Ladder Braced Grand Concert, Build #7

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks Nick, a big part of the pleasure for me, is the wonderful sculptural objects, guitars are in their various parts and insides, and wow, they make music too! Kinda fills the whole artistic package for me.

Given my recent experience with under-bracing a ladder brace guitar, I over-braced this one remember, and then thanks to good feedback all around I went back and carved some away, and this is where I stopped.



Well now the under-braced Ditson is still holding together, and still sounding great, so before I close this one up I've gone and whittled on it a little more.


And here is where it is now before I close it up. So I hope it isn't overbraced, because that just isn't any fun.

I also have went back and reshaped the back braces, hoping to lighten it and enable it to interact better with the top.


Where it was at.


And after reshaping.

I have been studying Hesh's bracing and Scott van Linges posting on "Sound is Round" and his experiences on feeling the vibrations on the soundboard, and so even though they are working with x bracing, it makes sense to me. and have decided I would rather be under-braced than over. So I'm just feeling my way here, and I'm sure to learn something at least.

So I've got the box closed up, still in clamps overnight.


And it's funny, I was going to try Dave Whites method of closing with binding tape. I started with a clamp at the head block and one at the tail block, and before I knew what was happening, this happened! Hey, I still had two clamps I didn't use!

Till next time,
Joe

[Joe Sustaire]

No, this build didn't totally disappear, just been laying low for a while.
Sometimes you hit productive times when things just happen fast, then of course you hit those times when no matter how hard you bump your head against the wall, you don't seem to get much accomplished! Go with the flow!

Anyway, I did get the box closed up. With shaving down the back braces, I see that I managed to lose most of the radius in the back. Reminder to myself don't shave them down radically until the box is closed! Well that kind of put me off, but I've let it sit a couple of months and it seems to be stable so I'm just going to let it be. The box has a great loud and resonant tap tone, so maybe this bracing is going to work out.


And as you can see I went with black plastic binding because I bought a bunch of it long ago, and I think it will work on this build.


I've also used some trans-tint dyes diluted with water, and rubbed on to give a "vintage" finish similar to what John How has been doing on his ladder braced guitars.


And I roughed a neck out of mahogany.


Truss rod in, tenon bolts fitted and it's starting to indeed look like a guitar shaped object at least!


Rummaging thru my stash, I came across this head plate from an assortment I bought off ebay. Not sure what it is but I believe it will tie in well with the red in the rosette and the red tint in the top.


I laminated it with some black fish paper I got from Glenn, and it looks pretty sharp.

In fact I like the looks enough that I decided to do the same on the back of the headstock, and have enough for the heel cap as well. Now for some reason, stupidity and impatience, I reckon, I've been slow to use registration pins when gluing things up. I know, lots have shown me the advantages and I agree. But this time I used them and man it's great not having things slide around. Old dogs learn slow, but we can come around!


So, here's my fish paper and headstock veneer registered with toothpicks.


Add the clamping caul above.


And the whole mess glued, pinned and clamped, with cauls on top and bottom.

Until the next time,
Joe

[gilmoreguitars]

Joe
There is some beautiful figure in that top! Is your headstock veneer paduk? I sort of looks like it. If it is, it will darken drastikcally over time. I love paduk.
Cheers
David

[Pat Foster]

It's looking good, Joe!

Nice work space. Appears you have a lot of natural light. Plants are a nice touch too.


Pat

[WaddyT]

Hmmm! Just what kind of plants are those?

[whitespruce]

Hey, how come all the posts in this topic with photos are in boxes that you have to scroll left/right to see it all.

This makes reading the text all but impossible since I have to go to the bottom of the post and scroll over to read the end of a line, back up to actually read it and then back down to the bottom to scroll back to get the first part of the next line and so on and so on

Never saw this here before.

Anybody know how to fix it???

G

[Joe Sustaire]

Don't know Grant, it's not happening on mine.

And David, I've never had any paduk so I don't know. Just bought a mixture of headstock veneer and don't know what any of them are!

Waddy, most of them are avocado plants my wife grows from the leftover pits. With good light they make good houseplants, but no avocados yet, and worthless for any higher use!

And thanks Pat, yeah I'm off the grid so I've got about a 8' x 14' skylight I made from some lexan sign panels my brother gave me, works great. Here's another couple of pictures.




Thanks for watching guys,
Joe

[Vinman]

Interestng build Joe. Thanks for posting this one. As I finish my last neck jig, I have been paying attention to the neck joint and how everyone does theirs. I noticed that you have the joint on the neck block cut prior to attaching it to the rim. How do you achieve and maintain the centering of the block while glueing?

Vince