Wild wild wood......

Woo hoo! Today the FedEx guy showed up really early this morning, before I got out to work, with a present for me. It was a nice heavy box from LMI containing my next build. Of course, I couldn't wait to open it and check out the Camatillo that I picked. I was not disappointed! This wood is incredible looking, and yes as the website says, it's purple! Okay, not exactly purple, but it definitely has a purple-ish hue to it. The back is more brown than the sides, but they match fairly nicely. The best part for me is that not only does it have a sap wood center, but it also has sap wood on the outer edge, and also on one edge of the side wood. I can't wait to see how this one looks when it is finished. It definitely will be my most wild looking guitar to date. I got a highly figured bear claw top which compared to the back and side set, looks downright plain. Everything is in rough form so this will be a scratch build. I am planning on building a small-jumbo. Hopefully my plans will arrive shortly (they were back ordered from OLF) so I can make the bender mold, and the side molds. I also ordered a bending blanket from Minco that hopefully will show up in the next couple of weeks. They were also back ordered but they said it should ship to me before the end of the month. I figured that for the almost $80 savings I got by ordering it direct, it is worth waiting for it.

I did the final sanding on the OOO body and neck, and then did some pore filling. I got the body filled, sanded, and a second filler layer on and dried. I also got the first filler application on the neck. I am waiting for them to dry overnight before I sand it down. One disturbing thing I noticed is that there were several spots where the LMI glue got on the rosewood, and I sanded/washed it off but it still shows up when the filler goes on it. After the first application, I sanded the areas thoroughly to get the glue all out, and then wetted it with naphtha. It looked clean but as soon as the filler goes on, the glue stains show up again. I am not sure what to do about it. I will sand them again so hopefully they will go away. I sure hope they don't show up when the finish goes on. That would be a major problem. I mentioned this before, but although the LMI glue works well, holds tight and seems to be very hard, it also is a real bear to get off of wood with pores in it. It sure would be nice if they could make the glue without the white coloring in it. I have had a lot of trouble with this particular glue actually drying clear. If it is thick it dries clear, but if it is thin it stays white. I am debating on going back to titebond for gluing the body and bindings, and using the LMI glue for braces, neck, neck set, and the bridge. I have also toyed with the idea of trying my hand at hot hide glue.

Here is the new back and side set. It is camatillo rosewood. Really some wild looking stuff isn't it! Looking at the sides, it would be kind of cool if I could get the sap wood to line up with the upper and lower bouts, and have the dark wood in the waist. Oh, and this wood in dry, no wetting to show the grain. It really pops a lot more when it is wet.

Here is the wood for the next build, a small jumbo.

There is the top. Bearclaw sitka spruce. It doesn't look quite a figured as my OM top was, but it still has some nice figuring to it. One thing I messed up on this order was that I forgot to have LMI thickness sand the top. I guess my RO sander is going to get a workout on this one!

Here is the OOO after the second application of pore filler. The wood really looks nice when it is wet with the filler. It kind of gives me a sneak preview of what the finished guitar will look like.

The neck after the first application of pore filler. I think I am going to stain this neck to try and match the dark rosewood color. The main reason is that I don't like seeing the glue lines for the heel blocks. The glueup was very tight, but the lines are still visible. That is another issue I have with the LMI glue it is quite visible on glue lines. I have a very visible center line on the light colored Adirondack top that I am not very happy with. Unfortunately, there isn't anything I can do about it.