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#11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
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Author:  Rod True [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 3:08 pm ]
Post subject:  #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Following in Arnt's recent post of his stunning Redwood/Ziricote guitar, I'll post up my latest. Like Arnt mentioned, posting pics here is sort of like "preaching to the choir" but it's also nice to receive accolades from my peers.

This marks Guitar # 11 for me. The woods (apart from the top and inlay woods) was purchased back in 2007 from an OLF auction to help out our Friend Kevin Gallagher (rip). Most of the woods were donated by Tim Spittle from Australian Tone Woods and Kim Hickey. Here are the details:

Top - Sinker Redwood
Back & Sides - Flamed Tasmanian Blackwood
Neck - Tasmanian Blackwood with lacewood and red laminates
Fretboard - Mulga a desert hardwood bound in tiger myrtle with red purfling
Bridge - Minnerichi
Binding & headplate - Tiger Myrtle
Top purfling - Lacewood with red accents
Inlay wood - pear burl

The rosette is based off Jason Kostal's stained glass design. I really like this look and will certainly use it again.

Finish is nitro lacquer.

Thanks for looking.

Image

Image

Image

Image


This is the owner signature.
Image

Image

Image
Author:  Nick Royle [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 3:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
* Drooling *
That's gorgeous!

I'd love to see how you put together that rosette!
Author:  Alex Kleon [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 3:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Splendor in the grass! Another beauty, Rod!

Alex
Author:  meddlingfool [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 4:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Nice guitar Rod....

But don't you think it's time to cut the grass? ;)
Author:  George L [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 4:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Dang! That's a fine looking guitar, Rod. Only #11? I'm about halfway there and it looks as though I still have a lot of wood to chop. Well done!
Author:  dazzer [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Stunning guitar Rod - I think one of the nicest I've seen :)

All the best
Dave
Author:  cphanna [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Yes, yes. Woof, woof! That is an exceptionally beautiful combination of woods and curves. I love the purely voluptuous lines of your instrument. Well done!
Patrick
Author:  James Orr [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Same thing I said on AGF. I love the use of color in the details. It's a gorgeous guitar!
Author:  Beth Mayer [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 6:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Absolutely gorgeous, Rod! Amazing work!
Author:  DannyV [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
At last! [:Y:] [:Y:] I've been waiting (patiently) for that one Rod. I remember the rosette a while back. Looks well worth the wait although I think your wife could make the crappiest of guitars look good. :) Seriously, that is a beautifully crafted guitar with such a well thought out theme it makes me want to slow down and take a little more time in that department.

Well done my friend and great to see it.

Cheers,
Danny
Author:  gozierdt [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Absolutely Beautiful Guitar bliss

I love the color combinations of the woods, and elegance of the lines. It's a beautiful shape, it looks somewhat like the OLF MJ to me, or is it your own development?

I'm working on #13, and I don't think any of mine look anywhere near as good as this beauty!
Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Sweet fancy Moses! That lacewood purfling is ridiculous! Fantastic job Rod. I'm one guitar behind you numerically, but much further aesthetically. Outstanding.
Author:  Linus [ Fri Oct 04, 2013 10:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
So beautiful. Really elegant.
Author:  martintaylor [ Sat Oct 05, 2013 6:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Wonderful guitar Rod. Love the Australian timbers too.
Author:  Jim Watts [ Sat Oct 05, 2013 11:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Wowzer! Beautiful guitar Rod.
Author:  lazycat [ Mon Oct 07, 2013 11:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Very well done, its the best I've seen in a long time [clap]
Author:  Rod True [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Thanks folks! I'm super happy with how it all turned out. I was sort of worried that the red accents would be too over bearing but I think they where just enough.

I'm hopeful to get the guitar to the owner today.
Author:  Rod True [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
DannyV wrote:
At last! [:Y:] [:Y:] I've been waiting (patiently) for that one Rod. I remember the rosette a while back. Looks well worth the wait although I think your wife could make the crappiest of guitars look good. :) Seriously, that is a beautifully crafted guitar with such a well thought out theme it makes me want to slow down and take a little more time in that department.

Well done my friend and great to see it.

Cheers,
Danny


Thank you Danny!!! One of these day's we'll have to hook up. If you're ever over here on the mainland let me know.
Author:  sdsollod [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Really nice job Rod! [clap] [clap] [clap]
Author:  sdsollod [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 12:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Rod,
I have a couple questions...

What does the inlay say and how did you do it?

and

What are the types wood used in the rosette and was color applied with a dye like transtint?

...again, beautiful guitar...
Steve
Author:  Rod True [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
sdsollod wrote:
Rod,
I have a couple questions...

What does the inlay say and how did you do it?


Steve, the inlay is the owners signature. It says e.h. Janzen

I got his signature and scanned it, then had a friend of mine vectorize it and put it in word. I than could scale the image to the size I wanted.
From here, I print off a few copies of the image and cut it out (just rough shape), than CA glue it to the wood I used for the inlay. I cut it out the same way one would for pearl. Takes a long time to get it just right, filing the edges so they look smooth too.
From there, I take another copy of the image and cut it out (just rough shape again), then CA glue it to the fretboard. I than slowly work at removing the wood to make the cavity to inlay the wood. I'm still a total novice at it and I often have gaps to fill, some larger than I'd like, but it's all part of the learning.

sdsollod wrote:
What are the types wood used in the rosette and was color applied with a dye like transtint?


The wood I used for the rosette (and the signature inlay as well as the "T" on the headstock) all came from a hunk of pear burl I got from a local wood worker. I sliced it burl up into 3/16" sheets, sanded them to 0.080" than they were ready for what ever inlay I wanted to do.

For the rosette, I knew I needed to dye them but I didn't know how to ensure the dye went all the way through the wood. I did some internet reading and found that I needed to hold the wood in the dye under vacuum for some time, called stabilizing the wood.

More reading lead me to a page like this (couldn't fine the actual one, but this is the idea) where I found a great little (and inexpensive) way of making a vacuum chamber.

I than cut the pieces out to random triangle shapes and added them to some small containers of dye. I used colorFX dye from Wood Essence (same thing as transtint pretty much) and lacquer thinner to get the shading I wanted. That took some time, but well worth the effort.

I held the pieces under vacuum for 48 hours, checking to see if I needed to pump some more to hold it to 25 in/hg and it worked great.

From there, I spent a lot of time figuring out the rosette and random pattern of the triangles, sanding them here or there to make them work with the adjacent piece.
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 6:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Killer guitar, Rod! Fine work, as expected! [clap] [clap] [clap]
Author:  Darryl Young [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 6:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
I love this guitar Rod! Beautiful!
Author:  SteveSmith [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Rod, really nicely done. I'm curious about the neck attachment - dovetail?
Author:  Rod True [ Tue Oct 08, 2013 8:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #11 - Tassie Blackwood/Sinker Redwood GA
Double mortise & tenon Steve.

Thanks folks :)
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