OM#5 finished - and an opinion on pickguard sought

[Dave Olds]

#5 was finished and strung up last weekend. This one has probably been about 4 mths in the making.

I am biased of course, but I am very happy with both the playability and the sound.

Specs are:

Back & Sides - Eucalyptus Globulus
Top - Sitka Spruce
Neck - Mahogany
Fingerboard and Bridge - Ebony
Rosette and Headplate - Rewarewa
Binding - Bloodwood
Tuners - Gotoh
Finish - French Polish

I have installed clear Mylar pickguards on my previous guitars, but on this one I am tossing up whether to put a red tortise guard. The bottom two pictures show the guitar with the pickguard sitting in place - the pickguard still has the plastic covering on it so would be a little brighter/shinier when installed than in the photo. I would be interested in your opinions as to choice - clear or red tortise.

Also - the pickguard has been cut down from one of the pre-shaped dreadnaught pickguards that you get from LMI or Stu Mac. It is self adhesive. Does anyone have experience with these pickguards - are the OK ?

Anyway - here are some pics - not he best quality I am afraid - but all I can do with a 'point and shoot' camera.

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OM#5_2.jpg (44.27 KiB) Viewed 9025 times

OM#5_3.jpg (53.97 KiB) Viewed 9025 times

OM#5_4.jpg (36.06 KiB) Viewed 9025 times

OM#5_5.jpg (58.85 KiB) Viewed 9025 times

OM#5_6.jpg (45.06 KiB) Viewed 9025 times

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OM#5_8.jpg (55.42 KiB) Viewed 9025 times

Thanks for looking ....

[rocket]

That's a truly magnificent job there Dave, the back and sides are absolutely mind blowing, what about the headstock veneer, what species is it?
Cheers,,, Rod.

[Mark McLean]

Dave that is a truly unique looking guitar and beautifully executed. The quilting on the back and sides is hard to believe. I haven't seen Rewarewa used for a rosette and headstock like that and it is really nice - a perfect accompanyment to the other timbers, and a good NZ signature. I am not always a fan of bloodwood bindings but on an otherwise blonde-on-blonde scheme it is a good contrast. Likewise, I usually like the look without a pickguard unless the player really wants one. But that red tortoise guard goes so well with the bindings I think I would vote for it over the clear one on this occasion. Well done!!

Is it for yourself or someone else? How does the eucalypt go for sound?
Mark

[Dominic]

Nice guitar Dave, beautiful timbers. I don't use pick guards myself as my style even when heavy strumming does not hit the top and I prefer the without one look. But the dark one does seem to go with the bloodwood binding.
BTW how did you go bending the bindings? I put some bloodwood bindings on an IRW guitar and they cracked in about 6 places during bending. Clean breaks and they went together without showing but it was really brittle and I bent them in my bender with a heat blanket.
Dom

[Kamusur]

Just agreeing with Dom really. I took the guard of an old Gibby years ago to help the lacquer age and prefer em without but it goes beautifully with that binding and the contrast is a great distraction and lifts the eye from the light top, excellent work Dave.

Steve

[Puff]

Fantastic Dave. Great to see another "pulp wood" given the chance to star
My vote is for the tortoise shell guard.

[Nick]

Beautiful job as usual Dave, I too like the figuring on the Eucalyptus, is that another Rarefind purchase? & the bloodwood bindings are a good contrast against it & the Spruce. I'm not sure about the pickguards, normally I would say settle on the clear, the more 'uncluttered' the top looks the better (highlights that great rosette of yours, you must have the worlds supply of RewaRewa ), but the tortoise shell kinda fits in with the binding & provides an extra contrast to the "white" woods, maybe just a subtle reshape along by the 'point'? Maybe that bottom edge a little straighter? (not sure) To my eye it just looks a little 'blobby' against the outline of the guitar, but that's just me.

[Dave Olds]

Hey guys - thanks for your feedback.

Rod - the headstock is Rewarewa. I have used this quite a bit in rosettes. Depending on the direction you slice it you can get a short tight grain like in the rosette, or a longer looser grain as in the headstock. I have one lump of this wood - not very big - and I slice sections off it as needed.

Mark - the guitar was not built for anyone specific, but I will look to sell this one. At the moment I am just building for the fun of it and like to be able to make my own choices as to what to build, the wood selection etc. But I now have 7 guitars in the lounge, which is getting a bit out of hand. As to the sound - this guitar has a very similar tone to the Macrocarpa one I built last. I find it difficult to describe the tone of a guitar, but it has truckloads of sustain, and a pretty good balance across the strings - i.e. not bass heavy or treble heavy. One thing I have learnt from the last two guitars - working with light colored timbers is harder than darker ones - every tiny scratch shows, and with high figure like in the Eucalyptus, there is a lot of sanding involved.

Dom - bending the bloodwood was a real pain in the arse. I needed a couple of beers afterwards to bring the blood pressure back down. I do my bending by hand on a hot pipe, and like you, I had multiple cracks when bending the binding. I didn't soak the binding - just misted it down as I went, but even going very carefully the wood was prone to just giving way at a point. I had a couple of repairs to do as I went along. Thank god for CA glue huh !!

Nick - yep the Eucalyptus was also from Rarefind. I must take another trip down there soon to see what else the have in their stash. You are right - the pickguard does require a little more shaping - there are a couple of 'corners' in the curve. It was cut down from a dreadnaught shape to the teardrop shape and needs to be refined. It is also not positioned correctly in the photo. I will need to study a few pictures to see where it should be placed.

Thanks for your feedback on the pickguard - seems to be a fair amount of support for the red tortise, and I am starting to lean that was too. I will let it sit for a few days to make sure it grows on me.

Thanks everyone for your comments

Dave.