JAZZBO!
Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:42 am
This project began when the garland (bent side assembly) was given to me by John Hall in November, 2006. The rest of the guitar was hand-built between then and October of 2007. I assembled it then, and strung it up to test play it and check fits and clearances.
During the months of November and December, I sealed and varnished it, shaded the sides and back, and did the myriad other things to finish it off. I completed it at 4pm on New Year's Eve!
The top is spruce, and like the back, it is book-matched and hand-carved to an average thickness of 3mm. The edges are thicker for strength and stiffness. The back was hand-carved as well. The "box" (body) of the guitar were assembled using hide glue. As you can see, the sound holes are bound in white celluloid.
The neck was a seven-layer laminated block of 200-year-old gunstock walnut found in a barn in southern Indiana, and hard maple. If you count the walnut headstock wings, it's nine layers. Because of the desire to keep the neck heel continuous with the neck itself, the neck rough block was something like 26" long, by 4 1/2" high by 2 1/4" thick. Although I didn't weigh it, this block must have been around 7 pounds by itself. About 75% of it became waste.
The fretboard is a standard Rick bubinga acoustic item, treated to double-binding in checkerboard and white celluloid. Radius is 7.25". The triangle fret markers are hand-inlayed crushed pearl. The side dots are vintage red celluloid, salvaged from the neck of my '60 Capri when I restored it. The headstock was left natural on its front surface, and received standard gold-plated Schaller mini tuning machines and a laser-engraved Rickenbacker TRC. The neck assembly was assembled and clamped up over a weekend using Titebond AR glue. It features handmade dual new-style Rick truss rods with standard cap nuts at one end and long adjusting nuts under the truss rod cover.
The burst is actually five colors: a pale red/orange antique Fireglo, a transparent dark maroon, dark brown, charcoal brown-black, and purple (which was used to richen up the transition between the brown-black and dark brown). All colors are transparent dyes which under flash photography or bright lights display the wood grain all the way to the binding edge.
The conversion varnish topcoats are very thin. compared to a typical electric. They stiffen and focus the tone. The difference in tone between the raw wood guitar and the fully-finished one is quite noticeable. The whole legend about John and Paul sanding the finish off their guitars to "open up" the sound seems futile to me at this time, after playing this guitar both ways--the tone is way better (cleaner and less fuzzy) with a finish on the wood IMO.
The floating neck extension is rabbetted into the neck and follows the contour of the German-carved top surface within about a millimeter, leaving airspace so the entire top can vibrate as a whole. The bridge is a handmade ebony piece by Bill Gagnon, a luthier in Oregon. The tailpiece, for now, is an Allparts early Gibson archtop replica. It will eventually be replaced by one of my own design and fabrication.
Sharp-eyed viewers will note the polished brass tubing set into the treble side of the neck extension. This will receive a tapered stainless steel pin which will locate the front edge of the optional pickguard. There will be two pickguards: a plain faux antique tortoise-shell unit for acoustic playing, which will be interchangeable with a self-contained single-pickup modular unit that will house volume and tone control thumbwheel pots and a hidden output jack, for amplified playing. This will give a total of three different appearance and functional options, which will be capable of being selected in a few seconds. When set up for acoustic playing, there will be no evidence of any electrical apparatus--it's all contained in or on the pickguard.
Dimensions: Lower bout, 16.25" wide; upper bout, 12.25" wide. Length of body, 21.75"; total length 43". Thickness of the body is a full 4" at the edges and 5" at the center, giving it a nice bottom end to complement its good treble and midrange. The sonic balance is excellent, and projection is amazing for an archtop.
Players not accustomed to playing a Rick acoustic are stunned by the action and general feel of the fretboard--all agree that it plays like a premium electric. This makes some uncomfortable. Action is low, and even with the T-I .013-.052 flatwound strings that are on it right now, playing is relatively easy. I'll probably go down to a .012 set next time around, though.
OK, time for pictures:
I'll post some more with the guards once they're completed and fitted.
During the months of November and December, I sealed and varnished it, shaded the sides and back, and did the myriad other things to finish it off. I completed it at 4pm on New Year's Eve!
The top is spruce, and like the back, it is book-matched and hand-carved to an average thickness of 3mm. The edges are thicker for strength and stiffness. The back was hand-carved as well. The "box" (body) of the guitar were assembled using hide glue. As you can see, the sound holes are bound in white celluloid.
The neck was a seven-layer laminated block of 200-year-old gunstock walnut found in a barn in southern Indiana, and hard maple. If you count the walnut headstock wings, it's nine layers. Because of the desire to keep the neck heel continuous with the neck itself, the neck rough block was something like 26" long, by 4 1/2" high by 2 1/4" thick. Although I didn't weigh it, this block must have been around 7 pounds by itself. About 75% of it became waste.
The fretboard is a standard Rick bubinga acoustic item, treated to double-binding in checkerboard and white celluloid. Radius is 7.25". The triangle fret markers are hand-inlayed crushed pearl. The side dots are vintage red celluloid, salvaged from the neck of my '60 Capri when I restored it. The headstock was left natural on its front surface, and received standard gold-plated Schaller mini tuning machines and a laser-engraved Rickenbacker TRC. The neck assembly was assembled and clamped up over a weekend using Titebond AR glue. It features handmade dual new-style Rick truss rods with standard cap nuts at one end and long adjusting nuts under the truss rod cover.
The burst is actually five colors: a pale red/orange antique Fireglo, a transparent dark maroon, dark brown, charcoal brown-black, and purple (which was used to richen up the transition between the brown-black and dark brown). All colors are transparent dyes which under flash photography or bright lights display the wood grain all the way to the binding edge.
The conversion varnish topcoats are very thin. compared to a typical electric. They stiffen and focus the tone. The difference in tone between the raw wood guitar and the fully-finished one is quite noticeable. The whole legend about John and Paul sanding the finish off their guitars to "open up" the sound seems futile to me at this time, after playing this guitar both ways--the tone is way better (cleaner and less fuzzy) with a finish on the wood IMO.
The floating neck extension is rabbetted into the neck and follows the contour of the German-carved top surface within about a millimeter, leaving airspace so the entire top can vibrate as a whole. The bridge is a handmade ebony piece by Bill Gagnon, a luthier in Oregon. The tailpiece, for now, is an Allparts early Gibson archtop replica. It will eventually be replaced by one of my own design and fabrication.
Sharp-eyed viewers will note the polished brass tubing set into the treble side of the neck extension. This will receive a tapered stainless steel pin which will locate the front edge of the optional pickguard. There will be two pickguards: a plain faux antique tortoise-shell unit for acoustic playing, which will be interchangeable with a self-contained single-pickup modular unit that will house volume and tone control thumbwheel pots and a hidden output jack, for amplified playing. This will give a total of three different appearance and functional options, which will be capable of being selected in a few seconds. When set up for acoustic playing, there will be no evidence of any electrical apparatus--it's all contained in or on the pickguard.
Dimensions: Lower bout, 16.25" wide; upper bout, 12.25" wide. Length of body, 21.75"; total length 43". Thickness of the body is a full 4" at the edges and 5" at the center, giving it a nice bottom end to complement its good treble and midrange. The sonic balance is excellent, and projection is amazing for an archtop.
Players not accustomed to playing a Rick acoustic are stunned by the action and general feel of the fretboard--all agree that it plays like a premium electric. This makes some uncomfortable. Action is low, and even with the T-I .013-.052 flatwound strings that are on it right now, playing is relatively easy. I'll probably go down to a .012 set next time around, though.
OK, time for pictures:
I'll post some more with the guards once they're completed and fitted.
The fingerboard is lovely. 
