Vanilla vs Chocolate Fudge with a river of Caramel

Vanilla is good. It may be the best selling flavor of ice cream. But it is still plain vanilla. I went into a guitar store a few weeks ago and looked at all the acoustic guitars. To my untrained eye most of them look  basically alike. Several had tops light in color, probably because spruce seems to be the most popular wood choice. I will admit that a knowledgeable guitar person would be able to see and explain all the differences between a beginners guitar and a high end guitar but at first glance to a novice they pretty much look the same.

I didn't want a vanilla guitar. I want chocolate fudge with a river of caramel. I want a guitar that anyone can see is different, maybe even special. So I broke the rules. Conventional guitar building wisdom says that you choose a hardwood known for its ability to transmit sound. A "tonewood", like the spruce  I mentioned earlier. You build the top with one large piece, or maybe two halves put together. For better or worse, I learned this after I had started my project. Tailgate guitar will have a top built with about 200 pieces of hardwood put together in a design inspired by the quilt pattern "Carpenter's Wheel". When I first showed it to my wife she said" I've never seen one like that before" and I replied with a quote from young George Bailey..."Of course you never!...only us explorers have seen it!" She quickly replied with Old Man Potter's "starry eyed dreamer..."(It's a Wonderful Life is our favorite movie). I probably am more of a dreamer than an explorer but in the end I will have a unique guitar, and that's what I wanted.

I thought it would be cool to sign it

 before putting the body together

I used tie down straps and the shaping form 

to clamp the body pieces together

not everything fit just right but subsequent routing

for the binding will fix this

The back turned out really nice

The top, or "soundboard"

I used my table router to cut the groove for the binding.

I fastened a castor wheel to the fence to keep

the depth of cut consistent all around the body.

The unfinished neck isn't attached yet, it's only there for the picture.

 Look closely and you can see the top overhangs the sides in places.

This picture was taken before the routing in the picture above.

It will all come together after the binding is installed.