Hand Tool moments -- and a Hack -- from 2024 guitar build

[C. in Indy]

Some time earlier this year I only posted a couple of these pictures.
I was off work several months, and I killed some time making a small guitar.  It is really to my liking, even if not fully polished and professional.


I used rift-saw Red Oak for the back and sides...  not a best-selling choice, but it has a sound I very much like.


Using the No. 6 to thickness one of the sides prior to bending:

   



Bending the side with a thrift-store curling iron:

   



Smoothing the back joints with my ECE Emmerich horn plane:

   



Installing a hand-curled rosette into a round slot cut with my Lee Valley string inlay cutter:

   



Cutting a place for a "beauty splice" where the 2 curved sides come together:

   



Inserting a thin wedge to beautify that joint:

   



More to follow!

[C. in Indy]

More stuff...


Using a shop-made miter box and my thinnest saw to tightly cut fret slots:

   



Hand carving a neck profile:

   



First playing moments:

   



Lately -- courtesy of Putin's hackers -- my exact doppelgänger has shown up on YouTube:

   

[barryvabeach]

Very nice work -  the photos show it well.

[Barry Johnson]

Well done sir.  Was this your first one?

[AHill]

Nice job. I've never even considered oak as a tonewood. How would you characterize the tone? I own 4 acoustic guitars but never considered building one.

[Bill Holt]

I know nothing about guitars, but I do recognize quality hand work when I see it.  Thank you for posting.

[Pedder]

Wow. A beatiful and usefull music instrument. That is the subdiscipline of woodworking I admire the most!


Take Care,
Pedder

[C. in Indy]

Thank you all!


In response to the questions:

It is my 2nd build, and the first time essentially from scratch.   My 2022 build was with a body using walnut and mahogany-- OK, but I had made the back too thin and it sounds a little tubby.

This 2024 build, I wanted to make it from everyday stuff, and reading up I had seen that oak was usually avoided only for the open grain appearance, and not for the sonics.  Sonically I would place it close to rosewood.  It's really a delight, and I think I got the top and back resonances and thicknesses to work, quite fortunately.

The Russian hacker obviously went for a solid-body instead.  

[Mike Brady]

Thank you all!


In response to the questions:

It is my 2nd build, and the first time essentially from scratch.   My 2022 build was with a body using walnut and mahogany-- OK, but I had made the back too thin and it sounds a little tubby.

This 2024 build, I wanted to make it from everyday stuff, and reading up I had seen that oak was usually avoided only for the open grain appearance, and not for the sonics.  Sonically I would place it close to rosewood.  It's really a delight, and I think I got the top and back resonances and thicknesses to work, quite fortunately.

The Russian hacker obviously went for a solid-body instead.  

I've seen and touched that guitar since Chris and I occasionally get a breakfast-out here in Indy.  He's fearless and a very capable craftsman.