Building my first guitar

The guitar building course started very promisingly, the week after the inlay course,. The back and sides were to be made with Indian Rosewood and the top from Sitka Spruce. We picked a lovely close grained top with some bear clawing in it. Bear clawing consists of those asymmetrical and random patterns in the grain of the spruce that look like bear claws. It was definitely a good top.
Silking example

A good Sitka spruce top

The back and sides were chosen because I liked the look of the grain pattern. The back  came in two pieces that would be edge glued together to form the back of the guitar. Dave told me that I could opt for two possible choices – the straight grain on one side of the two blanks could be edge glued together with the parallel grain side by side, which was the traditional way, or, the curved grain on the other side of the blanks could be edge glued together making a pattern that was symetrical and different. I chose the latter option and I’m still happy with that choice.

Ready for lacquer

Back and Sides

There were many steps taken in that course. Dave Nichols was kind enough to get me through the worst of the scary parts where I thought I would wreck all that I’d done so far. In the end, the inlay work on the fingerboard and headstock gives me a lot of pleasure just to look at. The guitar itself plays beautifully and I’m very pleased with it. I play it often, but what sets it apart from other guitars is the inlay work. There isn’t another one like it.

Below are some pictures of the guitar, and if you’re interested in the actual building of the guitar, visit the “Guitars – GWND Guitar” page for more photos with annotations.

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