The new owner of this guitar fell in love with someone else’s classic J-45 and loved the enveloping bass tones and the dry midrange that this style of guitar can do so well. Since it’s wrong to covet guitars belonging to touring musicians, we decided to build him his very own classic slope-shouldered dread to get the sound, look and feel he was dreaming of. We went pretty traditional, using a Honduran mahogany set (from Hibdon Hardwood in St Louis) with rosewood accents. We supercharged the guitar by building around a red spruce–often called Adirondack spruce–top from Old Standard Wood that is perfectly quartered with minimal runout and provides kilowatts of acoustic power to spare.
Yep, I dropped this one in the shop after applying the last coat of finish (the first time around), so got to take another run at the body finish, and practice made perfect. It seems I’ve been only building sunbursted/toned guitars lately, but I enjoy the process of transparently coloring a guitar to bring out everything the wood has to offer. Most of the color is applied using waterbased dyes and rags, to recreate the looks of the best toned instruments I’ve seen. The finish is waterborne lacquer. All of the purflings, bindings and rosette are crafted from real wood, and Taylor Mullins (Holter Pickguards) made a custom celluloid pickguard that looks perfect. This guitar is amplified via a K&K Pure Mini.
It sounds great! It has the big, confident bass we aimed for, the quick decay we wanted, and the mids and high notes travel with more conviction than most guitars this size (that’s the red spruce top kicking in). It strums like a beast with great percussion and tone, can boom-chuck with the best guitars, and is quite nice for fingerstyle. Maybe the best guitars are dropped on their heads during the building process. 😉
This big slope-shouldered beauty was born to sing. She was a deep and crisp voice that will only get better with time.
Using dye in a sunburst shows off the amazing depth and figure of a beautiful red spruce top.
The burst glows through the semi-transparent celluloid pickguard provided by Taylor from Holter Pickguards.
I source beautiful mahogany sets from Hibdon Hardwood in St. Louis.
Honduran mahogany glows when finished well–and I’ve found that sealing with shellac enhances the visual depth more than any other material I’ve tried.
A fine Honduran mahogany back set off by curly maple bindings.
This neck had a nice bit of figure to it, so I used dye to enhance it.
I found a nice dark rosewood fingerboard for this one.
Gotoh makes smooth and precise tuners; plus they look great.
The heart and engine of this guitar is a lovely red spruce soundboard from Old Standard Wood.
The commissioner of No 28 got in touch with me after seeing number 27, the first slope-shouldered dread I built. He was sure that was interested in a J45-like guitar, but it needed to work well for strumming and fingerstyle playing. I knew that the Adirondack spruce tops I buy from Old Standard Wood would produce a crisp, articulate sound great for fingerstyle, and we decided on Tasmanian blackwood for the body wood. Sourced halfway around the globe from Australian Tonewoods, this acacia species is a relative of Koa, and has a mass similar to Honduran mahogany but a harder surface. The result is a sound that has many of the desirable qualities of a mahogany guitar (dry, woody tone and a relatively quick decay) with increased definition and crispness. The acacia worked beautifully with my water-based dye sunburst technique, and looks very deep and shimmery under the sunburst and waterborne lacquer finish.
The top is an absolute powerhouse. When I first played it, I was instantly aware of how “awake” the neck is, with plenty of tactile feedback for the player. It has the powerful, beefy bass desired in this size of guitar, but the mid-range and higher treble notes have dimension and interest far exceeding what I would expect from a guitar this large. All of the purflings, bindings and rosette are crafted from real wood, and Taylor Mullins (Holter Pickguards) made a custom celluloid pickguard that looks perfect. I’ve used an adjustable neck joint inspired by Mike Doolin, though I keep tinkering with the joint design. This guitar is electrified via a K&K Pure Mini.
Overall, number 28 is a beaut, and a thrill to play; I hope it provides many decades of thumping excitement and rich sound.
This is my take on the classic J45 guitar, but with transparent coloring.
The heart and engine of this guitar is a lovely red spruce soundboard from Old Standard Wood.
The Honduran mahogany neck pairs well with the acacia body.
Tasmanian blackwood is a close relative of Koa, and it’s quite evident in the way the wood takes dye and glows under finish.
The commissioner requested a custom headstock inlay made up of many small pieces of gorgeous pearl.
We used Gotoh SXN-510V tuners with ivoroid buttons on this guitar, which marry modern threaded bushings with classic open-backed gear assemblies for smooth operation and good looks.
The Tasmanian blackwood shimmers under the dye and finish, especially on the curved sides.
Here is a sound sample played using a Clayton “Raven” pick.
This new model is a friendly homage to the great banner-era J45s.
I never planned to build a guitar this large, but 2020 was a pretty strange year all around, including in my wood shop. When the right person asked if I’d build a J45-like guitar (and convinced me that it would be a blast to play), I caved.
I’ve played and repaired many slope-shouldered dreadnoughts over the years, and based this new model on the best one I’ve ever played, a maple-bodied banner-era J45. It belongs to Jim Nelson, a terrific old-time fiddle accompanist from the St. Louis area. What makes that guitar so great is that it has a dry, fast sound with a touch of a devil-may-care edge to it, while avoiding the trap of tubbiness so common in this shape of guitar. It’s a terrific specimen of the git-r-done aesthetic of the war-era J45s.
The most sought-after examples of J45s were built during the war years (World War Two) with pretty much whatever materials were available, and on a budget for cash-strapped players. They built a reputation as a blue-collar guitar that was never intended to be too sophisticated or elegant, but was ready to play when you were. I respect the come-as-you-are aesthetic of these instruments, and tried to hew close to the original unfussy, make-it-work ethos, in part by using sustainable domestic woods. Continue reading “No 27 – Adirondack Spruce and Red Maple”→
