Builder Notes:

Honduran Mahogany soundboard was first thicknessed and braces made of Sitka Spruce were glued on by the use of a Go-Bar deck and shaped by hand. A bridge plate was added made from the same rosewood as the fingerboard, as well as two rings to support the mounting of the tone circuit from the inside. The back is constructed using a “live back” design that’s purpose is to amplify the vibrations from the top instead of just reflecting them like a normal acoustic back. It is made out of Honduran Mahogany, Sitka Spruce braces, and a back strip made from Englemann Spruce. Both the top and back feature designs that blend the X-brace and the ladder brace in two different configurations.

The sides of your guitar features a lay-up of two separate pieces of Honduran Mahogany with the grain oriented the same direction. This is different than the laminated sides you would find on a low-end guitar — our layers are each the same thickness of a normal acoustic side making them twice as thick and therefore, twice as much work. We believe the extra mass in the sides helps to stabilize the guitar and allows the top and back to vibrate the most freely. This makes the guitar louder and helps enhance lower frequencies on our small body shape. They are adhered together in a vacuum press with the use of a two-part epoxy. This is the only part of the guitar that uses a glue other than hide glue. We used hide glue for its glass-like hardness and its reversibility should the need for repair arise in the future.

Once the top, back and sides are finished, they are joined together with the use of a radius dish and a lot of chisel work. We glue the soundbox together with the use of spool clamps and allow it to dry for 24 hours, like all of the steps that use hide glue.

The neck is made out of a single piece of Honduran Mahogany with the addition of a .095”” thick rosewood headplate. The headplate is inlayed with our logo in black pearl and the tuning peg holes are drilled at that same time. Our fingerboard is made from the same rosewood piece as the headplate so the grain runs through. Our fingerboards are radiused to 10”’ and black pearl inlays are added. Once the neck is fully constructed, the frets are added with a mixture of a fret press and deadblow hammer.

Upcoming:

Now that the neck and body are made, the body will receive its neck mortise and then the neck and body will be fitted together. This step is very crucial to get right and uses gauges and jigs to ensure the neck is perfectly in line with the body at the correct angle.

Your body will receive its final sanding and then we’ll move into staining both the neck and body. After two coats of stain, it will receive another two coats of top coat. Then we’ll be able to move into final assembly. Erik has manufactured your Moodshifter tone circuit and Moodwinder pickup, as well as aged all of the hardware.