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J De Rocher
 Post subject: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:01 pm 
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First name: Jay
Last Name: De Rocher
City: Bothell
State: Washington
This is my mid-size guitar body which I completed two weeks ago. This one has:
Sinker Western Red Cedar top
Cocobolo back and sides
Honduran Mahogany neck
Macassar ebony fretboard (with Cocobolo binding), bridge, and heel cap
Cocobolo headplate, rosette ring, and end graft made from back plate offcuts.
The body is self-bound with offcuts from the side plates.
Curly Maple purfling on the top, sides, and back.

Endurovar finish brushed on.

The Cocobolo was a pain to glue, but it bent super easy on my bending iron.
I made the curly Maple purfling by ripping binding in half and sizing it to 0.090" square in cross section. It bent like a noodle. No cracking at all.
The Macassar Ebony I used for the bridge is surprisingly light (at least to me). The bridge weighs 21 grams which is comparable to bridges I make from Rosewood.
I think this may be the best sounding guitar I've built.

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These users thanked the author J De Rocher for the post (total 9): kfish (Mon Jun 09, 2025 2:56 pm) • Durero (Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:50 am) • kyle.medeiros (Thu Jun 05, 2025 11:16 am) • Terence Kennedy (Thu Jun 05, 2025 8:50 am) • Gary Davis (Wed Jun 04, 2025 8:27 am) • Hesh (Wed Jun 04, 2025 4:08 am) • Chris Pile (Tue Jun 03, 2025 4:16 pm) • bcombs510 (Tue Jun 03, 2025 3:30 pm) • Michaeldc (Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:38 pm)
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J De Rocher
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:01 pm 
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First name: Jay
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These users thanked the author J De Rocher for the post (total 4): kyle.medeiros (Thu Jun 05, 2025 11:16 am) • Bryan Bear (Wed Jun 04, 2025 7:59 am) • Kbore (Tue Jun 03, 2025 5:27 pm) • bcombs510 (Tue Jun 03, 2025 3:30 pm)
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meddlingfool
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:18 pm 
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Cool top!
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rbuddy
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:32 pm 
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Jay, you sure do some nice work!

And I love the wood selections.

The curly maple purfs are a close runner up to abalone. I'm biased to curly maple's chatoyance among it's wood partners

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These users thanked the author rbuddy for the post: J De Rocher (Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:49 pm)
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J De Rocher
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:49 pm 
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meddlingfool wrote:
Cool top!


I like it a lot. I got it from Aaron Hix. Interestingly, it is very stiff longitudinally, but has very low cross grain stiffness. The middle 6" or so is dead on quarter, but it goes off quarter by a fair amount by the time you get to the edges. No detrimental effect on the tone of the guitar at all. I think it might actually be a plus in that it makes the top more flexible at the edges.

I got the idea to do self-binding from photos you have posted in the past of guitars you have done that on. I thought it was a very elegant look and the idea to do it on one of my guitars has been rolling around in my head for a while.

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These users thanked the author J De Rocher for the post: Kbore (Tue Jun 03, 2025 5:27 pm)
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J De Rocher
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:56 pm 
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rbuddy wrote:
Jay, you sure do some nice work!

And I love the wood selections.

The curly maple purfs are a close runner up to abalone. I'm biased to curly maple's chatoyance among it's wood partners


Thanks!

I like how the curly maple purfling worked out too. I really like the look of curly maple or curly koa binding with dark back and sides wood, but since I decided to do self-binding, that was not an option for this one. Then it occurred to me to use curly maple for the purfling and there you go.

Btw, the curly maple binding I made the purfling from came from Felly Smith at Fiddleback Woodshack in Bend, OR. He sells beautiful stuff.

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meddlingfool
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 3:07 pm 
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Cross grain stiffness has never been particularly important to me. Some of the good Shane lutz I’ve used you could practically roll it into a hoop, lol.

Using side off cuts is cheap and efficient use of wood and time…:)


These users thanked the author meddlingfool for the post: Kbore (Tue Jun 03, 2025 5:31 pm)
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bcombs510
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 3:45 pm 
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That’s lovely, Jay!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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These users thanked the author bcombs510 for the post: J De Rocher (Tue Jun 03, 2025 4:28 pm)
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Kbore
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 5:32 pm 
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Ohhh that end wedge with the maple- fire! Stunning guitar.....

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These users thanked the author Kbore for the post: J De Rocher (Tue Jun 03, 2025 10:59 pm)
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doncaparker
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 7:52 pm 
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Gorgeous! I would love to hear a sound clip!


These users thanked the author doncaparker for the post: J De Rocher (Tue Jun 03, 2025 10:59 pm)
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dofthesea
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2025 8:55 pm 
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This one is a stunner.

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These users thanked the author dofthesea for the post: J De Rocher (Tue Jun 03, 2025 10:59 pm)
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SteveSmith
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Wed Jun 04, 2025 6:10 am 
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Beautiful! I too really like the curly maple purfling with the self binding.

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These users thanked the author SteveSmith for the post: J De Rocher (Wed Jun 04, 2025 11:50 am)
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Bryan Bear
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Wed Jun 04, 2025 7:59 am 
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Beautiful!

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These users thanked the author Bryan Bear for the post: J De Rocher (Wed Jun 04, 2025 11:50 am)
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banjopicks
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Wed Jun 04, 2025 2:18 pm 
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Wow! That's all.

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These users thanked the author banjopicks for the post: J De Rocher (Thu Jun 05, 2025 1:53 pm)
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Michaeldc
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Wed Jun 04, 2025 6:05 pm 
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Love the wide maple purfling! It really frames the Bolo nicely!

Wish we would have drug it home after hours during the La Conner Show, we could have played with it over beers and whiskey….

M


These users thanked the author Michaeldc for the post: J De Rocher (Thu Jun 05, 2025 1:53 pm)
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Pat Foster
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Thu Jun 05, 2025 11:34 am 
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Elegant. Self-bound is a detail that seems to be drifting over from the classical guitar side. I like it in both environments. Doesn't Romanillos do something similar?
The string paths between the nut and tuner posts are a nice touch.

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These users thanked the author Pat Foster for the post: J De Rocher (Thu Jun 05, 2025 1:53 pm)
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Jim Watts
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Thu Jun 05, 2025 1:35 pm 
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Super nice!
Your finish looks great.

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These users thanked the author Jim Watts for the post: J De Rocher (Thu Jun 05, 2025 1:53 pm)
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Robbie_McD
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2025 7:39 am 
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Spectacular in all respects, nicely done!


These users thanked the author Robbie_McD for the post: J De Rocher (Sat Jun 07, 2025 5:30 pm)
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Marcus
 Post subject: Re: Latest guitar
PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 3:58 pm 
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Exquisite work, Jay!

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These users thanked the author Marcus for the post: J De Rocher (Mon Jun 09, 2025 9:34 pm)
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