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I have a customer who brought me some koa that was milled many years ago by his Grandfather. He wants a guitar made from it. This a bit of an unusual request. Nice wood, with the right grain orientation, but drilled through and through by termites.The boards are rather large, but there is so much termite damage that it will still be difficult to find good wood in them. He does not care about the holes that will be in the wood. It is a sentimental project for him. Not only do I have to find a guitar in the wood, but of course he wants me to conserve as much of the wood as possible for future projects. Not gonna be easy! The shape he wants is something similar to a Taylor Grand Auditorium with a cutaway and wants the cutaway to be very similar to a Taylor Venetian style.. I do not have access to the shape on this island. I do not plan to exactly copy the shape, but I need the original shape to design a guitar that will fill the bill. I see some plans available on the web, but without the cutaway. I don't need any structural info. I am not trying to build a Taylor! If anyone has this model and could provide a simple outline of the body only, with the cutaway, I would be willing to pay for the service, and of course the mail to Hawaii.. Only measurements I would need would be the body depth at the neck and tail. Outline could be on just any paper, shopping bag, etc. Help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks, Bob

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Hi Bob,
I don't have one but I can probably get my hands on one to trace if no one else comes through. It'd take a few day for me to make that happen.
I'll keep an eye on the thread.
-Jim

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Jim- Thanks very much. I posted this in a couple of places this morning. Got the info I need, I think. I'll keep your offer in mind though. Very much appreciated. Have a great Holiday Season.-Bob

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Especially it you'r not too fussy about the absolute accuracy, I normally just square off a suitable picture and "grid up" to full size for that type of thing.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

As to the worm holes, why not make a feature of them if client approves - fill them with turquoise/gold/w.h.y.? and CA.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Plans, digital https://genone-luthier-supply.com/products/grand-auditorium-6-string-digital-download

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin,Thanks. I've seen those plans, but really want the Venetian cutaway shape. Pretty fussy client. I've seen defects featured, but I'm not really into that much.It is very hard to pull that one off with a sense of class.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

??
-A Venetian cutaway is rounded and smooth. A Florentine cutaway is sharp and pointy.
Memory aid: The sharp one is Florentine, as in the sharp tines of a fork.
Plans for both can be found by googling.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin- I am very familiar with the differences in cutaways. I've made both. This player specially wants the Taylor shape that is known as a reverse cutaway.Taylor has at least 2 different Venetian cutaway shapes that I know of. I've not seen any plans on the web for the more radical of Taylor Venetian cutaway shape. I did manage to get my hands on an actual guitar, so I'm good to go, provided thast I can pull off that radical of a cutaway. Should be fun! The photo you posted looks like one of Taylors cheaper Grand Auditorium guitars. They come with that arm bevel. laminated shell border, and laminated back and sides. Insteadof calling it plywood, Taylor calls it "layered wood". They weight a ton! -Bob

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Great to hear you are organised Bob.
First I've heard of a "reverse cutaway".

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin- Here in Hawaii at least, the" reverse cutaway" refers to the fact that the cutaway bends back sharply towards the tail of the guitar. Many , if not most cutaways are less radical with less sharp of a bend.-Bob

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Hi Bob,
I've worked with some "wormy" wood. Usually the outside pieces give the best chance of minimizing the apparent worm damage since the larva bore straight in and then start tunneling sideways. Filling the holes with a colored epoxy that is tinted to the color of what the medium aged patina of the wood will be may be the best way to make them inconspicuous.
Laminating the sides may allow you to thin the wood enough to eliminate most of the "tunneling trenches", at least on the outside pieces and make bending go a bit better. Sometimes wormy wood breaks in unexpected ways.
I know there are a lot of "weasel words" in this post, but with wormy wood little is certain - sometimes things go easy and sometimes things go badly.
Good Luck!

Clay- The saving grace of this project is that there is plenty of wood to go through. I will have sacrificial pieces that I can test the drilled wood with for bending and possible patchwork. I also plan to detail the process, as per the player's request. Due to my backlog, and at least partially due to a slightly unorganized approach to projects, the postings will be slow. I don't expect that to be interesting to anyone,except the player. Those postings will be here http://www.pegasusguitars.com/building- ... uitar.html Have a great Holiday Season-Bob

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Hi Bob,
I followed your link - that wood doesn't look too bad - much better than some of the stuff I've worked with.