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Just to get Hesh off my back I decided to build a guitar. This is an EIR 000 from the Stew Mac kit. Subbed out curly maple bindings and end graft for the plastic stuff they included. Pics aren't the greatest but you get the idea.

Finish is Target USL (stew mac branded) and came out quite nicely. There are still some fine scratches you can see at certain angles but what the heck.

The sound is great. I went to the guitar store a few days ago to buy strings and tried out a couple of their guitars. I was very disappointed with what I heard and was quite worried that mine would sound that small as more than a few have stated that my bracing looked a bit beefy (others said it looked fine though).

I brought my guitar over the Pete Liccardello's shop for some help making the nut and initial setup. Not having ever owned a proper acoustic I know very little about how that's done. With his help the initial setup seems rather good. He sent me a pic from his shop.

Hesh, your new shop is all neat and all but I'd like to point out that Pete's has a wet bar - that makes for a very pleasant work environment.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy bro you should be very, very proud - this is a superb guitar!!!!

Everything looks fantastic including the finish.

Your comments about how the guitars in the store sounded in comparison are very much indicative of how many of us felt after building our first. I had one builder tell me that the fa*tories have been conning us all along.......

Welcome to the wonderful world of guitar building my friend.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Andy, that looks great I'm glad you're pleased with the sound.

It was smart of you to get help with the setup, too!

Do you play at all?

-Clint

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-Clint Beacock

Nice, Andy! Classic and classy. I like the heel cap extension especially.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Nice, i love a nice traditional OOO, and i love that USL finish. It looks great.

What is up with the heelcap/butt end treatment on the back? Or is it just a reflection? It looks nifty.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Not a reflection, i can see in the enlarged picture, thats cool.

(did you do that to cover up something?)

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

what me!!! Cover up something !!! Please, I'm offended



Of course it's to cover up something. I cut the end graft channel before I cut the binding channels and went too deep on the back. Managed to be o.k. on the top, I must have been holding the saw crooked. For purposes of symmetry, I botched the binding channel at the heel when the bearing fell in to the neck mortise. I've gotten a lot of complements on my cover up.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Not much, but a little bit. I've always had at least one guitar since I was about 13 or so but never dedicated that much time to it focussing mostly on bandura and a little bit on keys. I can play bass well enough to play in a band although it takes a bit of practice for me to get tight.

One thing I really like about this kit is that the nut is definitely wider than most acoustics. For a seldom player like me it makes it significantly easier to not damp strings with my finger tips. I do see myself playing this quite a bit more as the sound is just so nice.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Filippo,

It was the confluence of several things. First, I've always wanted a decent acoustic just because, you know, you've got to have an acoustic around... I've played in rock bands ever since I was a kid so it's not like I'm a total stranger to the guitar world (in fact I do own a tele and an SG bass) Because I'm not much of a player and do have a travel acoustic I built around 10 years ago (my very first instrument) getting one was very low on my priority list. A few years ago when I noticed the stew mac kits, I figured it would be a good idea to go that route so I wouldn't have to tool up too much - remember that primarily I build banduras.

The thing about building banduras is that there is very little info and plans on building them. On top of that, most of the info out there is total voodoo and if you follow it you'll end up with an instrument that weighs about 20 lbs, sounds like crap, and will implode in about 10 years. When I started designing my first bandura I took a lot of cues from guitar luthiers because they're so open with info and banduras are kind of similar to a guitar with a tailpiece. As it turns out, my banduras sound kind of like a cross between a traditional bandura and a steel string guitar. My design for banduras is still far from perfect and I'm always interested in improvement. One of the things I've always been good at is cross-usage or transference of skills from seemingly disparate fields (e.g. I have an engineering degree, but I work as a sales rep and use things I learned in engineering school to close deals). So, I thought that upping my guitar knowledge by making a guitar would increase my general luthiery knowledge which would help my bandura design.

The final thing was the OLF gathering in Ann Arbor. I've spent very little time (until recently) with other luthiers. When the AA gathering materialized, I decided I should take the plunge, buy the kit, and bring a braced top to the gathering for criticism. I figured that if I show a guitar luthier a bandura top plate, they wouldn't know much more than I do as to what direction to go in. However, if I show them a guitar plate, they can tell me how they would approach it and then I could extrapolate that to banduras myself.

In summary, I learned a ton on how guitars work by making one and I think that the things I learned will definitely be transferable to bandura making. I'll probably have to build one or two more guits a few years down the road to fix the beginner mistakes I made and to make sure my boys have something to play on.

p.s. The guys at the guitar store were pretty impressed, especially when they went back to compare the factory instruments.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Well done Andy. Looks great.

Lets not set a precedent though that our guitars must be presented sitting on a black leather sofa please

You and Hesh can corner that market

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The only reason i asked, is because it looked suspiciously like something i would do, except i like the way you pulled it off a lot. Now you are going to have to make them all like that.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Great looking first guitar Andy. If it sounds any where near as nice as the bandura you brought to Ann Arbor, then you hit a home run on the first one.

Vince

Thanks you guys, you're too kind. I couldn't have gotten here without all your help. Hopefully I'll have another bandura (#4) to post in the spring time.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

That's a really fine looking guitar, Andy!
Glad it sounds good, too.

Of course, it would sound better with a rosewood fingerboard.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

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