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 Post subject: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:38 pm 
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First name: Brian
Last Name: Itzkin
State: NY/Granada
Country: USA/Spain
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Well I'll be going off to college in about 7 months and after going on a few campus tours of some of the schools I've applied to, I learned one very important thing; dorm rooms are small. I had always heard that dorms were small, but seeing it in person really made me realize the difficulty I might have storing a standard guitar when I'm at school.

Luckily, I've been working on a design for a parlor guitar for a while and just finished up the prototype. I'm very happy with this prototype and plan on building more of these, including one to bring with me to college (that one will be made entirely of tone woods from the east coast of the US; if I study abroad, travel with it will be very easy).

Anyway, the specs of this prototype are:
Adirondack spruce top/top bracing
EIRW back, sides, binding, backplate, and heel cap
Spanish Cedar neck, kerfing, back bracing, and blocks
Madagascar rosewood fretboard, bridge, and head plate
Grover Sta-tite tuners
French polish finished rubbed out with rotten stone
2 way StewMac truss rod

In total there's about $100 worth of material in this guitar

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:47 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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First name: Bryan
Last Name: Bear
City: St. Louis
State: Mo
Country: USA
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Status: Amateur
That looks really spiffy! I like it a lot!

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:41 am 
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Location: LaCrosse WI
First name: Jason
Last Name: Moe
City: LaCrosse
State: WI
Zip/Postal Code: 54601
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Semi-pro
Looks great Brian. Nice to see you are still at it. Good luck at school.

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:40 am 
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First name: John
Last Name: Parchem
City: Seattle
State: Wa
Zip/Postal Code: 98177
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Nice looking guitar.

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:41 am 
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City: Lawrence
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Very nice indeed

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:52 am 
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First name: Larry
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I really like the small guitars and yours looks especially nice.
Curious about the top as well. II've used spruce and port Orford cedar but never Adirondack. Love the sound hole treatment. Keep up the good work.

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:57 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 3:34 pm
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First name: Bob
Last Name: Russell
State: Michigan USA
Focus: Repair
Status: Semi-pro
That is a sweet looking little parlor or travel... or traveling parlor... What ever it is it is way cool... I am sure you will get a lot of enjoyment out of it while you are away at college.

Cheers,
Bob


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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:53 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Pretty little guitar. What are the dimensions and scale length?


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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:55 am 
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Clay S. wrote:
Pretty little guitar. What are the dimensions and scale length?


Curious too. And BTW I did notice that the sound is not oval ovalsoundhole.

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:13 am 
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First name: Alex
Last Name: Kleon
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Very nice, Brian, I like the low key rosette you did. Anything bigger would be overpowering. Does the smell from the P.O. cedar top fade at all? I've got a couple P.O. tops, and they make my eyes water like Vick's Vapo-Rub!

Alex

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:14 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 10:44 am
Posts: 6262
Location: Virginia
For some reason I cant see any pics :( All I see Is:

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???

Anyway good luck in college. I hated the dorms but had a great roommate who after 20 years are still good friends even though we live 3000 miles apart. I brought an electric guitar. When it gets loud in the dorms no one could be louder :D


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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:15 am 
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Alex Kleon wrote:
... Does the smell from the P.O. cedar top fade at all? I've got a couple P.O. tops, and they make my eyes water like Vick's Vapo-Rub! Alex


It's an Adi top, not P.O.C

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:22 pm 
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:42 am
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Location: Hudson, MA
First name: Kevin
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Nice looking little guy. I like how you did the rosette


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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:15 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:08 am
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Location: Raleigh, NC
First name: Steve
Last Name: Sollod
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Nicely done!

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:39 pm 
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First name: Alex
Last Name: Kleon
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Status: Amateur
Oops! Must have shovelled the snow without my hat this morning!

Alex

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:57 pm 
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First name: Beth
Last Name: Mayer
City: Tucson
State: AZ
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Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Love it! (my headstock design is virtually identical to that so of course I REALLY like that part :) What are you going to study at school if you don't mind my asking?


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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:33 pm 
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First name: Gene
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Zip/Postal Code: 95472
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Very Nice!! I like these small size guitars. I'd also be interested in her dimensions.

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 9:11 pm 
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First name: Brian
Last Name: Itzkin
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Country: USA/Spain
Focus: Build
Thanks everyone, the overall length is about 35", the scale length is 24.625", the lower bout is 11 1/8", upper bout is 8 1/4", and the body length is 16". The adi top was very stiff, so I brought the top down to just .075". The top lacks any tone bars beneath the X bracing too; this was borrowed from Laurent Brondel's D-5 guitar.

This was just a prototype that I won't be bringing to school; there are things I want to change for the next one.

I'm hoping to be accepted to Hamilton college, but I won't get the admissions decision until the 12th. I'd like to double major in history and government (as well as minor in music performance), then go on to law school to study con law. This plan is subject to change though [:Y:]


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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:30 pm 
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Last Name: Fu
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100 dollars in material for this guitar? Wow, you got a deal on the materials!

Anyway, the specs of this prototype are:
Adirondack spruce top/top bracing - that's at least 30 dollars, if it's a really low grade top, but everyone I seen charges a minimum of 60 dollars for Adi

EIRW back, sides, binding, backplate, and heel cap - I have never seen EIRW back and sides for less than 50 dollars... and that's second grade.

Spanish Cedar neck, kerfing, back bracing, and blocks - maybe 15 dollars a blank (you probably needed 2)

Madagascar rosewood fretboard, bridge, and head plate - Not sure the price, but let's say 50 dollars in materials (since Mad RW is kinda rare)

Grover Sta-tite tuners - not sure the price, but that's probably at least 30 dollars.
French polish finished rubbed out with rotten stone
2 way StewMac truss rod - $16.99 from Stewmac

It looks like you got more like 300 dollars in parts and materials if you were to order them from the usual suppliers, unless you found those wood at a lumberyard or just had them lying around and only bought the back/sides.

I would love to build a guitar with the above config for less than 100 dollars in materials, it would be a challenge for sure!

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 Post subject: Re: New Parlor guitar
PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 4:44 pm 
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First name: Brian
Last Name: Itzkin
State: NY/Granada
Country: USA/Spain
Focus: Build
Tai Fu wrote:
100 dollars in material for this guitar? Wow, you got a deal on the materials!

Anyway, the specs of this prototype are:
Adirondack spruce top/top bracing - that's at least 30 dollars, if it's a really low grade top, but everyone I seen charges a minimum of 60 dollars for Adi

EIRW back, sides, binding, backplate, and heel cap - I have never seen EIRW back and sides for less than 50 dollars... and that's second grade.

Spanish Cedar neck, kerfing, back bracing, and blocks - maybe 15 dollars a blank (you probably needed 2)

Madagascar rosewood fretboard, bridge, and head plate - Not sure the price, but let's say 50 dollars in materials (since Mad RW is kinda rare)

Grover Sta-tite tuners - not sure the price, but that's probably at least 30 dollars.
French polish finished rubbed out with rotten stone
2 way StewMac truss rod - $16.99 from Stewmac

It looks like you got more like 300 dollars in parts and materials if you were to order them from the usual suppliers, unless you found those wood at a lumberyard or just had them lying around and only bought the back/sides.

I would love to build a guitar with the above config for less than 100 dollars in materials, it would be a challenge for sure!


I've got sources [:Y:]

The tuners and truss rod are a majority of the cost at nearly $60, but I got the top and bracing for $10, back, sides, binding, back plate, and heel cap for $6, spanish cedar from a local lumberyard for $5, the madagascar rosewood bits were about $18, and maybe $10-$20 worth of other stuff.


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