12 String SS Falcate braced Ziricote\spruce guitar.

[johnparchem]

I promise the last post for a bit as I mostly have tedious finish prep work left ... But yesterday I installed the truss rod and carved the neck.

I generally have the truss rod flush but went just a tad deep with my channel so I planed a bit of spruce to fit in the channel. and wicked in a touch of CA and planed it flush.



Also note I am all prepped to glue on the fret board. I have three 1/32 index pins to assure alignment. Also I have some strips of purfling wood on the edges pf my cauls to force the edges of the fret board down.


Looks like I am getting a lot of squeeze out.



Never to many clamps



I decided to carve the neck with a circular arc. I drew the squared dimensions for the 1st and 6th fret, found the arc with a compass and finally drew tangent lines to determine the dimensions of my first facet. I then transferred the facets lines to the neck.



I use a spoke shave to cut the initial facet. It goes really fast. I know some draw in the secondary and tertiary facets, but for a circular arc they are easy to see on the neck. So I just attack them with the spoke shave as well. At some point I switch to sand paper to remove the remaining facet lines.



I go at the heal with a nice rasp. At first it seem slow put really it goes pretty fast as well. In the following picture I am about 50 minutes into the carving process.



Here are some pictures prior to the start of finish prep.

[kiwigeo]

John.....did you mean to repost your post again...looks like you hit the quote button. Do you want the second repeat post deleted?

[johnparchem]

John.....did you mean to repost your post again...looks like you hit the quote button. Do you want the second repeat post deleted?

Please do, I am not sure how I did that.

[johnparchem]

One last post before finishing.

I added diamond fret markers, I put a back veneer on the head stock, made my logo, and drilled for the tuners.











I had to cut out my logo twice; I accidentally made a ukulele sized logo.
I have shown this before but I cut the moon from mother of pearl.





The hawk and branch are cut from ebony (fret board cutoffs)








And no I have not found a good use for the pearl hawks

[seeaxe]

loving this thread John, great to see the big beast coming together. thanks for posting

[kiwigeo]

All looking good John.........but I think this is all a fancy diversion from the main event....sorting out the compensation on this baby

[Nick]

And no I have not found a good use for the pearl hawks

Fret markers on a special guitar? If it's good enough for Paul Reed Smith
Looking like a beauty John, hopefully it ticks all the boxes for you, once it's got some strings on it.

[Woodsy23]

John,
We're all waiting with bated breath for the next instalment post.

[johnparchem]

I have been nervously waiting but I can not rush the finish process. I used zpoxy - EM6000 wb finish on the body and CA and Royal Lac on the neck. I am just a couple of days from being able to sand and buff out the guitar.

[johnparchem]

It still needs a setup and the final polishing, but here it is with strings. The top resonance came out lower than I thought at 175Hz but the bridge rotation while not measure looks OK. The height of the two main falcate braces were at 10.5 mm around the bridge 3.5 mm higher than might last SS that ended up with a 170 Hz top resonance. As a further note I used the same vibrational stiffness value in equ. 4.5-7 and the secondary braces were kept the same at 7 mm. The back may be at 233 Hz, the back was heavy so I did not brace it as an active back.

If it holds together it has a very loud and rich sound.

[collinsguitar]

Looks wonderful John. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I for one would love to hear the results!

[blackalex1952]

Thank you so much for posting all this. I just love build threads, and these kind of things help to make this an outstanding forum. My internet is tediously slow due to an oversubscribed satellite service out here in the Australian bush, however, and large threads are time consuming to troll through. So I hope I haven't missed anything here...I am wondering how much side mass you ended up using? I couldn't see any reference in the thread. Nice build, Ross

[Woodsy23]

Looks wonderful John. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I for one would love to hear the results!

I would love to hear a sample of the sound too.

What saddle and nut compensation did you do, if any?

[johnparchem]

I have a recording session set up for next Monday with a decent player. He played it before my lesson with him Monday and I was quite happy with the way it sounds. He did comment that it was loud and very balanced. I have no idea what a good 12 string should sound like, but I we will record with some decent equipment so you can hear how it sounds.

[johnparchem]

What saddle and nut compensation did you do, if any?

I went rather simple I moved the nut 1.5 mm toward the saddle and used the 12 fret to open fret to intonate the saddle.

[johnparchem]

.I am wondering how much side mass you ended up using? I couldn't see any reference in the thread. Nice build, Ross

Thanks, I have the mounts for the side mass but have not used any yet. I think I am going to tune the back closer to the top and see if it the top goes down a bit from coupling with the back. I will then ad some side mass to move the top down close to 170 Hz.

[johnparchem]

Here is an you tube line with my guitar instructor Rob Hampton of http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/ playing my 12 string


youtu.be/

[Nick]

Beautiful full 12 string sound John, has all the basses covered in the tone stakes, a full bass and complex highs, I love 12 stringers. Great choice of music too (one of my 'go-to' pieces to get the fingers warmed up) just a pity about your instructor's tee shirt

It's been a great journey to watch from flat bits of wood to full sound sample, thanks for taking the time to document and post

[johnparchem]

Thank you Nick for your kind comments.

[kiwigeo]

Nice work John and it sounds great.....

[Woodsy23]

An outstanding 12 string, John. Great workmanship as usual.

I'm glad the bridge rotation worked out OK. ( it would have been embarrassing for me if it didn't).

[johnparchem]

Thanks Martin!

An outstanding 12 string, John. Great workmanship as usual.

I'm glad the bridge rotation worked out OK. ( it would have been embarrassing for me if it didn't).

Richard I appreciate the modeling, also I used your suggestion about not having to increase the height of the secondary falcate braces. I suspect those braces have a relevant impact on the top frequency. I left them at 7 mm. In any case I was able to structurally support the added string tension and keep the T(1,1)2 less than 180 Hz. I will double check on the top thickness before I deliver the guitar.

The guitar is very loud and has the characteristics I have achieved in my other falcate braced guitars. Loud rich voice, very responsive (quick to follow), great sustain and balanced across the courses. The guitar sounds good when played quietly or loud and crescendos and decrescendos nicely.

[johnparchem]

Link to video, the embedded player stopped working

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UebH85F4PAU