Serial Number 002

Second Build

Started build in June of 2022: completed on September 22, 2022

*edited on July 18, 2023

002 started shortly after the body was coming together on 001. Mentioned in the information page of 001, these two guitars took a while to finish. I felt like it was probably better to go ahead with starting 002 while the course was kind of still fresh in my mind. In the end, the body of 002 finished before 001 as I was waiting for some tools to come in to do the double binding on 001.

The Indian Rosewood has some colour variances that 001 didn’t: there are areas where you can see orange and purple. This was not apparent until after I started to sand the boards to thickness. The two sets of tonewoods are from different suppliers but it’s good to see some variations.

Sitka Spruce and Indian Rosewood are the combination woods used on this guitar – it’s a safe go-to combo.

There is also some bear claw in this soundboard which is hard to see in the pictures. I used the same rosette as I did on 001 just because I didn’t think a customer would feel they are visually appealing as the others I have in stock. A Rosewood fingerboard was used as I don’t want to be wasting any of the Ebony fingerboards I have in stock.

The neck was made with one piece of Khaya African Mahogany instead of Spanish Cedar: Having the two different necks would be good for a potential customer to compare the two for sound and weight differences.

I went with Maple binding around the sides and the end flash. The contrast in colours is visually appealing but you can see a colour variation on the side of the guitar. Unfortunately, the Indian Rosewood colour comes off a little and stains the Maple. Spraying the guitar would be the most ideal solution to not have the colour bleed but I don’t actually have a spray booth. I would have to consider space, money and health hazards with a spray booth setup. This is the big reason why I decided to go with French polishing for the finish.

Being the first guitar to finish first, this was also the first guitar I used the branding stamp on. I had already French polished the head plate veneer before I branded it. Trying to French polish it again afterwards didn’t work out too well.

I have noticed that using Tru-Oil or French polishing the head plate veneer seems to yield a darker finish than on the body. It makes the colour of the Rosewood pieces seem mismatched.

SPECS

Body Classical Ramirez

Scale 660mm

Top Sitka Spruce

Back Indian Rosewood

Sides Indian Rosewood

Neck Khaya African Mahogany

Fingerboard Rosewood

Bridge Rosewood

Tuning Machines Mr. Power

Strings D’Addario Classic