Some ramblings.....

Well, there really isn't a whole lot to report. Since my last post, I have sprayed 6 more coats of lacquer on the SJ, and I am planning on 6 more coats giving a total of 16 coats. I am going to wait a day before I continue the spraying to give the 10 coats currently on the guitar a little time to cure. The finish is going on really nicely. I definitely like the new spray gun. I does a much nicer job than the gun I was using before. I am using a lot less product too which is a good thing.

I have gotten two of the 3 different orders for the 'twins'. The last order is supposed to arrive tomorrow so I should have everything with the exception of rosette blanks, some colored perfling strips, and half of the kerfed linings. I accidentally ordered half of what I actually need. Oh well, it looks like I got everything else right. I ordered two AA sitka spruce tops from Acoustic Woods Ltd. along with the fingerboards, bridge blanks, and bracing wood. I was amazed at the quality of the wood. Because I ordered lower grade wood, I expected it to be okay, but not great. I was very surprised when I looked at the wood and realized that it was much nicer than the wood in my Stewmac dreadnought, and equally as nice as the higher grade wood I have gotten from other vendors. The price was great too. They have the lowest prices on sitka that I could find short of Ebay. The tap tone in the wood is amazing also. Needless to say, I will be buying more wood from them in the future. The bridge blanks and fingerboards are very nice too. And then there is the bracewood. I ordered 4 pieces expecting pieces of the same approximate size as the ones I get from LMI. Even their site says that they are 2"x 3/4"x 20". The smallest piece I got was 4"x1"x20" and the biggest is 6"x1"x20". I think I have enough bracewood here to do 5 guitars with some mistakes thrown in for good measure! I got my LMI order as well. That was neck wood, tail blocks, perflings, kerfed linings, and other misc. pieces. The order tomorrow is coming from Allied Lutherie and consists of backs and sides, bindings, fretwire, saddle material, nut material, and truss rods. I will let the wood acclimate for a week or so and then get to making some sawdust. I have decided what the twins will be. I have a set of plans for a Martin style 14 fret 000 short scale that I have never built. It is very similar to the OM I built earlier, but with the short scale the bridge and soundhole are a little different. I figure that these guitars will be different enough that they won't be like the guitars their friends have, and since one of the people getting the guitar as a gift is a beginner, the lower string tension of the short scale will be a little easier to fret. I had totally forgotten about these plans and when I was digging through the pile of plans I came across them. I immediately decided that was the right design for this project.

I have been diligently practicing at least 1 1/2 hours a day, and most days 2 - 2 1/2 hours. I am getting a little better each day. The big thing I wanted to mention is how much my Dreadnought really seems to be opening up. The sound is getting so much fuller and richer, yet the high notes really ring out cleanly. I haven't been playing the 000 much, so today I grabbed it and played a few minutes. I have to say, it is a great sounding instrument, but the dreadnought is starting to get close to being as good sounding as the 000. I know that the 000 will open up a lot if I played it a lot and that will definitely put it in another league from the dreadnought, but right now, the dread really is starting to sound great.