Serial Number 048

The Laminated Parlour

Started on December 17, 2025: completed on January 11, 2026

The initial plans for S/N 048 was to be another Orchestra Model build. It would have allowed me to test out the new pottery wheel that I had purchased as well as move the sound hole to the cutaway side. I may try something new in the future in regards to the sound hole location but currently, I need to really figure out a solid bracing format to stick with.

When looking for a back and sides set, I was looking to use something new or something that hasn’t been used in a while. Pau Ferro hasn’t been used since Generation 1 guitars so I thought it would be a good choice. But I did come across some of the recent wood that I purchased from another luthier that was clearing out his stuff. He had some laminated boards which might be an Ebony of some sort for the top veneer. Almost looks like Macassar Ebony to me – but I am not a wood expert so I could be way off on that guess. The core of the laminated wood is Mahogany and going from what I had purchased from the luthier, most likely Honduran Mahogany.

At the current moment, I do have plans to build a guitar with Ebony in 2026 – the biggest factor would be to have my guitar blueprints finalized. No trying something out for the first time or guessing how to make something work. There are a few things I still want to try out but I believe that my final design is not too far off at this point.

With my CNC guy sidelined a bit, the last few guitars haven’t seen any logo work – which was also something I wanted to move forward with.

Along with the laminated back and sides set, I found a laminated soundboard. There was already a trace that was on the back and soundboard of something about a Parlour size but with wider bouts. I don’t have forms for whatever was traced so I had to check with my forms. Unfortunately, the biggest size I could build with the back and sides is probably a Ramirez or Grand Concert and the soundboard didn’t have the dimensions for either. I ended up having to swap the soundboard with another set from the luthier’s tonewood collection.

The sides weren’t very tall at all. I would say that I would need at least another half an inch to be comfortable working with it. I might be able to add some height with lining strips but I couldn’t say at this point of the build.

I have gone back to unlaminated bracing for this build. Simply to keep the cost down since I don’t even know how it will turn out.

There was a lot of concerns when it came to the point where I had to sand the body. The veneer already looked on the thin side. I managed to measure a piece that was coming off the back and it measured 0.38mm (0.015″ or 1/64th of an inch). I am accustomed to veneers being 0.508mm (0.020″) so perhaps the one on the back has been sanded before?

There was a bit of veneer taken off at the back during sanding. It isn’t enough to stick out an as obvious flaw but I would say that I am happy in the overall results.

The neck is a “rainbow edition” – I tried to implement an idea that was discussed between me and my R & D guy. The construction of the neck had some problems – my mitre saw (and table saw) has ongoing issues of making straight cuts even with trying to set it up multiple times. Of course, that goes with the angles cuts as well. I had tried another setup after watching some (more) videos. It looks like the fence isn’t straight itself and is a one piece so there isn’t any adjustability on that. The good thing is that now, short cuts would be straight but not long pieces. I may still have to adjust for angle cuts.

The mitre saw and table saw aren’t used very much in the building process so justifying the purchase of more accurate, more expensive machines is very difficult. This is actually my second mitre saw I have purchased. My CNC guy is also having a hard time getting straight cuts on his new mitre saw.

As I had started on the neck build, I took a look at my inventory of fingerboard woods. I did remember that I had gotten a bunch of pre-made fingerboards from the luthier I purchased the wood from so I took a look at them. Some were Rosewood, some were definitely Pau Ferro but they happened to have been slotted for 25.34″ – Martin long scale. Parlour, I generally follow plans of a 24.9″ scale length but if the scale length is change from Martin short scale to long scale, there is enough material on the bridge plate in the inside to accommodate that change.

I tried some Disco Stew wipe-on poly finish on the guitar body. I did a couple of coats to see how it was. I do need something to protect the shellac if I am not buffing a finish to it. I think I should have tried a few more coats of the wipe-on poly: the soundboard didn’t seem too different but the finish, I would say is more apparent on the back and sides.

SPECS

Body Parlour

Scale 25.34″

Top Spruce

Back laminated unknown wood/Honduran Mahogany

Sides laminated unknown wood/Honduran Mahogany

Neck multi-tonewood neck

Fingerboard pre-made Rosewood

Bridge Rosewood

Tuning Machines Gotoh 35P450

Strings D’Addario EJ26