Martin O15
I’m building a guitar for a friend. It will be based on a Martin O-15. It’s small, about the smallest full size guitar Martin ever made, but it has a great sound. The 15 series were all mahogany, and had minimal trim.
The one I’m going to build will be made of walnut, with a cedar top. It will not be a flat top, but will have an arch. This will require a tailpiece and a floating bridge. Martin made some like this around 1932, the R model, but they were short lived.
So far I’ve traced the body shape of an O-15 I borrowed, and made a paper half template. From that I traced a full size body outline on Bristol board. Next I drew in where my braces and the sound hole will go. Then I made a body mold from 8 pieces of 9x22x¾” plywood. This involves band saw cutting, drum sanding, and finally routing the seven rough sawn shapes using the master as a router template.
Body plan and half template of bristol board
Body mold glue up
nathanguitars 