Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm lucky enough to have a fairly complete cabinetry shop, so I will mostly have to start making jigs, purchase some fretting tools, and get serious about R.H. control. As it stands, I will be building from the OLF medium jumbo plans, with materials as follows:

B&S - Birdseye Black Limba
Top - Sitka, or Bearclaw Sitka
Bracing - Sitka
Neck - Roasted maple with accents
FB - Bocote
Bridge & Headplate - Braz. Rosewood
Bindings - ?
Nothing is really written in stone, here. If anyone sees any issues with this combination, let me know! A big thanks to Wud for setting this up! This is just the kick in the pants that I needed!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Ok I live the look of black limba, but I have never seen Birdseye black limba. I can't wait to see what it looks like!

I bought it on ebay a couple of years ago for $15.50 I'll try to get some pictures of my wood selections posted soon.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Good luck! My first build is an OLF medium jumbo (red cedar over Honduran mahogany with EIR trim and a 5-piece hog/maple/walnut/maple/hog neck) and I even made my own molds and forms. It's an odd mix of big and small but the body is huge - deep as a dreadnought but the waist is slimmer than an OM - and the tap tone of the box is thunderous even with a cedar top. One modification that somebody suggested to me was to widen the angle of the X brace to 100 degrees.

I have no idea what the characteristics are of the tonewoods that you chose but I'm sure you're going to enjoy the process as the guitar comes together.

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Thats some good looking wood. I like it.

Alex, what do you mean by the OLF plans? Where are these to be found? I'm thinking this might be a dumb question but then again there are no dumb questions.

Doug

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Hi Alex, congrats on leaping in, your wood looks really good

I'm not in the race but I am watching with interest - obviously this thread is a great idea. Congratulations to all those people who are having a go at this.

Seeing the question about plans I will venture to offer one piece of advice to anyone starting down this path...

If you are not building from a kit, (and maybe even if you are, if lots of it is not preformed or shaped) then get yourself (or draw yourself) a proper, scaled or preferably 1:1 plan of everything you are going to build BEFORE you start cutting any wood.

In addition to the excellent OLF plans, which you can find a link to on this site, there are lots of guitar and uke plans out there, Christophe Grellier (OLF forum member and awesome luthier) from France has some excellent plans on his website and if you search this or other forums you will find them.

If you want to make yours one of a kind, do the customisation first with a paper and pencil, not your only set of tonewood.

Good luck Alex , I am really looking forward to seeing the results -

Cheers
Richard

Rest assured Richard, I am using full scaled drawings for my build (Acoustic Bass)....i may be dumb but i'm not stupid. . I was simply wondering where these OLF plans are to be found on this site. I have looked but cannot find them.

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Hi Doug

You can't download them from the forum but you can buy the OLF plans from StewMac they are here: http://www.stewmac.com/Shopping?actn=search&keyword=olf+plans&x=22&y=11

All the best
Dave

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To be someone must be a wonderful thing!

Hi Doug - You can get the OLF plans from Stewmac. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plan ... xsr=140062 There are other plans available as well. They have a lot of detail, and being on four separate sheets is great, but DON'T assume that anything is measured exactly to scale!
If you are going to order from Stewmac, get everything you need from them at once - the shipping to Canada is murderous! I am looking forward to following everyones builds. It is pretty much a given that we are all going to make mistakes both large and small, but that is part of the learning process, so lets share so that we can all learn from them!
Two pieces of advice that I would give: don't touch a tool if you are tired or distracted, and assume that even the most benign tool has the ability to injure you badly.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Good advice Alex. I have learned from furniture building over the years the same. Being in a good frame of mind leads to great craftsmanship. This is not the place to take one's frustrations out on...as might happen on the basketball court, the ice rink or shopping with the wife.

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Good to see you jumping in Alex! Nice looking wood as well. I would go with that bear claw top since the back and side wood is not extremely flashy. But that is just what I would do. As for binding....that is always a tough choice for me. I like to have a bunch of different bindings on hand so I can look at the combinations before choosing, but that is not always an option. However, since you are using BRW for the bridge and head plate, maybe BRW bindings would be a good choice? They would also be an expensive choice.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I like the bearclaw top, too.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

My only problem with the bearclaw is that it isn't really stiff. The sitka is very stiff, and I have several WRC tops that are really stiff as well, so things are still up in the air. BRW bindings would be great, but getting them is the problem here in Canada. I definitely need something dark to contrast the back and sides.
My pictures don't show the birdseye like they really are. The fluorescent lighting in my shop is not very flattering. I looks much more stunning in person. I look forward to you looking over my shoulder on this...but no funny business!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

so you´re into the challenge as well Alex? goo luck then! lovely wood, BTW.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

I would like to apologize in advance for any and all of Tony's comments in your thread. He just aint right. I look forward to watching this unfold!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Well...I probably have it coming, but you're right. That boy just ain't right in da head! He does dress real nice, though. His sartorial splendor would fit right in at an Octoberfest beer hall! Ein prosit, baby! The Fraulein are coming!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Made this today. Looks a little like a potato cannon.

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Cool Iron... (if that is not an oxymoron )

What does "roasting" do for the maple? And did you do it? Or buy it pre cooked? TIA

http://sharpslumber.com/caramelizedmaple.html

It makes it look purty.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

If you had laderhosen, you would wear them too. It's all the rage in the trendiest fashion circles. Or my avatar pic. I forget which one. Anyway, I plan on carpet bombing your thread with as many non sequitors as possible. I might even throw in some sequitors just to keep you on your toes.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

So I'm looking at a surfeit of sequitors. Bring it on, Bad Boy! Sorry about the amount of alliteration.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

This is the info from where I bought the wood from. http://www.exotic-woods.com/product.asp ... le-roasted This is a really great place to buy from, with a very helpful staff! Their' luthier wood has a pretty good drool factor rating.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker