Weissenborn update # 7

OK..top and back braced (as per the originals) Looks a bit heavy but there's quite a bit of string tension on the top. Want to avoid any risk of distortion. Now it's time to sand the rim(front and back), profile the ends of the top braces, cut pockets in the lining to accept the brace ends and then it will be time for a meeting with Mister Glue Bottle.

Weissenborn update #6

OK, the backstrip reinforcement is IN. The "christmas tree" bridge plate is IN. The rosette is finished and soundhole cut out. Tomorrow..bracing. Getting closer to closing the box!

Giving back - donating a guitar

I've decided to donate one of my size 1 parlor guitars to a fund-raising benefit here in Port Townsend. Andy Palmer was one week past graduation from Port Townsend high school. He went down to Oregon to fight forest fires and unfortunately was injured when a tree fell on him and seriously hurt leg. He was evacuated by helecopter but sadly, he died on the way to the hospital.
His family started a scholarship fellowship in his honor. Each year the foundation provides a college scholarship to a graduating senior from Port Townsend and Port Angeles. The foundation relies on donations and proceeds from fund-raisers throughout the year. I decided to donate a guitar to this years fund raising efforts. Raffle tickets will be sold for $10 each. We aim to sell at 1000 tickets.

This guitar is inspired by a Martin size 1 from the turn of the century. It is built from curly Claro Walnut and quilted Redwood. Spalted maple adorns the soundhole and end splice. The guitar is bound with curly Koa and features an ebony fretboard and bridge. It's a very sweet and special guitar. Let's hope it goes to good home!

Weissenborn update # 5

Well, progress at last! Got all the kerfed lining installed. I used reverse kerf mahogany since it blends well with the koa. I finally settled on a rosette design. It channels the original three line rosette on a Style 1 Weissenborn but adds a center of modern rope purfling. I still haven't decided about whether or not I will bind this instrument. Fortunately there's still time to decide.

Weissenborn update #4

OK, got the headstock completed. Ebony headplate glued, "G" logo inlayed, tuner holes drilled. Now I was able to finally get it all glued up. Tomorrow, I will install the reverse kerf, mahogany lining. The on to bracing the top and back. You can see in the pictures the multiple rabbets (lots of good gluing surface). This headstock is not going anywhere!

Weissenborn progress #3

Well, this step has taken me some time! I've probably been over-thinking this step but here's the challenge: The headstock is an integral part of the body so I don't have the luxury of completing it an installing 'later' like I can when I build a conventional acoustic guitar. To add a bit of complexity, the headstock is installed via a glued, tapered tenon that goes inside the hollow neck section. AND, to add torsional strength, there is also a reinforcement strip that runs most of the length of the straight portion of the neck. I decided to deviate from the plans which call for a pair of spruce reinforcement strips and instead use 5-ply, Finnish Birch plywood. Very light and very stiff. Perfect. So I spend all afternoon cutting the tenon, first recessing to fit the thickness of the sides, and then adding a further "step" rabbet to laminate the birch ply to the tenon. PLUS,, the tenon is tapered both side to side and top to bottom! What fun...
I made it. The pictures show the completed tenon with the birch ply strips in-set. Lots of great gluing surface.
Now, on to add the headplate, profile the headstock, drill the tuner holes and inlay my "G" logo. Then it all gets glued to the sides...and on we go.

Weissenborn progress Day 2

OK- top and back joined and profiled, sides profiled and bent, starting the 'log' for rope binding.Whooo,hooo!

New project- Weissenborn

The person who was reponsible for the acoustic steel guitar before Weissenborn was Chris Knutson. He built his first harp guitars in Port Townsend in 1895. By the early 1920's his designs included the predecessor of what we now know as one of the main guitars built by Henry Weissenborn in Los Angeles by 1925. Since I live in Port Townsend I think it is only fitting that I build a tribute guitar to his memory. Here goes!