Grateful Dead Music Forum

I've had the pieces for this guitar laying around for more than 5 years. I traded some stuff to get hardware and pickups and got the ball rolling. It's got a sweet burled redwood top and a nice flame maple back. The neck is flame maple/purpleheart from SoulMate guitars. Originally I was going to do a neck-thru strat but after some thought I decided to get Waldo's buffer, OBEL, etc. Using Duncan humbucker pickups since I could get them at dealer cost. I'm getting a buddy here in Blacksburg to do the build. It should be done by the beginning of next year maybe around Christmas.

with the top off


with the redwood top


and more...

Never seen redwood used as a top like that. One of the softest woods I can even think of! Looks cool.

tigerstrat wrote:Never seen redwood used as a top like that. One of the softest woods I can even think of! Looks cool.

Yeah, I had an acoustic with a redwood top and it didn't ding up much worse than any other acoustic top - we'll see, I'm kinda rough on guitars

yes interesting choice for a laminate, but beautiful. I love redwood. I am sure it will sound great... can't wait to see it/hear it.

JonnyBoy wrote:yes interesting choice for a laminate, but beautiful. I love redwood. I am sure it will sound great... can't wait to see it/hear it.

After I got the neck I cruised eBay for some interesting wood for the body and I put a lowball bid on the redwood thinking I wouldn't win it but did. It looks a hundred times cooler in person than the lame cell phone camera shows.

It is lovely wood indeed. I've got one I built with a redwood core... works great.

It looks, from the photo, like your top redwood piece is flush with the top of the fretboard, or close to it. How are you going to get the bridge low enough?

Brian

milobender wrote:It is lovely wood indeed. I've got one I built with a redwood core... works great.

It looks, from the photo, like your top redwood piece is flush with the top of the fretboard, or close to it. How are you going to get the bridge low enough?

Brian

Brian,
It's not flush, the top is flush with the bottom of the fretboard. I'm going with a Schaller flat mount bridge - we talked about using a TOM/stop tailpiece style but I decided to not have to deal with neck angle, counter-sinking, etc.

Ahh, yeah I stewed over this problem a long time with mine... I ended up going with the angled body/stop tailpiece (because of the possibility of better sustain I thought, using the ability to 'lock' every componenet to the body). It wasn't nearly as bad, cutting the body-section of the neck, as I thought it would be (I used a router). But even with that, getting the most angle I could get with the available neck stock, I may have to counter sink just a little. I haven't gotten back to it yet, but soon... it's going to be really close.

Brian

I have often thought (dreamed) about a RedWood top over the years. I like the look you have going. I think it was a breedlove or eastman acoustic, I could be way off, but I noodled a little on it and love the resonse well rounded. I look forward to see more of yours.

gr8fulbluz wrote:I have often thought (dreamed) about a RedWood top over the years. I like the look you have going. I think it was a breedlove or eastman acoustic, I could be way off, but I noodled a little on it and love the resonse well rounded. I look forward to see more of yours.

Taylor made some redwood top acoustics back when I was working for a Taylor dealer - they seemed to sound a lot like cedar tops. The guy who's doing my build made a flamed redwood top electric that had a great tone - of course every piece of wood is different, mine should be done in less than a month, I'll keep you posted . . .

Getting closer - working out a finishing issue and hopefully ready for the 25th Anniversary show on the 12th.

not a great pic from the Crackberry but my kids were flipping out in the car so I didn't have a chance to take another

Looking sweet Tom
Have you made any changes in the electronics or anything ?
Mid stream change ups ? Stuff always comes up ....
you must be itching to get it done

nice!

Jedi, still going with the 3 Seymour Stag Mag pups and Waldo preamp, OBEL - so no changes yet . . . I think we have a solution to the finishing problem - darn spalted maple - thanks Jonnyboy!

the soft part on the maple was giving John some headaches but I think we're on track again.


It's a good thing because the Ghost midi system issue is rendering my WGD unusable. Good thing we don't play a lot in the winter months.

Whats the headstock gonna look like ?
You got a fav brand of tuners ?
I like ebony on a headstock for looks ....