That's very informative Kevin, and I definitely learn every time I watch your videos. I've really learned a lot about grain orientation, and where it matters. I'm at the beginning stages of acoustic #2 and this was good and timely information.
Great video, Kevin! You provided a good explanation of why you orient the woods you use in the way you do, effectively sharing your years of experience with the rest of us. Thank you very much! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours, sir.
That was great! I'll be building my first guitar shortly once my shop is complete. Nice to understand grain orientation during the build. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful Christmas Kevin!
Another great video: this one was a light bulb moment for me. Now I understand the basis whats and whys, I feel able to more confidently extend my knowledge on the basis of the principles herein laid out. Thank you.
Note on the softwood bridge plate, I am just repairing my dads old Japanese made guitar from the 70s. The spruce plat twisted like crazy and left a massive belly on the guitar!
I had asked this question on a twoodford vid regarding the bracing. Thank you so very much for this vid sir! I assumed it was this way but was not sure as I have not yet built a guitar! Hopefully I will be able to soon however! Thank you! This channel is a wealth of knowledge.
Good word of advice near the end of the video regarding handling and working wenge. For viewers who don't know yet, its short, sharp, hard slivers are murder on the hands and act like metal filings once they penetrate the skin, and are as difficult or worse to remove. Sometimes you can't remove them and you just have to wait until they work their own way out or are eventually broken down by your body's natural processes. In the meantime they hurt, and sometimes a lot. Similar to having a shingles outbreak or being jabbed by needles. I would add that wenge fibers are even more dangerous to the eyes and lungs potentially so you want to take reasonable if not extreme precautions to avoid letting these little miniature weapons into your body. So why do we use it? It can be beautiful and has its own other positives too. Risk is part of the job, folks. Be aware and manage your risks.
@@bookingboy Especially watch those edges and corners while you're sanding and machining, but those little slivers can rise up out of the faces too. Don't slide bare skin along the work to check smoothness, or to move it across the table saw, jointer, etc. LAY your hand on wenge, LIFT it off. Don't slide it. Maybe even wear leather gloves for some parts of the job. As you're bending your sides you might get some tiny fibers popping out like porcupine quills from the convex curves. Pay attention to the runout direction when you're block sanding these down or you will just keep prying more up. Obviously you also want bound edges on the body instead of plain butt overlap joinery where your top and back meet the sides. And I'd try to use a finish that will help lock those pesky fibers down, which IMO is not really an issue acoustically on the back and sides since they're more for structure and reflection. I hope Kevin would agree with my advice, I'm not trying to speak for him but I've worked a lot with wenge. It's cool but challenging. Just be careful and especially don't breathe the fibers or get them in your eyes or 'other' sensitive areas. Wear coveralls or a shop apron and vacuum the dust off yourself before you go home. Basically take the same precautions as for working with fibreglas. Good luck!
I'm tearing my hair out with frustration over resolution. I film with my iPhone and must use the back camera so that I can monitor what appears on camera. When tiled to landscape position, the iPhone will record in HD, 30 or 60 fps only. Do you have some suggestions? I would welcome any advise you may have.
I'm quite sure that your neck problems had much more to do with factors other than being flat sawn, but that's a suspicion, not fact. Still, a quartered neck blank is a better bet every time.
Well the flat sawed one did not expand laterally = stability for fret ends, but it did expand vertically a few thousands unevenly and that screwed up the fret height unevenly which was a bad thing. Curiously? What factors are you quite sure of.? New to guitar making,, I'd like to know.
I am having constant issues with resolution and have been unable to solve that problem. It's driving me nuts and I know it's not much from the viewer's end either. I'll keep working on it. Really reluctant to invest in expensive equipment.
I use kerfed linings with the web to the inside of the body. I like the solid look. I like solid laminated linings because they strengthen the rim greatly but they take a lot of time a patience to make up.
Nice discussion for sure. 2 questions....why not cut short back split patches and fit them in between the braces? Also, is it so difficult to clarify grain from annular rings? To me annular rings are not grain! Jeez my buthole just puckers right up when I hear these 2 mixed. .....a lone voice in the Forrest.....
If you mean glue joint reinforcement in your first question, yes, that;'s standard procedure, and it's just as easy to make them full length over the joint and cut openings to accommodate the braces. An annular ring is a combination of early and late growth in a tree. It can be seen in end grain, usually as a wider light lined a darker narrow one. This is more or less obvious depending on specie. Grain is the character that you seen in the surface of the material but the word is also used to describe the "runout" in a piece of wood. Every piece of wood exhibits (although often hard to see) a certain amount of runout because it's impossible to slice a piece of wood that perfectly follows a logs natural taper, curvature or twist.
I can just see myself jamming the saw into the back, and chiseling a gouge when lifting the gap out....I do suppose I could be careful, might help. Thanks!
Not too long for me. I was curious, considering you like to use native wood, have you ever attempted to quarter saw and dry Iron wood for finger boards or bridge material? Do you have an opinion on it. I know it’s difficult to dry properly without cracking and checkering. Is it too unstable of a wood or not?
By Ironwood, I assume you mean Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), sometimes known as Blue Beech. Or, do you mean Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)? The former is common in my area and is very light in color, tough as nails and has been used regularly for wood plane soles and tool handles. Given its use a plane soles, i assume that it would make a very durable fingerboard. Its shrinkage rates are as follows: Radial: 8.2%, Tangential: 9.6%. The latter, Ostrya Virginiana, is also known as American Hornbeam. Its shrinkage rates are Radial: 8.2%, Tangential: 9.6%,. It is darker than Hornbeam and has a high cutting resistance, making it very durable and resistant to wear. More information about these two species can be found on the wood database. Whichever of these grows in your area, it appears that with one is certainly hard and durable enough for bridge and fingerboard use. The trees are relatively small and therefore, may not yield boards of good width. i am unaware of any retail source for this lumber. Still, if you have a source, it seems very worthwhile to try some of it. There is Blue Beech within 500 yards of my shop and now you've got me interested in harvesting a tree within the next few days.
Yes Carpinus Caroliniana. I too am in your relative area, approx. 3 hr west in North Central PA. Your correct that it rarely yields greater than 6 to 8 inches diameter and I know of no commercial source for it, but I do have access to it. I would harvest and saw myself. Very hard. Janka scale says 1780 on google. That is on par with some ebonies and rosewoods. I have toyed with the idea but am not sure about the weight and successfully drying it without cracking. Will just have to try it I guess. @@thepragmaticluthier
This video is great! Don't worry about the length, those with short attention spans can always pause the video and come back to it.
That's very informative Kevin, and I definitely learn every time I watch your videos.
I've really learned a lot about grain orientation, and where it matters. I'm at the beginning stages of acoustic #2 and this was good and timely information.
Don't forget to start number 3 just before number two is done :)
@@thepragmaticluthier all the more to drive my wife nuts and complain I have too many guitars already.
Great video, Kevin! You provided a good explanation of why you orient the woods you use in the way you do, effectively sharing your years of experience with the rest of us. Thank you very much!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours, sir.
Thanks for your comment. I think it's the Shop Teacher in me.
That was great! I'll be building my first guitar shortly once my shop is complete. Nice to understand grain orientation during the build. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful Christmas Kevin!
Thanks for your comment, hope you're building a great shop. Merry Christmas to you and yours also.
Another great video: this one was a light bulb moment for me. Now I understand the basis whats and whys, I feel able to more confidently extend my knowledge on the basis of the principles herein laid out. Thank you.
Reading your comment is SO gratifying. I hope I can continue to put out more and better videos.
Was NOT too long. Very enjoyable and informative.
Thanks for your patience. Sometimes, brevity is hard to achieve.
Note on the softwood bridge plate, I am just repairing my dads old Japanese made guitar from the 70s. The spruce plat twisted like crazy and left a massive belly on the guitar!
When I mentioned softwood bridge plate, I said "soft wood" and clarified that a bridge plate needs to be dense material.
@@thepragmaticluthier cheers, there are some quiet hard softwoods!
Great video. I genuinely appreciate how much you teach me.
Old Shop Teachers never die' they just go to RUclips.
Merry Christmas to you and Happy New Year!
And the same to you and yours.
I had asked this question on a twoodford vid regarding the bracing. Thank you so very much for this vid sir! I assumed it was this way but was not sure as I have not yet built a guitar! Hopefully I will be able to soon however! Thank you! This channel is a wealth of knowledge.
Good word of advice near the end of the video regarding handling and working wenge. For viewers who don't know yet, its short, sharp, hard slivers are murder on the hands and act like metal filings once they penetrate the skin, and are as difficult or worse to remove. Sometimes you can't remove them and you just have to wait until they work their own way out or are eventually broken down by your body's natural processes. In the meantime they hurt, and sometimes a lot. Similar to having a shingles outbreak or being jabbed by needles. I would add that wenge fibers are even more dangerous to the eyes and lungs potentially so you want to take reasonable if not extreme precautions to avoid letting these little miniature weapons into your body. So why do we use it? It can be beautiful and has its own other positives too. Risk is part of the job, folks. Be aware and manage your risks.
That's good to know. I just bought a wenge back and sides set. I'll be very careful. Thanks.
@@bookingboy Especially watch those edges and corners while you're sanding and machining, but those little slivers can rise up out of the faces too. Don't slide bare skin along the work to check smoothness, or to move it across the table saw, jointer, etc. LAY your hand on wenge, LIFT it off. Don't slide it. Maybe even wear leather gloves for some parts of the job. As you're bending your sides you might get some tiny fibers popping out like porcupine quills from the convex curves. Pay attention to the runout direction when you're block sanding these down or you will just keep prying more up. Obviously you also want bound edges on the body instead of plain butt overlap joinery where your top and back meet the sides. And I'd try to use a finish that will help lock those pesky fibers down, which IMO is not really an issue acoustically on the back and sides since they're more for structure and reflection. I hope Kevin would agree with my advice, I'm not trying to speak for him but I've worked a lot with wenge. It's cool but challenging. Just be careful and especially don't breathe the fibers or get them in your eyes or 'other' sensitive areas. Wear coveralls or a shop apron and vacuum the dust off yourself before you go home. Basically take the same precautions as for working with fibreglas. Good luck!
Thanks again.
@@bookingboy Hope that wasn't TMI but was helpful somehow, Keith. Good luck with your build and Happy New Year!
Great video as always thanks
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the great content
You're welcome. I hope you derive useful benefit format.
This is an excellent video! I learned a great deal. In particular brace orientation! Many thanks!
Never too long👍
Sometimes brevity is hard to achieve. Thanks for your patience.
Once again, very useful information. Thanks Kevin.
Old Shop Teachers never die; they just go to RUclips?
Happy holidays to you and best wishes for the new year.
Thank you and the same to you.
Not too long , Kevin. Yes wenge is fun .... beautiful grain though . Merry Christmas , peace ✌
Thank you. Merry Christmas to you also. Keep your gloves handy if your going to work Wenge, Purpleheart.
Kevin could you please film with better resolution? and thank you for sharing your rich experience with us!
I'm tearing my hair out with frustration over resolution. I film with my iPhone and must use the back camera so that I can monitor what appears on camera. When tiled to landscape position, the iPhone will record in HD, 30 or 60 fps only. Do you have some suggestions? I would welcome any advise you may have.
Good show!
Once I made a neck perfectly flat sawed and it is now on the wall as an example of bad judgement. = junk.
I'm quite sure that your neck problems had much more to do with factors other than being flat sawn, but that's a suspicion, not fact. Still, a quartered neck blank is a better bet every time.
Well the flat sawed one did not expand laterally = stability for fret ends, but it did expand vertically a few thousands unevenly and that screwed up the fret height unevenly which was a bad thing.
Curiously?
What factors are you quite sure of.?
New to guitar making,, I'd like to know.
Really great video. Thanks so much. (Are you uploading these at a really slow internet connection? This one particularly is super, duper low res.)
I am having constant issues with resolution and have been unable to solve that problem. It's driving me nuts and I know it's not much from the viewer's end either. I'll keep working on it. Really reluctant to invest in expensive equipment.
It's a little bit difficult to see the grain orientation since the video doesn't seem to have a higher resolution than 360p.
I've had nothing but trouble with that. When i switch my iPhone to the black camera, the resolution changes to HD. Very frustrating.
another great video. thank you.. question bout linings. solid/bent or kerfed? i've done both and they seem to equally work. thoughts?
I use kerfed linings with the web to the inside of the body. I like the solid look. I like solid laminated linings because they strengthen the rim greatly but they take a lot of time a patience to make up.
Nice discussion for sure. 2 questions....why not cut short back split patches and fit them in between the braces? Also, is it so difficult to clarify grain from annular rings? To me annular rings are not grain! Jeez my buthole just puckers right up when I hear these 2 mixed. .....a lone voice in the Forrest.....
If you mean glue joint reinforcement in your first question, yes, that;'s standard procedure, and it's just as easy to make them full length over the joint and cut openings to accommodate the braces. An annular ring is a combination of early and late growth in a tree. It can be seen in end grain, usually as a wider light lined a darker narrow one. This is more or less obvious depending on specie. Grain is the character that you seen in the surface of the material but the word is also used to describe the "runout" in a piece of wood. Every piece of wood exhibits (although often hard to see) a certain amount of runout because it's impossible to slice a piece of wood that perfectly follows a logs natural taper, curvature or twist.
I can just see myself jamming the saw into the back, and chiseling a gouge when lifting the gap out....I do suppose I could be careful, might help. Thanks!
Not too long for me. I was curious, considering you like to use native wood, have you ever attempted to quarter saw and dry Iron wood for finger boards or bridge material? Do you have an opinion on it. I know it’s difficult to dry properly without cracking and checkering. Is it too unstable of a wood or not?
By Ironwood, I assume you mean Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), sometimes known as Blue Beech. Or, do you mean Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)? The former is common in my area and is very light in color, tough as nails and has been used regularly for wood plane soles and tool handles. Given its use a plane soles, i assume that it would make a very durable fingerboard. Its shrinkage rates are as follows: Radial: 8.2%, Tangential: 9.6%.
The latter, Ostrya Virginiana, is also known as American Hornbeam. Its shrinkage rates are Radial: 8.2%, Tangential: 9.6%,. It is darker than Hornbeam and has a high cutting resistance, making it very durable and resistant to wear. More information about these two species can be found on the wood database. Whichever of these grows in your area, it appears that with one is certainly hard and durable enough for bridge and fingerboard use. The trees are relatively small and therefore, may not yield boards of good width. i am unaware of any retail source for this lumber. Still, if you have a source, it seems very worthwhile to try some of it. There is Blue Beech within 500 yards of my shop and now you've got me interested in harvesting a tree within the next few days.
Yes Carpinus Caroliniana. I too am in your relative area, approx. 3 hr west in North Central PA. Your correct that it rarely yields greater than 6 to 8 inches diameter and I know of no commercial source for it, but I do have access to it. I would harvest and saw myself. Very hard. Janka scale says 1780 on google. That is on par with some ebonies and rosewoods. I have toyed with the idea but am not sure about the weight and successfully drying it without cracking. Will just have to try it I guess. @@thepragmaticluthier
YOU’RE WRONG! But so am I guess cause that’s what I do too…:)
I'm very comforted that there is another "wrong doer" out there. I suspect that there are hundreds that haven't comet of the closet.