Hunting Season 2012: Story 4, Cypress

Story 1:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2012/12/hunting-season-2012-story-1-gator.html

Story 2:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2012/12/hunting-season-2012-story-2-hoggin-it-up.html

Story 3:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2012/12/hunting-season-2012-story-3-mystery-at.html

On the day we were coming home from hunting, we decided to make a little detour.  Before we hooked the truck up to the trailer we went down the road to visit Bo Swindell's Sawmill.  Bo is a true old timey Florida Cracker.  I mean that in a good way, as most people have no clue what a true Florida Cracker is.  It's a term from the 1920's that referred to Floridians who raised cattle, and used a whip.  Hence, the cracker. 

But Bo is a great guy to talk to, or should I say listen to.  I gotta be honest, the man had a lot to say.  He had hurt his back, and hadn't cut any fresh wood in a while.  But he was sitting on a lot of new-old stock.  The good news about that was the wood had dried out, and was ready to go. 

We took a tour of the sawmill, and all the wood he had.  I think Bo was more interested in talking than actually selling wood.  He was 75 years old, and was concentrating on building tables and such.  As we wandered the piles of wood, Dad managed to find some persimmon. 

We then came across a pile of wood that surprised Bo.  He thought he had sold all of his cypress, but he had a giant pile of it stacked chest high.  I looked at a few boards, and picked one out.  Bo wanted all of 12 dollars for it.

The neat thing about this cypress is that it was old growth fallen cypress.  You see, over the years the cypress trees get old and when they die they fall into the water and much where they live.  These logs are then submerged in the water for many years.  The oxygen can't get to them, so they don't rot.  What's really neat is that the tree then soaks up the minerals in the mud and water. 

The tree harvesters then pull the logs out of the Florida/Georgia rivers and swamps.  The logs are then dried out, and sold as old growth fallen trees.  The good news is that they are not cutting down live trees.  These trees have been dead for many, many years.

So here is the board I bought in its rough sawn form:

Now here is a picture after I had run the boards through a planer.  Notice the golden yellow color?

Here's a picture of the growth rings.  Notice how they are black with the minerals in them.

So the main question is, "What am I going to use it for?"  Well, I'm not sure yet.  But cypress is used on acoustic guitar tops.  The most popular acoustic top wood is spruce followed by red cedar.  Cypress is a great tone wood, but is much more expensive than either spruce of cedar.  That's one reason why it is not used that much. 

I tap toned a few pieces of the cypress at the sawmill before I decided on the one I did.  But I have to admit, I liked them all.  The cypress's tone is not as bright as spruce, but not as dark as cedar.  The one thing I like about it is how loud it is.  It really surprised me at how the sound seemed to jump right off the board. 

So hopefully I will be able to write a post a year or so from now telling what magic project I have created with this cypress.  But I have to admit, I'm in no hurry.  I have more guitars than I really know what to do with.  But I guess I could always use one more. 

Guitar Project #7, The Rosewood Telecaster, Part 2

Here is Part 1:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2012/05/guitar-project-7-rosewood-telecaster.html

Today was a perfect Saturday afternoon for woodworking.  I was actually working on two Telecasters, but I will only talk about the rosewood one in the post.

First off, I had a few things I wanted to accomplish.  I'll show the photo first, and way what I did to it.

First up, I routed out the neck pocket perfectly.  I am getting much better than I was.  I also cleaned up the pickup and cavity routes.

Next, I took the bandsaw, and cut the rest of the body into shape.  It reminds me of a very early piece of advice I got when I started my luthier training.  Cut the neck pocket first, then cut out the rest of the body.

Next, I cleaned up the neck pocket, and added the screw holes.

Mostly, I sanded the crap out of this thing.  Man, I thought maple was hard.  This rosewood ranks right up there with it.  I am so thankful for my spindal sander.  It helps with 90 degree sanding, and I don't know what I ever did before I had one.

This has me worried.  I was originally happy with this being a one piece block of rosewood.  However, this is a calcium deposit that is running right down the middle of the tree.  I have a feeling that I am going to have to fill it in with CA glue mixed with rosewood dust.

I wanted to get an idea of what this body would look like once I put a finish on it.  The easy way to do that is to wet the wood.  It also gives me an idea if I would want to darken the wood, or leave it the way it is.

My next step is do keep sanding.  I can't really do much more than that until I order parts for it.  So far I am pretty happy with it.

Guitar Project #7, The Rosewood Telecaster

So I'm back in the workshop.  As I am finishing up one Telecaster I am starting another.  I think it was more luck that determined my choice of wood than brains.  I inherited a huge piece of Rosewood.  It was big enough to make a Telecaster body out of it without having to glue pieces together.  It was a rare piece of wood that is the perfect size for a guitar body.

Back in 1968 (I believe) Fender made an all Rosewood Telecaster for The Beatles George Harrison.  He used that guitar on the last few Beatles' albums, as well as his solo album, All Things Must Pass.  It had a very distinctive sound to it.

So I knew that this would be the perfect project for me.  Here's a picture where I have just started the rough cutting.

I then laid out the cutting line for the neck pocket, pickups, and control cavity.  I put a few forester bit cuts in the cavities so the router bits could get started.

In this picture, you can see where I have used a mini-router/dremel to route out the cavities.  It may take longer, but I have better control over what I am doing, and where I am cutting.

Next is the view of the back of the guitar.

I am worried about a place right in the middle of the guitar.  If you look (side to side, middle) at the back, you can see what looks like a crack.  It's where the middle of the tree was.  It's a calcium deposit.  I will probably have to fill and glue it up.

I did a bit of sanding on the back, and boy, is this rosewood hard.  It's also heavy too.  I'm betting this guitar will have a weight balance similar to a Paul Reed Smith.  In other words, a very heavy body, but the overall balance will be nice.

More to come when work continues on it.

I Am A Terrible Luthier, But I'm Working On It

For quite a while now I have been building a guitar I've called "Project 5."  Here's the original post describing the ideas I had behind it.

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/02/not-another-guitar-project.html

Here's a picture of the guitar that I based my design on.

But I wanted it to have that jangle and style of the Gretsch White Penguin.

Here is what I have come up with so far.

Not bad, but I have made a number of mistakes.  I have fixed most of them, but I have two serious ones.

The first big mistake I made was drilling a hole out the back of the body.  You can see the hole in the picture above.  So I decided to plug the hole.  I would like to thank my Dad for woodturning a piece of black walnut so that I could fill the hole.  Here's the piece he did.

With a bit of Titebond 2 glue, and some time, I will be able to fix my screw up.  After the glue dries I will sand down the plug, and cover it with lacquer.

The next mistake was as serious as it gets.  I screwed up royally.  I screwed up so bad that I put this guitar away for over a year and a half.  Simply put, I made the neck too thin.  Then, when I was shaving it into shape, I cut through, so that the truss rod was showing out the back of the neck.  

So, after spending some time away from the project, I had a friend on the net show how to put a patch over a broken neck.  His was way worse, so I figured I could save this guitar since it was not as bad.  This is what I came up with.

It may not be pretty, but it will work.  I tested the movement on the neck, and it seems to be holding.  I have sanded it even, and applied tung oil to fill the grain.  Once I get the hole on the back sanded even, I will start applying polyurethane to both the filled hole and the neck.  

The Ongoing Baritone/ Tele/ Cello Project, Part 4, Not So Baritone

The original post, http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/03/baritone-cello-guitar.html

Part 1, http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/05/ongoing-baritone-cello-tele-project.html

Part 2, http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/05/ongoing-baritone-tele-cello-project.html

Part 3, http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/05/ongoing-baritone-tele-cello-project_29.html

So I've had a little change of heart/ design when it comes to the Tele project.  Frankly, I can't get a good baritone neck at a decent price, so I got a regular Tele neck.  I got it from the same place that Fender gets their higher end Squier series, from Hong Kong. 

I've found a nice little place where I can order things straight from the Hong Kong factories.

http://www.eyguitarmusic.com/

I have been really happy with what I have ordered.  I am getting the same stuff I would normally get from other places, I'm just cutting out two middlemen, and two trips of shipping.

Here's the pictures of the neck.

I also got the last pieces to complete the build.

You wouldn't believe how hard it has been to find an output jack.  I've been to just about every store in the bay area, and can't find one.  It's bordering on ridulousness.  But, this place has all the output jacks I want to buy.

And one other thing...

A double bladed hot rodded bridge pickup.  I have a thing for double bladed pickups, and this one is right up my alley.  And if I hate it, I have another Kent Armstrong pickup that I can replace it with.

My next step is to route out the neck.  Here's a picture for clarity.

The body is basically complete except for routing out the neck pocket.  So, I am going to do that in the near future, and post another blog when my wood work is hopefully complete.