Django travel guitar

Jangle_Jamie

Here's my latest messing-around-with-bits-of-wood project:

I bought a second hand Yamaha APXT2 travel guitar off Ebay. It was £80. I then cut the plywood top off and am currently in the process of making a new spruce top. The whole guitar will be sanded back to bare wood before giving it a nice finish.

I'm trying these drilled braces - what will the effect be on tone/resonance?! I have no idea! I wonder if anyone's tried drilled braces like these before? I don't even know what the wood is. It was the bottom slat of a venetian blind! When I tapped it, it sounded good with a bit of resonance.

As the body is quite small, I may just use these two braces plus the one under the fingerboard. Might any more be needed? I'm going to aim for the top to be around 2mm thick. The top will have a very slight curve, but almost flat. The tailpiece was originally on my mystery Busato D hole. It will suit this little Yamaha as it has quite a short reach. I've filled the holes in the body where the preamp and other gubbins went.

Paul and any other luthiers here, please add your comments - I'm still at a stage where I can change things!

Cheers, Jamie

rarely_plays

Really cool idea!

ChrisMartin

Always good to see someone experimenting with a new idea. There are many cheap guitars around that can be repurposed and with a bit of imagination can be made into something new. At least you will have something unique and if it has a 'voice' of its own it will be worth the effort. Keep us posted with progress.

voutoreenie

I love what you're envisioning, would buy one

Jangle_Jamie

Thanks! Top thicknessed today, and will hopefully cut out the body shape and the soundhole tomorrow. I've been sanding off the old finish on the Yamaha today. I think it will look ok, but I may need to 'age' it to cover up any imperfections!

Jangle_Jamie

A bit more progress. These were yesterday's photos. Today I got the top to be about 2.5mm all round, though it's maybe 3mm in the middle. I also cut out the fingerboard slot and the soundhole. Braces are glued in.

Jangle_Jamie

Slow progress as I don't have the time, but a little bit more done. Just waiting on some clamps I bought on Ebay nine days ago - grrrrr. Not sure what to do with the rosette. I can't seem to be able to bend purfling into such a tight curve without it snapping - the sound hole size is a bit smaller than usual. I bought a load of photoetched stencils from a charity shop, and one has a nicely decorated oval. There's the possibility I can paint it black and glue it to a white styrene oval, then cover the whole thing in clear resin. I'll have one more try of bending my purfling. Any tips?!!

ChrisMartin

Those brass bits could make for a different look, if you want something unique I think your resin idea may work.

As for making a rosette with thin purfling I think one way it is done is to use wider sheets of plastic bent around a former, and build up a few layers. The width should help it from splitting. Then of course you end up with a rosette a couple of inches high, so then you can cut into slices of the required thickness.

I don't know if anyone else has a recommendation on how to do that but I would try to run it through a bandsaw while still on the former and squared up against a guide and use a very fine-toothed saw if that makes sense. Easy enough for those who make guitars in quantities but if you are only planning to make one then you could always try selling spares on here or Reverb.

Jangle_Jamie

Some more progress, but I'm off to Devon tomorrow, so it'll be middle of August until I find out just how bad it sounds!!

Jangle_Jamie

...oh by the way, I ended up succeeding with the rosette and binding detail by wetting it (in my mouth!!) then gently forming it over my wallpaper stripper heat gun. It worked!!

Jangle_Jamie

Here is... The Mini Manouche.

It came together fine. Tone is a little banjoey. I wonder if I should have followed a Selmer bracing pattern and just made them thin? I think my drilled braces were a bit on the thick and deep side. That's what I'd do differently if I did another. It plays very nicely and feels great. The aged look might not be to everyone's tastes!

Mini Manouche test.mp3