwood holding up? Isn't it a fairly soft wood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skviggel fhank Posted April 2, 2015 Members Share Posted April 2, 2015 awesum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted April 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2015 Another question - how is the redwood holding up? Isn't it a fairly soft wood? It is pretty soft, but it's a bit more dimensionally stable than Spruce and Cedar, and this is very well seasoned wood. It does scratch and dent about as easily as Cedar, and I put a very thin French polish on for the finish, so surface damage is a bit of a concern. Structurally speaking, it's pretty solid. I kind of overbuilt it and made oversized neck and tail blocks, and added quite a few side braces to help stabilize things a bit. Redwood is becoming fairly common for soundboards, but I haven't seen anyone else use it for backs and sides, so this is a bit of an experiment. Since it is soft, it resonates similarly to a well made classical guitar, and you can dampen the tone significantly if you allow a large section of the back to contact your body, which is kind of cool. It's like the acoustic equivalent of rolling your volume knob down a notch or two, then you can pull it away and get full volume for leads and louder bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted April 2, 2015 Members Share Posted April 2, 2015 Wow. That turned out really well. I love your playing too. The folks over in Acoustic Guitars should see this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted April 3, 2015 Members Share Posted April 3, 2015 Slim, that is a lovely little guitar and a nice documentation on your build. I would never have seen this if it wasn't for DeepEnd's link at the acoustic group - thanks to both of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted April 3, 2015 Members Share Posted April 3, 2015 Why does the top need bracing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted April 3, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 3, 2015 Thanks, everyone. The bracing on an archtop is primarily there to help shape the voice of the instrument. Traditionally archtops are built with parallel braces, which give the instrument a louder, brighter tone without much sustain. I have a 1940 Harmony archtop that was built with parallel braces, and also has a thinner top that was heat pressed into an arch rather than carved, which was often the case with inexpensive archtops. I was looking for a different tone with this guitar, and to help prevent the smaller body from making it a little too bright and wimpy sounding, I went with x braces, which lend a bit more warmth and sustain, but you lose some volume. It is still a surprising loud little guitar, though. Not quite a banjo killer, but it cuts nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted April 6, 2015 Members Share Posted April 6, 2015 Great job. I can only echo Freeman's comments as he is sort of the expert on these sort of projects over on the Acoustic guitar subforum. As for redwood on the back and sides, I've never heard of them being used for back & sides on an acoustic instrument since it's such a soft wood. I hope you have a good case for it. Typically, hard woods like maple are the choice but I doubt that a curling iron would be hot enough to bend those. I can attest that rosewood is a relative joy to bend but I'm not well versed on arch tops to have seen it used . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted April 20, 2015 Members Share Posted April 20, 2015 Thanks, everyone. The bracing on an archtop is primarily there to help shape the voice of the instrument. Traditionally archtops are built with parallel braces, which give the instrument a louder, brighter tone without much sustain. I have a 1940 Harmony archtop that was built with parallel braces, and also has a thinner top that was heat pressed into an arch rather than carved, which was often the case with inexpensive archtops. I was looking for a different tone with this guitar, and to help prevent the smaller body from making it a little too bright and wimpy sounding, I went with x braces, which lend a bit more warmth and sustain, but you lose some volume. It is still a surprising loud little guitar, though. Not quite a banjo killer, but it cuts nicely. Oops missed this. Thank _YOU_ thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lefort_1 Posted April 20, 2015 Members Share Posted April 20, 2015 Very nicely done ! I've got a 18 inch thick chunk of Sequoia (a four foot wide slice) that is begging for this treatment.And a early 50's Harmony with a cracked/sunken/glued top... Your playing makes a nice guitar sound great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lefort_1 Posted April 23, 2015 Members Share Posted April 23, 2015 I am impressed.Beautiful job.I am especially enjoyed by the use of old pickle-vat ,material. Being a pickler myself. That's a nice little instrument.I am always impressed by those who can intonate their fretboards and bridges w/o subjecting themselves to the dread-nasties. Play on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted April 28, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2015 I am impressed. Beautiful job. I am especially enjoyed by the use of old pickle-vat ,material. Being a pickler myself. That's a nice little instrument. I am always impressed by those who can intonate their fretboards and bridges w/o subjecting themselves to the dread-nasties. Play on. Thanks! The best part of working with this wood is that it still smelled a bit like pickles. It was delightful. As for that chunk of Sequoia, that could make a lovely guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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