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Michel Aboudib Italian Spruce-Bois de Rose Modified Dreadnought
It has been about two years since Michel Aboudib completed a commissioned MA-D build for me. He built that guitar in France and later completed the final voicing and setup for it in Oakland, CA where he was beginning his apprenticeship with Ervin Somogyi. The MA-D build thread can be found here.
Soon after taking delivery of that guitar from Michel, I decided to secure a build spot for a second commissioned build with him. After completing his apprenticeship and returning to France, Michel told me that he would be offering a few new body shapes, including a Modified Dreadnought based on the one developed by Somogyi. So, for me, it was an easy decision to go with the Modified Dreadnought model for this commission. I considered various tonewood options for this guitar during the wait for my build slot to come around but had not finalized my choices. My Dallas-area AGF friend and tonewood connoisseur, Vasu (Vpolinei) earlier this year took delivery of a beautiful commissioned cross-over guitar built in Spain by Brian Itzkin. Brian shared with Vasu (and Tom Sands) that he had located a limited batch of old stock (CITES compliant) Bois de Rose (Dalbergia Maritima) guitar sets for sale in Spain. Vasu informed Michel Aboudib about this and he was able to acquire a few of these sets of Bois de Rose, one of which I selected to use for this commission. This Modified Dreadnought will pair an Italian Spruce top with the Bois de Rose back and sides. The guitar will also feature a Somogyi inspired Celtic Key Carved Rosette and End Graft designed by Michel. Cheryl and I were able to visit with Michel Aboudib while we were attending the 3 day Woodstock Invitational Luthier's Showcase last month and firmed up the design elements with him there. Michel is crafting this guitar as an homage to his mentor Ervin Somogyi. It is the first Aboudib guitar to use Ervin's Modified Dreadnought shape. Michel is naming this guitar "A Somogyi Experience". Specifications are listed below: Model: Modified Dreadnought Top: Italian Spruce Back: Bois de Rose Sides: Bois de Rose laminated with Padauk Neck: Mahogany Fretboard: Bois de Rose Fretwire: EVO Gold Bridge: Bois de Rose Bridge Pins: Tamarind with Parisian MOP Dots Nut and Saddle: Bone Rosette: Carved Celtic Key (Somogyi Inspired) End Graft: Carved Celtic Key (Somogyi Inspired) Tuners: Gold Gotoh 510 Scale Length: 25" String Spacing: 2.25" Nut Width: 1.75" Body length: 20.25” Total length: 41.125" Upper bout: 11.875” Waist: 10.50" Lower bout: 15.875” Depth at neck heel: 4” Depth at tail: 5” Case: Hoffee Finish by Virgile Pilon of Blind Guitars - gloss nitrocellulose lacquer except the carved rosette and end graft areas which have a flat finish. Below is a video from Tom Sands discussing some examples of Bois de Rose tone wood that he acquired from this same source: Thanks for looking in! Last edited by doodahdoug; 04-10-2024 at 06:10 AM. Reason: guitar specificatons edited |
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Wow, Doug, that is going to be incredible! Looking forward to the build!
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The rosette! Holy crap!!!
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Wow! This one should blow the roof! Congrats Doug. Hope Michel takes plenty of pics as the build unfolds.
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Life is like a box of chocolates .... |
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Whoa! Already looking great, will follow with interest
Congrats, Doug. |
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That looks wonderful! This should be spectacular when finished.
Goodness, it will surely be spectacular before being finished! Steve |
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What that man does with a chisel is unreal! The precision that rosette takes is mind blowing. And I love the look of that back set. Is that wood in the rosewood family, in terms of sound? Any other design elements you care to share?
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--------------------------------------- 2013 Joel Stehr Dreadnought - Carpathian/Malaysian BW 2014 RainSong H-OM1000N2 2017 Rainsong BI-WS1000N2 2013 Chris Ensor Concert - Port Orford Cedar/Wenge 1980ish Takamine EF363 complete with irreplaceable memories A bunch of electrics (too many!!) |
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What a find! The landscaping in that set is beautiful.
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Looking forward to seeing this comes together. That is one beautiful set of wood.
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Congratulations Doug! This will be outstanding. I didn't know there was a story behind the Bois de Rose and that Michel scored a few sets. If this build sounds anywhere close to the guitar he brought to Woodstock. you're in for a real treat/treasure.
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Thanks Diogo...btw I really enjoyed seeing and hearing your Wilborn Sidewinder! Last edited by doodahdoug; 12-04-2023 at 07:12 AM. |
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I will have some more updates soon but for now below is an in-progress picture of Michel doing some detail work on the carved rosette: Last edited by doodahdoug; 11-28-2023 at 06:53 AM. Reason: spelling |
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Wow, Bois De Rose! Nice! You don't get to see that very often, and your set looks amazing. Congrats!
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Yowzah! I'm late to the party here, but Wow--the woods look primo.
And the rosette--I've never figured out how a luthier can have the patience and skill level to create such an art form. It's such a high level of craftsmanship. I truly look forward to watching this one come together--congrats, Doug, on commissioning another masterpiece!
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2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle) 2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW) 2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga) 2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco) 2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak) 2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk) 2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa) |
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Michel Aboudib Italian Spruce - Bois de Rose Mod-D
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Thank you Jamie and Kevin for your generous comments. Kevin, I have always admired Somogyi's carved rosettes and Leo Buendia is also doing some amazing work with this style of rosette on his guitars. Given that Michel was already crafting carved rosettes on his earlier builds I was glad to see that the Somogyi style of carved rosettes was one of the many things Michel absorbed during his apprenticeship with Ervin. Below is a photo showing the preliminary voicing of the top in progress: I asked Michel about his reinforcement of the underside of the rosette and here's what he had to say about that: "The doughnut you see is a piece of spruce on which I glued the (blue) backing paper. It is inlayed in a channel underneath the rosette. Another doughnut, a bit wider, was glued on top of that to reinforce the whole area. So the whole rosette has about 2.5 mm of spruce reinforcing it. On top of the doughnut I glued two little braces that extend from the x to the transverse brace". Below "is a picture from a few days ago. The floating back brace was added since then and the inside of the back got a couple coats of finish. I laminated the sides with padauk". Unfortunately, Michel did not take a photo of the back with the floating back brace installed prior to closing the box, so I've included a photo that shows his Traugott style floating back brace (used with Jeff's permission) on my Aboudib MA-D to give you an idea how that is incorporated. Michel: "I made a small variation (from Traugott's) in the joinery, without affecting the function of the brace. This stronger longitudinal structure of the back also improves the stability of the heel block, so the neck angle is more stable over time." Last edited by doodahdoug; 11-30-2023 at 06:41 AM. |