The Luthier Community

This will be the first of 3 new builds that I will be starting in a month or so. Expect this one to start in late October after I get caught up on outstanding obligations.

Dennis suggested doing one of the smaller Martins like those I have been restoring from Bob's collection. Yes, it IS time to do one of these. So, I am going to do a copy of a Size 2, Style 27 that was built in 1890. Style 2 is fairly upscale in the old Martin lineup, with ivory binding and an abalone rosette, and fairly complex backstrip and purflings. Back and sides were Brazilian rosewood.

I will show more of the details of the original when I get ready to start, but here is a shot of the restored guitar (actually, there should be a thread on this in the repairs forum)


I have already picked out the wood. I showed the back in the "what to build" thread. I was able to find a perfectly matching side set already resawed, and since it had cracks on one edge, could only be used for a small bodied guitar. So it worked out perfectly

The side looks darker here, but they will match after sanding.

And I found an old white spruce top resawn from a small billet that will work. It is perfectly quartersawm, about 18 to 20 grains to the inch and no runout. Taps absolutely like glass. Lucked out again


Comments between here and the starting gate welcomed (and during the build also, of course)

G

Beautiful wood to work with.

Looking forward to watching this one come together.

Lefty

That's going to be a fine-looking guitar, Grant, sound great too, I'll bet.

I like this armchair guitar-building.

Pat

We await eagerly!

Ooooh! Love them little guitars! Beautiful wood choices!
I'll be starting a similar model this week. Probably BRZ with a Euro spruce top. I was trying to use this top on a Jumbo, but it was sawn too thin in Switzerland. I have to use it, cause the bearclaw is just too nice to send it back!
Looking forward to watching this one progress!
Cheers. Dan

Nice choice of a guitar to copy Grant. The renewed interest in smaller guitars amazes me as i get far more inquiries on the little guitars from my website than any of the other guitars I have posted there.

I recently finished a copy of a Gibson LG-1 and used a nice piece of white spruce that I got from you - and that guitar is one of the best sounding that I have made to date!

Gary

Well, I said this was going to start in late October, and it actually did, but was then off and on for a while and I never got time to post anything. So here is the start.

After I had chosen my wood, the first thing I worked on was making some of the decorative stuff. This guitar has a multicolored "zipper" backstrip and sort of a multicolored "rope-like" top purfling. Both are in shades of brown, "white", and green veneers. There is nothing remotely close available in commercial stuff, so I had to do it from scratch. And I didn't have any green veneer, so I had to dye some holly. I used a fiber reactive dye and just soaked it for a few days and it worked fine.

So here is the backstrip on the original guitar


I glued up some stacks of colored veneers for both the backstrip and the purfling

Here you can also see the colored veneers that I used.

I then sliced off thin strips from the edges of these stacks. Here is one of the backstrip slices

It is a double sequence of the colors in the backstrip

And here is one of the purfling strips

This is a single sequence of the colors in the purfling. More on the purfling later since I have not made any yet. Also note the rosette in this photo. That will be my next project after the backstrip.

On to the backstrip

The first step in making the backstrip is to slice off sections at a 45 degree angle from the glued up strip

Just a quickie miter thingy and an X-Acto saw

Then start gluing them up into a long row

I just stuck a strip of blue tape onto the back of a straightedge. The straightedge kept them lined up and the tape held them in place while the glue dried

A long strip completed


Next step was to cut short blocks from these strips and glue them up to a strip of white veneer. Same process with the blue tape and straightedge

This is the beginning.....

....and here it is completed


Then I trimmed the excess blue tape and sanded the outer edge even

Then I just needed to glue another white veneer strip to that edge

Here is the finished backstrip compared to the original guitar

Probably not a perfect match, but since the original varies along the length, this should look just fine

Then to glue up the back with the backstrip



And scrape it level


Then cut out the back a bit oversize


Here is the offcut with a few coats of shellac padded on compared to the original guitar


And with the new back to show a finished color


Next, I will be doing the rosette. I just glued up the top today and some ivoroid/black strips that I ordered arrived today also, so I have everything I need for that.

Thanks for looking.

G

Grant,

Lovely stuff - you and Haans are becoming the steel string purfling gurus (with Waddy on classical) and thats a great photo pictorial. One day I'm going to have to try making my own. This is going to be a lovely little guitar.