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Greetings!

Well I got some time in the shop during the Holiday this week and thought I would share my progress.

Steve, here is the rosette on the Sweet Ambrosia and a photo of the WRC Top.



Serge, here is pic of my top bracing on the WRC - Ambrosia


Here is an inside shot of the back bracing


Got the box closed and trimmed out getting ready for cutting the binding & purfling ledges and install




My 2nd in this batch is the Curly Cherry with WRC Top as well. Got it ready to glue the back, this is an inside shop before glueing

This is a pic of the wild WRC I got in from AC Tonewoods with the rosette just sitting in and not glued.

Here is a closeup of the rosette, it is some of the Zootmans new Box Alder

Here is the box with the neck on this one


The Cherry guitar will be bound using curly Maple with black purf and the neck lam and back strip all match as well.

The final in the J-35 group is in line and is a Striped Sapele and here it is in the mold after setting the neck block and tail block.


All for now,

Mike

Great stuff, Mike!
Love that rosette, and everything else to boot.

What sort of finish are you planning?

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

What Steve said! Box alder rosette -- it looks great with the ambrosia ribs/back.

Thanks guys!

Steve, on the Ambrosia, I have a friend who owns a cabinet shop here in town and he is going to assist in finishing with Nitro spray. I will do the sanding prior and during the process, they have a really nice big and safe spray booth. I want to keep all my wood colors as light and bright on this one as possible. On the Curly Cherry/WRC I am thinking of going with the RussellR approach with Danish Oil.On the Striped Sapele/Bearclaw Sitka I am going to use Behlen's Rock Hard Table Top Varnish.

Steve, did you pore fill at all,(there are none) or just seal coat with Shellac and move to finish?

Thanks Anthony, I have really enjoyed making rosettes here lately, getting ready to do a Turqois Ambrosia Maple guitar in the next batch. The color streaks are Turqois/green vs. the red/pink on this one. I will be making the rosette and accents using faux Turqois and using green and blue in the purfs. Have not planned everything yet, but it should be something different.

Thanks Hesh, you and Colin converted me and I really like the change. The bracing on these tops are as light as I have ever worked with, no meat at all, but the tap tone is awesome. Thanks to you and Colin for answering my questions and giving info and advice.

My next batch of 4 so far on B&S and some soundboards

1. Turqois Ambrosia Maple/?
2. Curly White Oak/?
3. Pink/Red Ambrosia Maple/WRC Top - I am keeping this
   one for myself
4. Oregon Myrtle/Engleman Top

Again, thanks for the input and comments, all is appreciated, any advice on the next 4 as well.

Mike

WOW Mike, looking great, that ambrosia maple will be a stunner allright but i must admit that all 3 of them will be nice to look at.

Thanks for sharing the nice pics my friend!

SergeSerge Poirier39046.168287037

Very nice work Mike, I do like the Ambrosia. Steve's ambrosia guitar is one of those that I covet. I know your going to love it under finish

ColinColin S39046.1789583333

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

Thanks guys!

Mike

Right on Mike!

That looks awesome... Very nice clean work and your bracing is very simillar to mine! I love the parabolic bracing as well...

My first was cherry wood and again playing it last night I kept thinking, 'Man, does this guitar have awesome tone, or what!?'... Scalloped bracing on that one though...

Keep up the great work!

_________________
I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

That ambrosia is really wild. Beautiful work

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Mike
That Ambrosia sure fits the name. Great choice on the
rosette, very nice! Sure to be some real beauties when
finished. Way to go, keep up the good work.

Tom

_________________
http://www.moriciguitar.com

Hey Mike, back from Thanksgiving visitations and celebrations. Hope yours was as good as ours!

[QUOTE=MSpencer]
Steve, did you pore fill at all,(there are none) or just seal coat with Shellac and move to finish?

[/QUOTE]

Mike, my finish schedule on this one was fairly simple.
Sand to 220, then ship to Tony.
He did the rest. He told me he normally uses epoxy as a filler/sealer, even on maple, but he was concerned enough on that Ambrosia about splotchiness that he didn't use it.
What he did--I think--is go straight to the urethane.
I don't know if he uses anything between the epoxy and the urethane or not. But if you are going to use nitro, I'd shoot a couple sealer coats of compatible vinyl sealer, then start the clear coats. I wouldn't worry about any fill work. The only "pores" are those left by the beetles. And you've got them under control I'm sure.

Keep us up to date on the progress.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks for the comments

Steve, Tony is a 4-6 week turnaround as I understand, but I do plan on using him in the future. My man down here can or will use whatever I request, I have no experience with "spray" type finishes, would you recommend urethane over nitro?

Mike

Mike, I've seen Tony's finishes in person on Hesh and Lance's guitars -- I haven't seen a better finish. Having said that its great that you have a friend with a booth that you can access. Personally I think its a good idea to learn the finishing process. With your friends help I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how good a finish you accompolish.

[QUOTE=MSpencer] Thanks for the comments

Steve, Tony is a 4-6 week turnaround as I understand, but I do plan on using him in the future. My man down here can or will use whatever I request, I have no experience with "spray" type finishes, would you recommend urethane over nitro?

Mike

[/QUOTE]

Hmmm, a urethane expert would be valuable right here.
My first temptation is to say that it *might* work, if the nitro were thoroughly cured. Just not the other way around. I think it is prudent, though, to stick to a family of finishes, and the nitro and urethane are from different sides of the track.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve, I was asking which one you thought would be better on the Ambrosia either urethane or nitro. Sorry for the misunderstanding

AnthonyZ, good point and I do plan on participating, ie, being in the booth learning and I will do any necessary sanding, etc. etc. I have never handled the equipment, mixtures, spray pressure, nozzle sets and so on, so this is going to be a learning experience. I have a separate out building at my place that I can turn into a spray booth, first I must learn about it and seeing an experienced user was my thinking.

Thanks for the comments guys

Mike

Got it, Mike. Sorry.
Would I recommend one over the other...
(I'm pretty dense, early in the morning.)

Answer--I feel pretty ambivalent either way.
Nitro is SO easy to repair.
On the other hand, the urethane repairs itself. (No kidding, this latest finish "healed" itself twice.)
Both are sprayed, both look good, both will kill you.
That's everything a guy could want in a finish, right?
I do know this--if I were doing the spraying, I'd prefer nitro. That may be due to familiarity, or it just may be a wee bit easier. I've heard that the urethane is more difficult to buff, but only having done it twice, my experience is that it went ok. It does have the benefit of building faster than nitro.

So there you go--a bunch of useless ramblings.
If your friend is going to help, you'd best ask him what HE is comfortable with.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Mike, I'm just catching up here...

You're getting an impressive amount of work done there, and it all looks quite good! On your Ambrosia top, does the rosette actually go up to the edge of the soundhole, or is there a black binding too? Is there a story behind this?