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Hi all,
its been a while since I last posted pics here as Ive been busy to build these two commisions. I guess you could say this is about as 'custom' as it gets... It all starts back in 1913.

One of Swedens most successful businessmen was Ivar Kreuger, he was based in stockholm, but owned many of the big companies in sweden, europe and the US. By the '20s his fortune was so big, he actually lended France money to help them get back on their feet after WW1.



He also had a big passion for boats, and this is where the story of these guitars start. In 1913 he commisioned 'Loris', a 15 meter long motorboat built in Cuban and Honduran mahogany. He used this boat on a weekly basis to travel between his home in stockholm and his house in the archipelago, but also for taking friends and businesspartners around. Ive seen an old film showing Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo and Mary Pickford taking a ride with the boat.





Through the years this boat has changed owners at least a dozen times, it has sunk and rescued. For 20 years it stood on a boatyard with no one caring for it until in 1992 when it was bought by the present owner. He restored it, and among other things made a completely new deck for it. Now its running as good as new and is a beauty in the water!







Anyhow, the present owner is a guitarplayer and one day he thought, 'Hey, I have this nice old mahogany from the old deck, why not use it for something?' So we met, I looked at the boat and said like 'Yeah, this is nice hog!!'. So we desided to try to see if any of the old planks were good enough for guitarmaking, and if so, him and his friend would be interested in commisioning a guitar each.

At the first look, the old planks looked worse than I could have imagined, covered in several coats of paint, and partly rotten. Of course they had holes every 4" or so too...



But the weight was light, and when passed through the sander it had some REAL beauty, the nicest hog Ive ever seen(if it wasnt for those holes...)



This mahogny wouldnt need any stain We desided to make the backs and sides in a 'boatfashion' with plugs covering all the holes to give it the feeling of the original deck. And we also found some pieces that were healthy enough for guitarmaking...














So three months later, the guitars are done. One is a Red spruce topped 00, and the other is a Alpine spruce topped 12f dread. These were my first 'post-somogyi' guitars so i decided to make them a little somogyi-ish, with tall and narrow bracing, and lattice pattern. At first I was afraid that the mahogany, which is really soft, wold dampen the tone, but these guitars are really the best ive made so far. They are really lightweight, considering they have laminated sides, and they project like mad.

Dread:


00:


Backs:




Closer...




Thanks for looking, and sorry for the long post...

Lars

OMG!

Those are beautiful guitars Lars! What a treat those two fellows will have sitting on the deck of that boat and strumming out some good ol' tunes.

Well done. And awesome recovery on the Hog! It would have been interesting to see what they would have been like if you'd have left the holes in and just possitioned the wood so that no braces covered the holes, but I think I like this better.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Wow Lars...That is super cool.I love the boat,the guitar and the history....five star. That is one of the neatest guitars I have seen.Beautiful use of wood ....for guitar and boat.Just loving this man....loving it! I think those plugs look really great.Can't get over this...history boats and guitars....all of the things I love in one post!
peace and respect,
big John

Amazing! That's just beautiful. Could not have been done better!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Lars,
What as great story.

The guitars are just beautiful. The workmanship is top drawer, but Lars, you plugged all of the sound ports.

Cecil

Lars, what is the inlay at the 7th fret? Detail please

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Lars, you are a genius! And what a great story. I am glad you had the chops to pull it off!!!

Thanks for the kind words everybody! It shure has been a fun project, because as a Swede, this wood has some strong history. Mr Kreuger was, though many ave forgotten about him, the richest man in the world in the 20's.

Rod, the inlay on the 7th is mr Kreugers 'flag of recognition', all "distinguished"(sorry its the best word i can find) people had one, so that everybody could tell who was coming, when seing the boat from a distance.

Wow, Lars!! That's some serious mojo ya got going there. Did I say wow? WOW!!!

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Jim Womack

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. "
Will Rogers

I can only echo "Wow!" Lars what a beautiful pair of guitars and what an outstanding job of working with that old mahogany.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Gotta love it Lars.It doesn`t get any better,Thanks for sharing this story and beautiful guitars.
James W B

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Very Cool Lars. You could have used a couple holes for soundports!

The color tone on that hog is awesome!!! Great save on those plugs too! I thought at first, they wouldn't work... came out fantastic!

I think I'm going to put plugs in my guitar!

Great job Lars!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Lars buddy I really enjoyed reading your post and wonder if Mary and Douglas.... well nix that thought..... Anyway you have had 1/2 of the famous founding 4 people of United Artists in this story. Very cool.

Then I looked at your guitars and they are just over the top cool! And the plugs actually add a very classy look in my view because of where the wood came from.

Beautiful guitars and craftsmanship!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Lars,

That is so cool!!!! The guitars look amazing and totally classy. What a great story and experience for you. Congratulations!

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Very Interesting story Lars ! And great looking guitars .
I agree that the plugs look very cool and that is really some beautiful
mahogany from the boat! Thanks for posting this !! WoW !!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I have seen many boat necks ,but this is the first time I have seen a boat body.

Thanks for sharing. superb!

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How long is that in luthyears?

Lars:

What did you use for a finish?

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Lars, Lars, Lars... du har gjort det igjen! Vi må treffes snart så jeg får sett noe av dette på nært hold, du imponerer og inspirerer stadig!

Of course, when you normally build with some of the most spectacular BRW around, you don't just pick up any ol' mahogany when you decide to use that. In my book, your guitars are about as 'right' as it gets as far as looks go. I really hope they sound like crap or I may have to start hating you!

Kidding aside, and like I said in Norwegian above, you continue to impress and inspire.

PS. Ja, jeg så diplomen i bakgrunnen!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Lars,

What a fabulous project/commission to do. Great history, wonderful use of old wood and two fabulous guitars. Not a bum note between them I assume . . . sorry, I couldn't resist

Do you know if the wood you used was Cuban or Honduran? They look fabulous with the plugs and your design and lines are really nice. The pictures of the backs you posted were a little dark and so I played around with the brightness in an editing suite just to see the mahogany better - I love straight grained hog. I hope you don't mind if I post them here but they show the fabulous impact of the wood - including your plugs. Sinker mahohany - fabulous stuff!!

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Lars,

Bra gjort. Arnt sagt allt.

Jag tycker att hålen är där som de leder en person att fråga om historien. Utmärkt hantverk. Gratulationer

Your craftsmanship and attention to detail are excellent and yet are understated.

Med vennlig hilsen,

Shawn

PS: Ursäkta min svenska ... Jag tror på norska när översätta till svenska eftersom jag är enkvart svenska men trekvart norska.

I have really enjoyed looking at the pictures, reading the story, and being amazed by the finished guitar. I love the imaginative use of wood.

Dang...

That's about the coolest story I think I've heard surrounding a guitar. And those guitars look fantastic!
Very nice provenance, and even nicer guitars.

Way to go!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Lars, I've just got to join in the Dang and Wow festival going on here, those guitars look amazing. I love the story and I love the honesty of the recycled wood look with the plugs. Can't beat mahogany, you have done it proud.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Lars,
That is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen on this forum. You could get Fretboard Journal to write an article on those builds.
Thanks a Million for posting
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.