Serial Number 008

One Year Anniversary Guitar

Started build on April 4, 2023: completed on May 1, 2023

*edited on April 18, 2025

This guitar was the start of a new size for me: 00/Grand Concert. I actually made a mistake on my last order for moulds and templates. I purchased a Parlour template and blueprints – which actually turned out to be Size 5 Parlour template and blueprints. It seems that there are different variations and ideas of what a “Parlour” guitar is.

I did order in 00/Grand Concert bending pattern and mould.

With that, I can still start to build the body on this new size guitar. I was told from John Hall of Blues Creek Guitars that this guitar size is the most balanced in term of size and sound.

This guitar I am calling “The One Year Anniversary Guitar” as I managed to just finish it about a week before the one year unofficial date of the opening of Monkey Guitars.

I went with a mystery piece of tonewood for the soundboard – I initially thought it was Cedar but I am starting to lean more towards Spruce after seeing another piece of Spruce looking similar to it. It was a sample set I got from one of my suppliers but wasn’t labelled.

As for the back and sides, I tried a new tonewood: figured Ovangkol. It has a neat colour pattern to it and the figure is very eye catching on it. I may lean towards more figured wood in the future. The only thing about figured wood is that they are prone to cracking. They are a lot more delicate that straight grained pieces of wood.

Both waists cracked on me even though I did the process at a slower speed than usual. Visually, the sides aren’t nice and rounded as you expect to see on an acoustic guitar. I am not sure how much it had actually affected the sound and tone of the guitar.

Just something to note: the smell of the Ovangkol when you work with it is on the sweet side.

I went with Rosewood for a bridge and Granadillo for the fingerboard. If the sides didn’t crack on me, I would have went with Ebony on both. The black would be a better match than the constant brown shades going into this guitar.

You may have noticed that I am continually trying out different woods. I like to explore what is available and there is a lot more available than what I have on hand.

I used White Ash for the neck. I didn’t think about it last time but this time I tried to get that stained grain look to it. I tried it twice: the first time was when the neck wasn’t completed but I wasn’t sure if it was going to turn out at all. The second time went much better but I hope I can get it the way I want it to look in the future.

*this acoustic guitar has an L.R. Baggs Element Active System installed in it

In April of 2025, this guitar has been reworked. There was a spot where the X brace was loose inside and the neck has been reworked. The heel has been thinned out a little and the neck thickness taken down as well. An adjustment to the neck angle helped get lower string action.

SPECS

Body 00/Grand Concert

Scale 24.9″

Top Spruce?

Back figured Ovangkol

Sides figured Ovangkol

Neck stained White Ash

Fingerboard Granadillo

Bridge Rosewood

Tuning Machines Gotoh 381

Strings D’Addario EJ26