The final phase of construction..

the first section of the bridge is drawn out on the Padouk

bandsawed out then fine-sanded to shape

the section for the pickup is cut out and then used to hold the piece in place as I plane it to thickness

the cut out sections are there to reduce to the minimum the cross-vibration between strings.. this will make for a much cleaner acoustic tone with very clear response from each string as a chord is being played

sanded to shape

I double check the measurements and positioning

and mark out exactly where the bridge will sit

and then it is glued in place..

some words on the theory at work here.. thin bridge equals greater vibration therefore more sound.. more surface area at the bass side evens out the response accross the entire tonal range.. a bass sound wave has a greater length therefore it needs more space in which to vibrate.. and then between each string I reduce the thickness of the bridge down to less than a millimeter, this greatly reduces cross-vibration between each string which makes for amazingly clean chordal playing.. needless to say I will be making a seperate bone saddle for each string.. and the last addition is a seperate tailpiece which is what allowed me to make the bridge such a good vibrating platform..

a small padouk inlay at the bass of the guitar..

the tailpiece blank is roughly cut out

put in place to check string pull etc

holes are drilled in the top and brass marker ferrules placed in them.. pressing the tailpiece on top of them marks the exact spot where the corresponing hole will be drilled in the tailpiece.

dowel is glued in place.. this gives more strength to the joint as it increases the glueing area and helps the whole thing to become an integral part of the top

my favourite clamps put to good use

and there we have it

the back here is very beat up and the neck hangs over the edge

everything is carved down, including the best neck-joint access you'll ever see on an acoustic..

several hours sanding down using both the random orbital sander and then various grits of paper by hand

more padouk being used for the headstock inlay

cut out with a jewelers saw

and here she is after glueing the inlay in and going through the sanding process again..

blood red!!! Beautiful.. but dull..

until the first coats of sanding sealer are applied..

the neck prior to finishing.. the timbers are bubinga in the middle and Goncalo Alves on each side with maple stringers between them.. multi-lam necks are much much stronger than on your bog-standard fare.. not to mention it's prettier than average

the top with finish applied

after everything is thouroughly dry the whole guitar is rubbed down through the grits

and wax is applied and polished several times to get this lovely sheen

strings applied to make sure everything works.. I just couldn't wait any more..

strings removed and the frets marked for the stoning.. while stoning the frets I check to see where ink is removed.. when it is all gone then the frets are perfectly flat..,

several coats of lemon oil are applied after polishing and profiling each fret

labled.. and signed..

the smug grin on my face is very very justified!! I was asked to design a small bodied acoustic with a short Gibson scale length and a bowl back.. all of this with masses of sustain and increased bass response.. oh, and it also has to be strong enough to withstand the incredible tension produced by the use of New Standard Tuning.. I succeeded!! She is perfect!