Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, I mentioned this in the "bar fret" thread, so I guess I had better share. Again, this is a long thread, so I will just provide a link

http://luthiercom.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=3384

Built this a few years back and it kind of evolved as it went along. I have not sold this guitar yet, not because of lack of interest....just not ready to part with it. At shows, this is the first guitar everybody picks up, and I have a waiting list of folks who want to buy it. Some day I will build another one like this.....well, not quite

Hope this is of some interest, Thanks,

Grant

Thanks for posting that Grant, I'm looking forward to reading this one.

Edit: just finished reading the "Organic Soundport" thread. Probably one of the coolest build threads I've seen! If you haven't read it, you need to.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Why not post the photos here?

Grant,
I love it! Thanks so much for providing a link to your original thread. What an amazing guitar you have created! I'm not surprised it's the one most visitors to your shop are drawn to play. I have been contemplating this kind of approach for quite a while and am currently gathering "aesthetically challenged" materials. Never would have thought of letting cracks act as soundports. That's brilliant! I, too, have been wondering about the rosette and binding. Had thought about using bark, as Pat suggested to you, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Now I see it can be done.

Thanks again for sharing and for the added inspiration,

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George :-)

Well, there over 100 photos in the thread. It would take me a week to post them all, write the descriptions, and all. The original thread is a step by step of the process over more than a year and explains the how and why of my decisions, plus the comments and suggestions of others (which influenced a lot of what I ended up doing). A few "show and tell photos" of the finished guitar would be rather pointless IMNSHO. You would miss 95% of what it was all about.

Grant

I will then skip this one as I don't have time to go through that volume of material. And I thought I would be able to see this awesome soundport? Or well.

Not pointless. Luthiercom doesn't allow viewing threads without signing up, which is a pain and will prevent a lot of people from seeing it at all. 5% is better than nothing And maybe it will entice more people to sign up to see how you did everything.

Not so, anybody can view threads.

Grant

Oh, well nevermind then I thought sure I remembered getting a "no permission to view this" message back before I signed up, and anytime my login cookie expired...

That's a pretty great guitar; thanks for sharing

I did a Birch Bark Rosette in the OLF Build Off #2 a few years ago. I used the inner side to match the cedar top.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

How has the guitar held up over the years? Have any of the cracks grown?
It is surprising how good some old guitars sound even with major cracks in the plates - it makes you wonder if the cracks are relieving stresses that were built into the guitar when it was constructed.

Holding up very well. Looks the same as the day it was strung up. Sounds better, though

Grant

Thanks Grant, for sharing a very interesting project.

I really like the use of bark for the rosette. Makes we want to get my hands on some Ponderosa pine bark which can have a cool jig saw puzzle pattern to give that a try.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Grant,

Did you ever figure out what was causing such brilliant sound higher up the fretboard? The copper fret wire or organic soundports?

Jarrod

So would you describe the tone as open and airy?

That's a beautiful art concept piece, well done.

Well, I have another one. Cocobolo with no holes. Same body shape. Copper alloy bar frets. Similar sound.

I am now in the middle of number 3. Spring tempered phosphor bronze bar frets. But this one is made entirely from thermally modified wood (what is sometimes called "torrefied"). Will report back once it has been strung up for a while. I also have a fourth neck fretted with the spring tempered phosphor bronze. Just need to build the box.

But I do feel confident enough in the alloy bar frets that I bought a large piece of 0.062" thick spring tempered phosphor bronze to make into fret stock. I have the process down so that once I have the frets made (about an hour starting with the plate stock), it only takes about 20 minutes more than "normal" frets to complete the job. Well worth it, in my mind, for the resulting sound.

Oh, the phosphor bronze stock runs about $5/guitar.

Grant

Grant, I am enjoying following your investigation, it will be very interesting to see what your results are with the phosphor-bronze frets.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Steve, at this point, I am impressed enough that I am going with the copper alloy (phosphor bronze) bar frets for all of my new builds. The first bar fretted guitar I build was a replica of an 1890 Martin 2-27. For that I used the bar fret stock available from LMI. That was a big job, shaping each fret with a file after installation. Now, I pre-shape the radius before I install the frets, and it is fast.

Here is what I use

That is a milling bit in the router

Here is a fret after shaping


Radiused frets on the left and un-radiused blanks on the right


Other than that, not a whole lot more work than normal. Just need wider slots, but the process is just like slotting with a blade on the table saw.....just a different blade. I use a 7 1/4" thin kerf Diablo blade (9 bucks at Home Depot) that I polish down on a flat plate with silicon carbide sandpaper until it cuts the proper width slot, and a couple of 5" blade stabilizers from Infinity Tool. You do need about 10 minutes to level the frets, and you will need to crown the flat tops, but not a big job once you get the hang of it.

If anybody wants to experiment, I am happy to help.

Grant

Thanks for the explanation Grant. It does look quite reasonable to do and is going on my list of things I would like to try.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. One of the coolest parts for me was how folks kind of joined in with suggestions and such. Way beyond just me working in my shop.

Grant