Відео

I don't see any materials. Of you can locate a "high end" lumber yard/builder's supply, you can procure quarter sawn Douglas Fir stair treads. You willed to look them over to get the character you want, but the yards will often cut them in minimum lengths of three feet or more. Getting them reason to thinner slices is another problem. For that you need friends with a big bandsaw or a professional wood shop/mill room. Final thicknessing of the top can be done as easily with a hand plane as it can with a drum sander, provided that the plane is sharp. The top does not need to be exactly the same thickness throughout. Great good luck with your first guitar.

Absolutely. I go to great lengths to avoid having to level the frets, but it's common to do so. You could easily make a fret leveling tool for little or no cost as opposed to buying one.

Yes, the vast majority of my instruments are right handed. You see a lot of left handed ones in my videos because I frequently use instruments in my own collection to film with.

I source my material fro backs, rims and necks as locally as possible, all Northeastern hardwoods. My Spruce and Cedar comes from Alaska, my Douglas Fir from the Northwestern U.S. I procure my white Pine locally also and frequently use reclaimed and salvaged material, the guitar with the Hemlock top is an example.

Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. In view of so many comments about the sound quality of this video, I have begun to do some research and it's telling me that your very suggestion seem to be the easiest, best results for the dollars spent, most practical. Thanks for you input.

Thank you for your comment. It's one of only two that offers a suggestion.

I think you could absolutely make this tool in wood. Baltic Birch plywood would be less prone to movement, but in the narrow widths that this tool would require, I doubt that you would have a problem. The base of the tool would be the largest piece, so plywood might be the better choice for that part. If you have a router or a table saw, you could make a sliding dovetail, even with a set of gibbs , assuring accuracy and providing adjustability. If you would like more specific information or have other questions, send an email through my website. Always willing to help if I can. www.ladueguitars.com Thanks for your frequent comments. I always look forward to them.

You're welcome!

It does indeed and I'm inclined to use them more frequently. Brass seems to be expensive, but when compared to bone nut and saddle blanks, it cheaper, if cost is a factor in the equation. Aside from that, I use if for its ability to add to the brightness of the instrument. It's a component of that "shimmer " that I aim for in most of my guitars. I use bone. It's a standard and most people expect it, but I hate it. It's expensive and inconsistent in thickness, often too thin. "Corian" makes an excellent nut or saddle, but many cross their eyes when you mention it. It is more dense than most bone and is more consistent in density.

My favorite is the middle one

You're quite right. And i have one, or an equivalent, but I haven't figured out how to use it with an iPhone. Better do some homework.

@@thepragmaticluthier I’d bet you sweetwater music has a whole section on the kind of adapters and software you need. I just get one of my 13 year old grandsons to show me 😎

The bridge saddle is set at an angle to compensate for the inherent sharpness of tones as one plays up the fingerboard. The inside of a left handed guitar is also different from that of a right handed instrument.

I don't think anyone makes a clamp like the one in the video, but you could make an even better one with a Pony, or similar brand clamp screw. By replacing the double clamp with a hardwood frame, the clamp screw could be mounted on the frame, configured the same as the jig in the video. Here is a link to the Pony brand clamp screw. I'm sure other, possibly less expensive screws are also available. www.amazon.com/Tools-6709-Heavy-Press-Screw/dp/B001DT3SXS/ref=asc_df_B001DT3SXS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693675560295&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11079447387583705986&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1023209&hvtargid=pla-590217113718&psc=1&mcid=6211164389123071859bcfeb73d7e983&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693675560295&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11079447387583705986&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1023209&hvtargid=pla-590217113718&psc=1

Hey, thanks!

Many builders design and produce instruments intended to seek new height, better sound, push the limits. Such innovations are frequently impractical, even ridiculous, but they are the experiments and explorations that undergo evolution such that they become accepted, understood and incorporated in actual practice. Cases in point, X-bracing, adjustable truss rods, double tops. Sometimes those kooks and nutty professors come up with something good.

How TRUE! I've had a few offers of technical help to correct that problem, just in the last tay or two. I'm going for some improvement.

I'd like to move that mic out to the garbage:)

I appreciate that. It has been very busy here since last June and it's still pretty active in the shop, but i'd like to get back to being more regular with videos.

Thanks. All three of those guitars are in my living room at all times and i sort of A, B, and C among them every morning.

@@thepragmaticluthier I love these non-traditional tonewoods you use too.....they certainly do "shimmer" !

I'm sure the response does change when the top is assembled into a box. The point is, by comparing a voiced top to the end results (more than once) you can arrive at a fairly predictable end with much greater predictability.

@@thepragmaticluthier that makes sense. As a new builder still working on their first guitar, what tone would you recommend... say for a parlor sized guitar? I would guess G or D since those would be the mid range... so G if you want a higher pitch. I will probably go for D. Thanks for the reply.

Thank you. I'm looking forward to further improvement with this approach.

Quality recording is indeed a problem. So many have mentioned it and a couple of local people have made infers to help me improve on that. And I'm looking forward to that.

@@thepragmaticluthier Me too :) Thank you

I tried that once. It sucked almost as much:) :(

You should see my studio; 35 left handed guitars :)

@@thepragmaticluthier 🥰🥲😍

I'm guessing that metal saddles of any kind are not in common use because they can be difficult to make, particularly getting them to the correct thickness. I can machine them if necessary, so it's doable in my shop. I'd like to see them in use much more, but as Ghandi said, " if you want to see change, be that change."

If you can drum sand your own components, I think you stand a better chance, especially because the outer veneer can be made a little thicker than standard veneer and you can produce it from anything you want, book matched as well.

My experience with Hemlock has demonstrated that it has great potential, but is not easily trusted. It has great potential, but it is clear to me that the stability that come with age is a tremendous advantage, much more that with Spruce, Cedar and the other frequently used conifers. Eastern Hemlock is rarely if ever quarter sawn and that, combined with the fact that a log or section large enough to produce a two piece top either by sawing or splitting, is very rare. Four piece tops become the norm, with two piece tops being practically impossible to obtain.

I agree. I just had to try that metal patch. It was like a bug bite that you can't stop scratching.

I have used alternative back pricing, quite extensively ranging from white Pine to Walnut, cedar, and even cherry. I am of the belief that the more dense the wood you use to brace the back, the stiffer, the back becomes, and will become, therefore, more reflective, meaning a quicker startup response. With respect to tops however I only brace in spruce and have never been able to venture away from that. Clearly, I should try some other stuff. Another technique that I have use for back is laminated braces. It’s a good way to keep the weight down and the stiffness up .

They are both conifers and probably similar in weight, but that's pretty much where it ends.

The finish is Mohawk nitrocellulose lacquer.

I'm building with Australian woods because that's what's local for me. I think there's a lot of value in experimenting outside the traditional materials.

Beautiful guitars, why don’t you purchase a good microphone

The mic I use is fairly good for spoken word. And I need a lavaliere mic to do the videos that I normally put out. I don't play on my videos very much and so I'm very reluctant pay the price for a good one.

Thanks! 😁

Glad you like them!

Ditto. Since an acoustic guitar's body is basically a mechanical amplifier and speaker similar to a drum, a deeper body reacts and projects more in the bass frequencies with more 'volume,' so as with typical orchestra/auditorium sized guitars with shallower bodies, there are some sonic compromises accepted in return for comfort and compactness. Kevin's theory about how a smaller sound hole can help make up for that missing bass range acoustically is interesting. These guitars would sit well in a mix with other more widely-voiced instruments. My somewhat unqualified opinion at 4:20am. Love to think and talk about this stuff!

Are they all left handed?

@@Malone67 his person guitars are, by the looks of it.

Deepening the body of a guitar to increase the base response is a common method, but as the interior volume of the sound, chest increases, it reduces the compression and rarefaction. Increasing body depth, I think, has a limited ability, and if used needs to be used carefully. I have noticed in the past that by increasing the depth of the body you arrive at a less compressive sound almost as if the guitar had asthma at its worst. These are just my experiences and thoughts, nothing chiseled and stone here.

Yes, they are all left-handed. I have 35 of them.

I agree, that microphone pretty much stinks, but I’m not about to pay the excessive price for a top quality microphone at this point. Still, I guess I wish I could do better.

@@thepragmaticluthier you don't need to spend top dollar for a good quality microphone though. Even just a Zoom H1n portable recorder is less than $100 and will give you a great stereo sound. Even condenser mics can be had for less than $100 and the modern ones have USB interfaces built into them so you don't need an external recording device in between

@@thepragmaticluthier I'm hearing these weird phase effects which are not doing justice to your great work. Invest in the Zoom!

​​@@thepragmaticluthier firstly, thank you for the channel. The pragmatism is refreshingly familiar to the way I think when people tell me "it is this way". I started my career as a location recordist, and worked in event sound after that... So my first thought was that my ears had finally given up 😂 but clearly you're not happy with the sound. As someone else suggested the rode mics are affordable. Depending on what camera setup you have, the "wireless go" could be an excellent solution. However, I think boosting your output volume in the edit might help in the interim. The mic sounds clean, just overall level is low (on my device at least). I'm just finishing building a new workshop and watching you getting ready to have a play with some unconventional designs when I'm moved in. 👍