Jonas Guitars Boulder, Co.» Sven http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars Jonas Custom Guitars Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:36:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Building a Guitar with my Father, Jonas http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars/36/building-a-guitar-with-my-father-jonas/ http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars/36/building-a-guitar-with-my-father-jonas/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:45:23 +0000 Sven http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars/?p=36 Through out my life I have had the amazing privilege of having a woodSpindle Sanding braces for the Guitar top stucture. worker as my father. His passion for working with his hands was instilled in me at young age. I have done many projects and always jump at the opportunity to make something new. My brother has played guitar for years and it was a natural progression for him to build one at my Dads shop. Although I play guitar too, most of my interest Cutting a Rosette and Inlaycame from a desire to take my wood working skills to the next level. The craftsmanship that goes into building an instrument is like none I have seen. Each new guitar that my dad proudly handed me just inspired me so greatly. I jumped at the opportunity to gain this experience and have an amazing hand built instrument at the end.

Cutting out the Guitar top on the Bandsaw

Tags: Building A Guitar, Craftsmanship, New Guitar, Play Guitar, Wood Worker, Wood Working

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]]> http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars/36/building-a-guitar-with-my-father-jonas/feed/ 0 My Process for My Cherrywood Acoustic Guitar http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars/31/my-process-for-my-cherrywood-acoustic-guitar/ http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars/31/my-process-for-my-cherrywood-acoustic-guitar/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:25:51 +0000 Sven http://www.jonasguitars.com/Custom-Guitars/?p=31 Sven's Cherrywood GuitarThere are so many steps in building a guitar from scratch it blows me away every time I look at my work. It is a very humbling process that has to be broken into small doable pieces. This has been such a bonding experience for the two of us. He has guided me through every twist and turn.

I wanted to build a guitar from a tree that was grown in the US. There are so many woods from all over the world that are perfect for their sound quality, but I have a huge passion for things done as locally as possible. We decided that a cherry wood guitar would suit me well, so we got big block and cut out my main pieces. Once they were the right dimension we put them on the thickness sander. My back was glued from two pieces like the pages of an open book. My sides were shaped on the bending jig after been soaked and heated. I put this all together with bracing on my back to give it strength. During this time I also cut and shaped my neck.

The last few times I have focused on my top. After book matching this also, I put in my Rosette. This was one of the finest most careful wood work I have ever done. I wanted something simple yet elegant and unique. I decided I would incorporate wood into the pattern by tying it all back together with the fret board. I choose king wood for my fret board because it looks so amazing and there isn’t many local options for wood dense enough. So my Rosette would also incorporate a small piece of king wood that would flow into the rest of it. I was quite amazed at my final product. It looks so neat and has my own characteristic style.

This week I worked on making braces. This process of “voicing” my guitar is one of the most exciting. If this is done well, all my hard work will come to a beautiful finale. My dad just kept saying, “Sven think sound”, if I had the feeling and intention of unbeatable sound that is what I would get. Once my braces were cut and shaped, I glued them all on with a large jig designed specifically for this process. I bent dowels and used that tension to hold the braces in place.

It is an amazingly intuitive process. This has been one of the most challenging aspects for me. I am a really thinker and planner. With this project I have had to let go of my constraining ideas and logical thoughts to open up for feeling the entire guitar and wood that is in front of me. By using this creative technique I can tell the difference it has made. Flowing with the process and paying attention to the slightest detail, is what will make all the difference in the end.

Tags: Acoustic Guitar, Cherry Wood, Fret Board, King Wood, Sound Quality, Wood Guitar

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