Lattice braced

A special Cedar/Amazon rosewood lattice

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I have been fantasizing for a few years about using one of the special extra dark Amazon rosewood sets in my collection so building this guitar has been a real experience. It has also proved to be hard to fill and finish in the traditional way, I needed a few healthy months to get a thick flat shellac film (I really don’t want to deliver those superficial finishes that burn and flake off after 2 weeks of use)

The title is lattice braced but the soundboard is actually in the traditional range of thicknesses while the spruce lattice is discreet in influence. The body of the guitar however is stiff and heavy as I believe this is the right alternative (NB alternative, not replacement) to the traditional light build.

Other details are Brazilian rosewood bridge, armrest and internal elements, Sipo mahogany elevated neck, African blackwood fingerboard with stainless steel frets, Gotoh premium tuners and an unobtrusive yet slightly beneficial soundport.

Below the (many) photos, two beautifully played videos took mid-way during the polishing process.

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Spruce/Wenge lattice

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Continuing to catch up with the blog, this is my first wenge guitar made in 2020, and despite the difficulties of using this wood the tone is really a pleasant surprise. The top is Italian Alpine spruce, wood lattice bracing, ebony headplate and binding, African blackwood fingerboard and armrest, Brazilian rosewood bridge. Below the gallery, a couple videos made by the owner.

A “new” lattice

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And I am still very very slow to update here…but trust me, working from home with two little girls in my hair can be quite difficult.  I already had a number of customers pulling out and many are losing their patience. But for the record i am alive and doing whatever I can to catch up.

 

So, this is a German spruce lattice started in last year and finished this spring with Indian body, elevated neck, Madagascar rosewood bridge and armrest, mahogany neck with ebony FB.

 

And a raw recording (no varnish) with carbon strings:

First elevated neck

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My first elevated neck guitar!  While it doesn’t seem to make a tremendous difference in playability (at least for my hands/skill) there are several constructive aspects that make me wish I had started doing it sooner.

Red cedar soundboard, lattice braced, muninga bridge
Indian rosewood body and headplate, mahogany binding
Spanish cedar neck with African blackwood fingerboard, Gotoh premium tuners.

Recording is made with just a shellac seal coat on the soundboard, fresh uncured nitro back and sides, carbon strings (fresh as well thus going out of tune)

 

A pair of 8-string guitars

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A pair of twin 8 string guitars I started late last year but took a long time to finish as I tried to learn how to apply nitrocellulose lacquer.  Besides these I also recently finished another two and now I am confident to offer it as standard finish for the back, sides and neck.  The soundboards will continue to be french polished.

-lattice braced cedar soundboard, Brazilian rosewood bridge.
-intense purple Indian rosewood body and headplate
-Cedro and wenge neck with Amazon rosewood fingerboard.

They are for a very musical (and dear to me) Romanian duo and I hope to post a video as soon as they acquaint themselves with the instruments.

Edit: two live clips fished on YT after the photos.

 

Lattice-braced Swiss spruce / Amazon rosewood

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-lattice braced 3-piece Swiss spruce soundboard
-Brazilian rosewood bridge
-Amazon rosewood back and sides
-cedro neck with Indian rosewood headplate, ebony fingerboard
-Indian rosewood binding

Raw recording made before french polishing: