Well guess I gotta build again - Beng jumbo

[whitespruce]

Well, down to three guitars, two of which I will probably hang on to, so back to the shop.

Got some new wood this week, so time to try it out. It is called Beng and it is from Southeast Asia. Sort of a rosewood like tone and quite dense (51 pounds/cubic foot), but resaws easily and feels like it will bend very well. Also it is very well quartersawn. Got in a small sample, liked it, so have ordered all the rest of the nicely QS that the place had. Should end up with about 50 sets. Have never seen this wood anywhere else.

So, anyway, I will be building my cutaway small jumbo size since i don't have any of that style left. Here is the back and side set that I am using



Not sure about the top and the other appointments yet, but will have that decided next week.

Stay tuned

[Joe Sustaire]

Nice looking wood Grant, and yeah you better get cracking.

Joe

[whitespruce]

Well, this afternoon I bent the sides for the beng guitar and I also bent a set of cocobolo sides for the commission that I am working on.





The beng bent like butter. In fact, I had the sides roughly profiled and I accidently bent the side that should have been the cutaway as the non-cutaway side. So I just unwrapped the upper bout end and soaked it in hot water for a minute or so, wrapped it back up and stuck it on the cutaway form with slats and blanket, and rebent it into a cutaway...no problem at all I am really liking this wood. I will be glad when my new shipment gets here this week.

So now, the next question...what do I want to use for bindings, fingerboard, etc., etc. I am leaning towards a lightly flamed maple binding with a simple b/w/b purfling, all wood. The other option would be a dark binding, but not ebony. Maybe something like katalox or wenge. Snakewood would be too over the top.

I will probably use ebony for fingerboard, headplate, and bridge, but not completely black. I like the tan or orange blazes.

I will probably use one of my newer white spruce tops...not real tight grain, but more like typical red spruce.

Any other suggestions?

G

[WaddyT]

Nice looking wood Grant, and yeah you better get cracking.

Joe

I don't think "get cracking" is appropriate here, or in guitarmaking at all!

[Eben]

REALLY liking the look and description of that Beng, G!

E

[whitespruce]

REALLY liking the look and description of that Beng, G!

E

Hey E, I do gotta say that this is one of the most amazing woods that I have worked with. The rest of what I ordered will be here this week, then I will have a better idea of how many sets I will have. Oh, and there should be fingerboards and bindings, too. I am planning to save about a half dozen sets for myself, but there will probably be about 40 others.

The down side of all is that this will be a one time thing. I have never heard of nor seen this wood anywhere else, so when it is gone, it is gone. The wood I am getting was sawn about 15 years ago, mostly, it seems, from one big log.

Sorry to turn this into a shameless promotion, but the "family" on this Forum WILL be the only folks who will have access to this

Oh, and here is the fingerboard I am going to use

The top one with the stripes. I resawed a stack of these this morning.

G

[whitespruce]

Well, I joined the top on Monday and got things ready for the soundhole rosette.

The top I am using is one of my white spruce with pink and gray "accents", so I am doing the rosette to compliment those......bloodwood with b/w/b edges, and an outside b/w/b ring. Now, I do these with a stack of veneer lines of the appropriate size.

Here is the start

The lines are b/holly/b/4 bloodwood/b/holly/b. Not really too much of a fuss to keep them untangled - just keep the stack pressed down firmly to the top as you go around

All in place


An outer b/holly/b ring being added


CA'ed and sanded flush


And here you can see what I meant by the pink and gray "accents" on the top


Soundhole cut out


More next week

G

[gilmoreguitars]

Hey Grant
I am very much looking forward to building with the Beng that you are sending me.
I have decided that I will be doing a parlor.
I just bought some really nice spruce tops that I am itching to get into, and I also got a very nice set of Kluson tuners that I want to try out.

I love your rosette!
David