Official Luthiers Forum!

First build, from Kinkead OM book.
Mahogany/Sitka, Maple binding, Fine B/W/B purfling, EIR fingerboard, BR bridge and Headplate.
Laminated neck Maple/Wenge/Brazilian Mahogany.
Compound radius fretboard 12" at nut to 16" at 12th.
Compensated nut, saddle set back 3 degrees. Snakewood pins.
Water based silk finish. Gotoh tuners.
I actually finished it about a year ago, before I joined and I thought it was about time I owned up.
I have two more OMs on the way, EIR and Silkwood, both Euro Moonspruce tops.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Very nice guitar you have there Colin - great work!

Nice job. Looks better than mine. Morgan

Beautiful job Colin. Bravo!! How do you like the sound?

Thanks for the kind words, still need lots of work on finish and fit.
Randolf - As to the sound I quite like it. It was checked out by a world famous pro I was lucky enough to meet when I had it on me, and he was quite kind about the guitar. More mellow than loud, sustains forever, good mids and highs, bit lighter on the bass (like a Maton the pro said).
I heard after the build several people on the OLF saying the plan were overbraced, and also my top was ridiculously stiff for 3mm thickness indicated.
I was pleased enough with it for 70 US$ worth of tonewood of ebay (B&S +top), good action and intonation. As a player I have been annoyed for years with most shop-boughts as intonation in general, but especially 1st and 2nd frets on first two strings were often poor.
This build was to check out jigs etc, but I tried to sort intonation out from the start, hence the compensation of the nut (all gratitide to an article "The Compensated Nut" by Stephen Delft which gave me some inspiration).
Worked well enough for a first try. Basically after cutting of at the zero fret positon, I sanded the nut end of the fingerboard at right angles to the edge of the treble side, and fitted the nut a bit like an end wedge. Pic below if you're interested.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Looks mighty fine to me! Nice work!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Looks very nice. I am building the Kinkade too. You did a fine job of it. Thanks for the inspiration.

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Always remember you are unique......just like everyone else.

Nice. How was this book in giving you the instructions needed to build this babe? I am currently working from this same book. I may fire you a few personal emails if you don't mind, if and when I have questions regarding this guitar. This way, every person on OLF do not have to read my silly questions I may ask.

Nice Build.

Kevin
TN

Nice work Colin from a fellow Scot.....I'm sure I've seen this guitar before (on the 13th Fret?)
We talked about Behlen's Rockhard table top varnish as a finish. Did you use it on this guitar?

Bill

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Dream to be a luthier

Kevin, no problems
If you post any queries here, you'll probably get others chipping in too, and no-one talks down to you.

Bill, saw you'd joined, how are you. Saw your thrird somewhere a while ago. Nice....!
No Rockhard - I didn't even have to do a risk assessment after reading precautions on the tin. With a heater, dehumidier and fan all running in the winter, chances of an explosion were odds on with Naptha as an ingredient!
Take care - how's the health?

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin-
Very nice work!
It's scary to think how good your 10th will be!
(I'm NEVER gonna post pictures of my first!)

Cheers
John

Nice work!

I built my first from Kincade's book, too, which I thought was a good source for a first guitar. Where the book is a bit vague on some details, tutorials and alternate approaches posted here have given me the opportunity to branch out.

Kevin, I've found everyone here extremely generous with advice. If you take a quick look at previous posts with the "search" option, you can ensure you aren't asking the same question that someone else did three weeks ago, but I'd encourage you to go ahead and post the question. I've found the contributors here to be more than happy to help.

Wow! Another great looking build.
I'm amazed.
Kent

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Thanks for all the kind comments.

(good job I didn't post any close-ups. )

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.