Guitar Building, Kumiko and Other Stuff

Bought a set of woods from B who originally got them from LWII. Englemann spruce top, IRW backs, sides & bridge, ebony fingerboard & Maple neck.  

Necks Fingerboards Soundboards   Backs & sides

I recently completed the refinishing project on my Yamaha CG150S, stripping the polyurethane and applying shellac using french polish. I did the project in two part. In the Part 1, I refinish the back, sides and neck. I reported it in an earlier post . Some months later, I did Part 2 and redo the soundboard. It took a lot of elbow grease to scrap and sand the thick polyurethane finish. Boy, that polyurethane finish was really thick. The debris from just the soundboard came to 19 grams! The polyurethane on the entire guitar could easily be 70 grams or more.  I used french polish to apply shellac, with a much thinner coats, freeing the top to vibrate more freely.

Pieces that I am learning: Flowers will Bloom, by Yoko Kanno Elegy for the victims of the tsunami of March 11 2011 , by Nobuyuki Tsujii Romance Anon Lagrima , by Francisco Tarrega Cantico , by Vicente Sojo Hana wa Saku (Flowers will Bloom) ,  by Yoko Kanno, performed by Kaori Muraji Elegy for the victims of the tsunami of March 11 2011 by Nobuyuki Tsujii ROMANCE ANON  Of the many interpretations, my favorite is by Tatsou Tabei. LAGRIMA by Francisco Tarrega, performed by Cesar Amaro. CANTICO by Vicente Sojo, performed by Rob MacKillop

My first design is a removable armrest that is attached to the guitar body with embedded magnets (see post ).  I found it clunky and did not look well integrated. I addressed these issues with this second design, a slim armrest that is attached to the guitar with dual sided adhesive tape. The adhesive is secure enough to hold the armrest in place, and easy enough to remove without affecting the finish. You can judge for yourself in these pictures. Material : sapele Thickness : 4mm, 1mm clearance from soundboard