Official Luthiers Forum!

Finally!!!!!!!

The specs....
Mahogany body from exoticwoods.com(chambered on either side with ~3 inch wide strip from top to bottom)
Redwood top (from Bob)
rosewood bridge (allparts)
maple neck from exoticwoods.com
rosewood fingerboard (stewmac)
Goto locking tuners from allparts
ebony headstock cap (LMI)
black plastic binding
bolt on neck with truss rod adjustment at the heel
dots are on the side and are MOP
Fender scale length
Fishman acoustic matrix pickup
total thickness 2 1/8"
back control route via stewmac templates
neck and neck pocket templates from guitarbuildingtemplets.com
body design .....from my Takamine and squished around till I liked it
Headstock design......original idea from MJ guitars (the cut out) and the rest morphed from my takamine and a Schecter electric picture until I liked it.
Finish is non-grained filled, Rockhard varnish wiped on and using micromesh until last grit to buff


Here is the link to the pictures

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhoto ... 9311302211

Hope you can see them.

This has been about 3 years in the making....which is sad I know.....but it is finally done! Yep 3 years from when I put to paper, made a plywood and MDF prototype to the final product. The thing really sounds good! I am being biased of course but I am surprised at how it sounds like an acoustic guitar through my amp.

Things I should have paid more attention to.....

Neck is way, way too thick. I used a 1" round over but in a table to round over the neck. Used 50 grit belt off of a belt sander to "shoe shine" to a more round curve. I should have taken more measurements from my guitars to get a better feel of the thickness at nut and body joint but was nervous about getting into the truss rod route.

The other is the finish. Should have taken more time and grain filled, and practiced the buffing process. Do not get me wrong I LOVE the look. But I think I can step it up a notch with a proper gloss finish job.

Do not think I will do another headstock like this one. I do like it a lot because it is a different look. The time it took to handle it though may not be worth it.

Thanks to all here for all the help. I have received some great advice here and other forums and have used every bit! Keep teaching and sharing.

Matthew

Very cool Matthew. Beautiful figure in your topwood.

Darrin

Congrats Matthew my friend that is a very cool looking guitar. I also recognize that top and have built with it's brother/sister also from Uncle Bob.

Great job!

Thanks for the kind words.

Cool guitar, Mathew. Lovely piece of wood used on the top.
Only wish the lighting had cooperated a bit more!
(At least, on my monitor it looks fairly dark... )

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

It looks great from what I can see Matthew.....how about taking a bunch more photos with more light and posting them for us to see - close ups and all.....?

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Excellent job Matthew ! Striking curl on the top and I like the contrast between the neck and the body. Great work... now you are hooked...

How many coats of the Rockhard did you wipe on? Any problem with "sand" in the finish on subsequent coats?

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Peter

Thanks all,
I am heading to Orlando with the family for the week to see Mickey. I will take a few more and hopefully better pictures when I get back. The top is not as dark as the pictures show.

I put about 12 coats of the thined mixture on about one coat per day (both body and neck). The mixture is the same as listed here in the forum....acetone & thinner.....and I mixed it till I liked it.

I had no issues with sand or any forign material(well extreemly little) between coats. I did this in my garage as well. The trick for me were two things....

1. Take a spray water bottle and spray down the area very well and wait a few moments for things to settle down. This settles down the dust very well prior to starting anything.

2. After scuff sanding (400 grit) between coats and using a tack rag to get all the dust off I used a material I read here to wipe it on with. The material I used is Kemwipes (sp?). I just happen to work at a plant here and got my hands on some. Absolutly no lint......abloutely none! I did the top, back and sides with about 4 to 6 folded in half and noticed even the first layer tore on me....no lint still. They look and feel very weak but I can tell you they work. I tried just about every wiping material on my test scraps and this was hands down the best. I will use it again if I wipe a finish on.

Thanks for all the help guys!