We finally are going to see one of the grafted claro walnut backs on a guitar. This first one is a jumbo pattern. [The plank and rough sawn backs are pictured a bit lower on this page.]

[As of April 2008, the completed pictures are on the Home Page]

We have two fun projects going right now. One is the building of the three Grandfather's Walnut instruments and the other is a large maple cutaway flat top.

First the walnut guitar close ups. These are the labels.

Following are two pictures of the neck work taken as we worked this jumbo flat top cut away into shape. See page one of this site for pictures of the completed guitar.

Below is the end graft inlay of a recently completed mahogany jumbo.

Here are some details from the walnut builds.

This is claro walnut plank we have been saving for a few special guitars. Since we have had this wood in our shop since 1975, we know it is dry and ready for our guitars. We were able to get 9 sets of guitar backs from this single piece of wood. Note the graft area where the American and English walnut stock was joined.

After the back, sides and top pieces are selected, they are thicknessed. The backs and tops are joined and cut into their shapes.

This shows our simple but effective clamping method for joining the two piece backs and tops. The outer edges are tacked to the workboard while the center is raised by the wood batten. After glue is applied to both sides of the joint, the batten is pulled out from under the glue joint. Weight is placed over the pieces to hold them firmly to the workboard while the glue sets up.

Here is a back from the above plank. We will be building with this one in the near future.

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After glue up the tops are inlayed with the sound hole rosette, then the sound hole is cut out.

Tops are braced with spruce split from large billets and the sides are glued to the top.

After the top is glued to the sides, the back is attached. Clamping of the back is accomplished using large rubber bands looped over the pegs visable here on the edge of the workboard.

Next the edged of the back and top are trimmed flush with the sides and the wood binding is applied.

The neck joint is carefully layed out and then cut by hand. We bulld most of our necks for flat tops of mahogany. The head area is cut at an angle and glued then the heel is built up of several layers of mahogany blocks. The neck is then fitted to the body.

Here are construction pictures showing one of our jumbo flat top designs and a associated archtop using the same side profile.

These are the sides being assembled using a new to us internal form. We found the internal form gave more control over the shape we wanted to acheive.

Once we had the sides completed we made up the back and top plates.

After bracing the top it was glued to the side assembly. Here you can see the blocks that support those sharp shoulder areas.

The binding has been added and the neck will be next.

Here the 2-way truss rod and the bone nut can be seen.

The following guitar has been completed now and you can see it on our Gallery page.

These are the walnut sides, three of the four pieces, shaped and attached to the mahogany blocks. This is the second guitar guilt using this internal form.

Showing the mitered corner.

This picture is just before the X brace bars were shaped. Notice the "F" hole design.

Here we are gluing the side braces in. This is where we now are on this archtop build [August 15, 2005].

We have recently begun a new build following the above process. The top has been carved and now we have the internal mold.

For flat top enthusiasts, we have continued working on our new jumbo design. The first two walnut bodied instruments are shown in the Gallery section of this site. We have five more in process using mesquite, Australian blackwood, claro walnut and some of the grafted claro walnut shown above in the plank form. We still need to build with the mango [very curly and beautiful wood] and the canary wood is calling for a build too.

Should be an exciting few months ahead.

We will post more pictures of our progress in the future.

Right now we need to go build some guitars.

Thanks for looking.

Steve