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#3 complete
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Author:  Tai Fu [ Tue May 08, 2012 11:00 am ]
Post subject:  #3 complete
#3 is complete.

OM cutaway body
German Spruce top
Coffee Estate rosewood back and side
Curly maple binding dyed red
Khaya mahogany neck
Ebony bridge and fingerboard (as usual)
abalone dot inlay with abalone headstock inlay, and abalone rosette
French polish on the body, and tru oil on the neck, and lacquer on the peg face

Still haven't installed an end pin.

This guitar did not turn out as good as I like, there are still some yellow stains on the soundboard because I had removed a rosette that was gouged and too thin, so this is more like an experimental build than anything. Sounds pretty good though, not big and boomy like a Dreadnaught but has just the right balance between good responsive treble and bass. I think I want to build more OM and other smaller bodied guitars. An added bonus is that its so much easier for someone like me to play it. A dreadnaught just feels like it's too big.

Here are some pictures:

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Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Tue May 08, 2012 11:08 am ]
Post subject:  #3 complete
Nice job Tai!
Author:  Quine [ Tue May 08, 2012 12:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Very nice!!
Author:  jfmckenna [ Tue May 08, 2012 12:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Looks good to me and I don't see any yellow staining. What finish did you use?
Author:  Tai Fu [ Tue May 08, 2012 12:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
jfmckenna wrote:
Looks good to me and I don't see any yellow staining. What finish did you use?


Its french polish shellac.

It does not show on the photograph but you can see it in person.
Author:  dazzer [ Tue May 08, 2012 4:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Nice job Tai :D

Dave
Author:  NWflyonly [ Tue May 08, 2012 6:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Way to go Tai nicely done! [clap]
Author:  Joe Sallis [ Wed May 09, 2012 7:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Great to see it finished. The red bindings look really good after all! Any chance of a sound file?
Author:  Tai Fu [ Wed May 09, 2012 7:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Joe Sallis wrote:
Great to see it finished. The red bindings look really good after all! Any chance of a sound file?


I like to but I am not sure if any recording device I have can really capture its essence... plus I am not that good of a player.
Author:  George L [ Wed May 09, 2012 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Nice work. Experimentation is good.
Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Wed May 09, 2012 8:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
I took a second look at your guitar pics and I noticed something I can't ignore.

Do you normally take your pants off before photographing your guitars? Wait...don't answer that. I am just thankful that the pictures do not show a reflection of a naked Tai Fu on the guitar! laughing6-hehe
Thanks for getting the angles correct so that you didn't show up in the pics!!

How did you do the binding on your headstock? On the guitar or off?
Author:  Tai Fu [ Wed May 09, 2012 9:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
It's a spare pant that happens to be in the room...

I bound the headstock at first off the neck, but found that I had serious trouble keeping everything together, so I routed them off and redid it, on the guitar.

I had serious issues with the binding and I think it has to do with the veneers I used as purfling, it's just too damned stiff and so it didn't want to stay on the body itself, giving me all sorts of gaps. I never had problems like this before.
Author:  Hastings Guitars [ Thu May 10, 2012 9:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Good work, I like your bound fretboard.
Author:  Tai Fu [ Thu May 10, 2012 9:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Hastings Guitars wrote:
Good work, I like your bound fretboard.


I could use every encouragements I can get... Someone just told me one of my previous build sounded no better than a $250 dollar Chinese guitar. I mean, yea they got guitars from China that costs less than $300 dollars that blows a Taylor 416CE away, how the hell am I supposed to compete against that?
Author:  Robert Renick [ Thu May 10, 2012 10:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Hastings Guitars wrote:
they got guitars from China that costs less than $300 dollars that blows a Taylor 416CE away, how the hell am I supposed to compete against that?


That is the big question for all of us isn't it. To me the answer will lie in the details that factories just can't or won't compete with. Compound radius fb's, multiscale, arm rests, exotic woods, reclaimed wood, compensated nut, cf neck and bracing reinforcement, and just the story and pictures of how it is built, some people will love the personal touch. Some will just be jealous or defensive, don't let them discourage. On the night that I finished my first guitar, I brought it to the venue I live by, a local musician could not stop telling me what was wrong with it, not in a constructive way, he was just being rude, he is just a rude guy. He went on and on about how I needed to coat over my delicate french polish finish with gobs of nitro, because guitars with a thick finish sound better, a real expert. He did not spoil my big night with my first guitar, but he tried.

Very nice guitar Tai, the bound headstock is very nice, what is "coffee estate" rose wood?
Rob
Author:  Tai Fu [ Thu May 10, 2012 10:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
comfyfoot wrote:
Hastings Guitars wrote:
they got guitars from China that costs less than $300 dollars that blows a Taylor 416CE away, how the hell am I supposed to compete against that?


That is the big question for all of us isn't it. To me the answer will lie in the details that factories just can't or won't compete with. Compound radius fb's, multiscale, arm rests, exotic woods, reclaimed wood, compensated nut, cf neck and bracing reinforcement, and just the story and pictures of how it is built, some people will love the personal touch. Some will just be jealous or defensive, don't let them discourage. On the night that I finished my first guitar, I brought it to the venue I live by, a local musician could not stop telling me what was wrong with it, not in a constructive way, he was just being rude, he is just a rude guy. He went on and on about how I needed to coat over my delicate french polish finish with gobs of nitro, because guitars with a thick finish sound better, a real expert. He did not spoil my big night with my first guitar, but he tried.

Very nice guitar Tai, the bound headstock is very nice, what is "coffee estate" rose wood?
Rob


It's basically "Indian Rosewood" (I say this because it is the same species of rosewood as EIR) grown in Indonesia as windbreakers for coffee estates. It's also known as sonokling. Got them cheap, around 20 dollars for the set. I wish I can get more because for some reason the supplier who sold me this set is suddenly "busy".

I took my challenge ukelele to a shop to have the guy play it (because I have no clue how to play a uke) and every uke in the shop sounded louder and more responsive than my challenge ukelele, even the really cheap/crap one. I don't know what I did wrong, the oversized tail blocks, too big of a bridge pad, too thick of a soundboard/brace, I don't know. It just feels wrong and honestly I wanted to smash the damned thing and start over. I asked him about my #2 (I showed it to him before) and he said the thing's not worth any money because he played a $250 Chinese made guitar that sounded just as good. He said those guitar sounds just as good as a Taylor and said that the reason Taylor can charge their price is because of their name. I mean no factories in the US could ever hope to compete with the cheap labor and high quality from these Chinese factories.

I mean the fact is, who cares about carbon fiber neck reinforcements, multiscale, compound fretboard (Ibanez already offers a lot of decent instrument with that), exotic woods, etc. because as soon as there's even a small demand for any of those features, a factory will offer them at such an unbelievably low price. At least it seems like there are no dedicated musicians in Taiwan, it's all about budget, or name, actual quality workmanship doesn't seem to matter.

I mean, McDonalds became successful making crap hamburgers.
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Thu May 10, 2012 11:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Really looks nice, Tai! Good job. [clap] [clap]
Author:  Tai Fu [ Thu May 10, 2012 9:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Here are some videos of me playing it...

http://youtu.be/FJFZFYfdPdE

http://youtu.be/4tOhyeMj_yM
Author:  Tai Fu [ Thu May 10, 2012 11:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
verhoevenc wrote:
I'm doin' some dyed curly maple binding on a build right now too. My test piece was easy... but oh my dear god zpoxy pore filling in combination (which I didn't do on the test piece) is being the death of me right now!
Chris


I am not going to recommend dyed maple binding to anyone... too hard to do without sanding through.

Next time if I want a red binding, I will go with bloodwood.
Author:  Shaw [ Thu May 10, 2012 11:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Nice job there....
Author:  nickton [ Fri May 11, 2012 12:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
looks very nice to me. congratulations. Keep on building!

[:Y:]
Author:  John A [ Fri May 11, 2012 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: #3 complete
Nice work T !
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