After finishing the spalted alder strat archtop, and the purple heart guitars I’ve decided to push myself in techniques to see what I could come up with…here are the next few.
My first try was a semi hollow body with a ‘C’ hole incorporated into the logo I worked up for my custom shop (“CH Custom Guitars”...which is still in the design phase..)
I took 3 pieces, and cut out the shape before glue up. I hogged out the material for the sound chamber with a drill press and forstner bits.
then I glued the top back on, and sanded it with the bevels for comfort which I’ve never seen in a semi-hollow.
I stained it an orange, which wasn’t as deep as I hoped, so I took the remains of my morning coffee and ragged it on as well before hitting it with 3 coats of boiled linseed oil and shellac. The cavity covers will be in the same alder as the body…again, not the typical plastic. I ran into a few problems with the design that I need to work out before mounting the neck and electronics…
The next guitar is based loosely on the archtop from the previous batch but with a much more organic arch, lots of swoops and swirls in the grain inspired a very organic and flowing design. I stained it using purple ‘RIT’ dye powder with linseed oil. The linseed oil turned it a rich chocolatey brown, which sets off the grain beautifully but I’m curious about why it deepened the purple to brown..oh well, I love the feel of the guitar.
and next is the bass design I came up with.. I cut it free hand and shaped it with rasps and sanding disks..
The red is from red ‘RIT dye powder and linseed oil with 3 coats of shellac. I absolutely LOVE the color here. 
-- When my wife ask's what I have to show for my wood working hobby, I just show her the splinters.
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