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All American Wood Guitar
http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=49326
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Author:  Chris Ensor [ Fri May 05, 2017 11:22 am ]
Post subject:  All American Wood Guitar

This is a very special guitar for me. I've been dreaming about building a guitar out of woods all sourced from the USA for a long time. Well I finally found the right client for the project. Every single piece of wood on this guitar both inside and out is from the USA. It was quite the challenge. Sourcing the fingerboard especially. It took me 3 months to find that piece.

Anyway, here are some of the specs:

Auditorium shape
Bear claw sitka top
Osage Orange back/sides
Walnut binding, armrest, neck
Spalted firewood purfling, rosette, end wedge, headstock overlays
Walnut burl front headstock overlay
Desert ironwood fingerboard, bridge, tuner buttons
Poly finish

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Author:  DannyV [ Fri May 05, 2017 11:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

You nailed it Chris! How about a close up of the purling.

Author:  Bryan Bear [ Fri May 05, 2017 11:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

I had the honor of seeing this one up close last weekend. It is stunning!

Author:  James Orr [ Fri May 05, 2017 12:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

So beautiful, Chris!

Author:  truckjohn [ Fri May 05, 2017 1:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Thats really pretty. I especially like the tail wedge.

Author:  Chris Pile [ Fri May 05, 2017 1:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

WELL DONE!

Author:  Alex Kleon [ Fri May 05, 2017 2:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Dwindling supply of exotic woods? I've thought for the longest time that there are plenty of woods native to North America to make exceptional guitars, and you have proved it, Chris. Bravo!

Alex

Author:  bcombs510 [ Fri May 05, 2017 3:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Now THAT is Making America Great Again!

Author:  Joe Beaver [ Fri May 05, 2017 3:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

I sure do like that one [:Y:] [:Y:] [:Y:]

Author:  DennisK [ Fri May 05, 2017 3:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Bryan Bear wrote:
I had the honor of seeing this one up close last weekend. It is stunning!

Now I even more regret missing the show :( I followed the AGF build thread for this one and really wanted to play it and compare to my all-American Robin's Nest guitar. Such a beauty!

Author:  meddlingfool [ Fri May 05, 2017 3:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Nice!

Author:  ernie [ Fri May 05, 2017 6:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

trendmaker congrats !!

Author:  George L [ Fri May 05, 2017 8:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Superb! Well done, sir!

Author:  Bryan Bear [ Fri May 05, 2017 9:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

DennisK wrote:
Bryan Bear wrote:
I had the honor of seeing this one up close last weekend. It is stunning!

Now I even more regret missing the show :( I followed the AGF build thread for this one and really wanted to play it and compare to my all-American Robin's Nest guitar. Such a beauty!


We missed you for sure!

Author:  rlrhett [ Fri May 05, 2017 9:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Wow!! Just, Wow!

I've been dreaming of an all Domestic build for a couple of years now. So inspiring.

Author:  Colin North [ Sat May 06, 2017 1:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Very nice!

Author:  Hesh [ Sat May 06, 2017 5:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Fantastic guitar!

Author:  Clay S. [ Sat May 06, 2017 6:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Beautiful!
Is that a book matched fingerboard?
Osage orange (hedge apple) and desert ironwood aren't the most common of woods, but if demand increases (and more exotics are banned) maybe we will see more of them available in the future.

Author:  Bri [ Sat May 06, 2017 10:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Once again someone raises the bar.
Did you have any other choices for fb material? I had thought to do the native wood build but using Canadian woods. We are even more limited in our choice of hardwoods, and darker colored woods.
Nice job!

Author:  sdsollod [ Sat May 06, 2017 10:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

That is a beauty! [:Y:]

Author:  John Arnold [ Sat May 06, 2017 8:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

My favorite native wood for fingerboards is Texas ebony. It grows in the Rio Grande valley around Brownsville. I would love to source some Texas (black) persimmon, but the trees are very small....more like bushes.
For a Canadian build, I would probably go with a dense piece of black cherry, or use hornbeam and dye it black.

Author:  Brad Goodman [ Sun May 07, 2017 8:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Nice!

Author:  DennisK [ Sun May 07, 2017 9:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Bri wrote:
Once again someone raises the bar.
Did you have any other choices for fb material? I had thought to do the native wood build but using Canadian woods. We are even more limited in our choice of hardwoods, and darker colored woods.
Nice job!

How about sugar maple heartwood? No better options in Canada, as far as I know. Black locust is not native there, but according to wikipedia it has been introduced, so you might be able to find some. It's about as light colored as maple though, so not really any advantage.

Desert ironwood is definitely my favorite of the North American fingerboard woods, but it is indeed very difficult to find. I only have one, which I got from Arizona Ironwood several years ago. Might be worth asking if they can cut more fingerboard blanks. Count me in for one or two if it helps.

Author:  Alex Kleon [ Sun May 07, 2017 9:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

My old neighbour had a couple good sized Black Locust trees in her yard 30+ years ago. Next time I'm in the area, I check how big they are. The one B. Locust board I have has a green tinge to it.

Alex

Author:  Chris Ensor [ Mon May 08, 2017 7:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: All American Wood Guitar

Clay S. wrote:
Beautiful!
Is that a book matched fingerboard?


Yep. Good eye! You're the first person to catch that.

Bri wrote:
Did you have any other choices for fb material?


There are a few other materials that would work- persimmon, osage orange, mesquite, and texas ebony are all hard enough. The challenge is finding a dark, hard USA wood. That's why I was jonesing for DI.

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