Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello All,

By way of intruduction, I am a fairly new luthier. My current interest is in flamenco guitars. At this year's GAL Convention I was talking with Bill Hibdon, decrying the scarcity of Spanish Cypress for building traditional flamenco guitars. Bill Suggested that I try Primavera (Cybistax donnell-smithii), which is also known as white mahogany. I followed Bill's advise and the result was very good (IMO). The resulting guitar has a good flamenco tone, with a lot of punch and volume.

I have attached some pictures. Primavera is very light colored so I added some Raw Sienna stain to the Behlen Water Based Grain Filler, which produced a nice gold color. The top is Englemann Spruce. Bridge and bindings are Indian Rosewood with white/black purflings. The neck is Spanish Cedar (also from Hibdon). I faced the head with Granadillo, which is also a new wood to me that I like very much.

I am curious to know if anyone else has tried building with Primavera for other types of instruments and what your experience has been.







And here's the old hacker attempting some Bulerias.



Regards,
Max

Max,

Can't help with the Primavera critique but I must say that your own results look fantastic, just gotta love that beautiful gold colour you achieved, nice work and welcome to the OLF.

Cheers

Kim

Max, welcome, and thanks for the primavera tip! Nice guitar, BTW!

Max;
Beautiful guitar!!!!!
I've used the same wood under different names over the last 30 years.
And ,I love it!
Welcome to the O.L.F.
Mike Collinswww.collinsguitars.com

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Mike Collins

I completed one build with Primavera and am starting another. The first (photos attached) was a 6 string steel string. The next will be a baritone. I really love the sound of it. Its particularly loud, although I think that more a product of the bracing and the size of the body (Taylor GA style).
It is fairly easy to work, although very prone to cracking, I found. And of course, light wood is always very hard to hide cracks. Scrapes and planes a lot like mahogany and the pores are very very similar. I will continue to use it, too. VERY inexpensive. I've gotten mine from Mitch at Tropical Exotic Hardwoods in Carlsbad, CA and those guys are always great to me.
I'll have to give Hidbon a ring next time I need some.
Great job on that guitar, too, Max!!



j.Brown39059.7303703704

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Welkcome to the forum Max, I have to say that's a very nice guitar and the primavera looks fabulous.

I have no trouble getting good cypress B&S sets, in fact I just took delivery of a couple of sets recently. I get mine from Spain at about $120 a set plus delivery which to me in the UK is only about $20 for the lot. Delivery to the US might make it more expensive but not by too much.

My local wood dealer in the UK also has some fabulous cypress drying right now and four sets have my mame on them when he cuts them. His Euro spruce is the best there is as well. There are some advantages to being in Europe at times.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Hi Hesh,

I see you are in Ann Arbor. I am just up the road in Brighton. I checked in on your website and you've some stunning guitars there. I am looking forward to making some with gorgeous woods like cocobolo and black acacia.

Drop a note if you'd ever like to get together sometime.

Best regards,
Max

Very Nice guitar, no experience here with this wood, Welcome to the OLF!

Mike

Welcome to the OLF Max, very nice guitar and i look forward to see what else you'll build!