Official Luthiers Forum!

Well I finally finished my 4th guitar and I have a few people to thank.
This guitar presented a number of challenges that I had not encountered before.

While many of you responded to a number of questions I raised along the way, I will single out a couple of names whose suggestions I used.
- Joe (JRE Productions) - you helped me (twice!!) sink that decal
- Hesh and David Collins - bridge/saddle hassles - the slotted bridge work out well
- Howard Klepper - the oily pickguard problem and most importantly, "..water based grain fillers suck!" - pickguard and back/sides are now as they should be.

So thanks again everyone for your generosity. Here are a couple of pics and audio tracks. Nothing special yet compared to many of your works, but I am still primarily focused on make a very good but basic dreadnought. For #4, I am pretty satisfied with the sound, playability and finish in this case. My main improvement goal for #5 is more insight into soundboard voicing. I have ordered the Mayes DVD and Siminoff book.



...had to delete the audio clips. I haven't tried to post these before. I figured you have to do it via youtube-but haven't uploaded stuff here before either. I uploaded mp3's as videos, but can't find them!!! Will add the the links once I figure this out.

She looks great, very clean and classy and that pick guard is very cool too. I got a big smile reading that you are focusing on voicing - it's never too early to start learning to voice a guitar and never, never miss any opportunities to flex and feel the wood and tap and listen to what changes may occur when you shape and pare away at your braces.

If you are happy with the sound, playability, and finish this guitar is a resounding success and so too are you my friend - great job!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Beautiful guitar. The neck is stunning. Very nice work.

Darrin

Love the neck lam ... great job!

Great job. That looks really nice.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Nice looking guitar. Did you build the neck? I had a tough go with Target's water based grain filler used on my OMC. But their water based lacquer was terrific to work with.

Congrats and well done!

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Very nice guitar. I especially like the pick guard. Did you finish first then apply the pickguard ? Or apply the pickguard then finish ? Also, what is the back / side wood ?

Yes - made of Silver Wattle with a centre strip of Queensland Maple - both Australian timbers.
My wife and I were holidaying in a coastal/country area called Orbost (about 4 hours from Melbourne) last December. It is a heavily forrested area with a history of logging. I tracked down this old bloke who had his own saw mill in the middle of nowhere and got a length of silver wattle (enough for about 6 necks) and some lengths of Gippsland blackwood already cut to around 6mm - again enough for back and sides on about 6 guitars. It was quartersawn but not perfectly bookmatched. Cost me about AUD$80. So while it's not bookmatched, I think it's still nice and great for a mug to learn on.
I am going back there in 2 weeks to show him the guitar, and see if he is sufficiently moved to give me some figured stuff, which I am sure he has.

The pickguard and headstock veneer use Tasmanian blackwood.
I had a few hassles with the pickguard and put up a few questions on the forum looking for help - here are the links.
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=18876
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=19241

I ended up oiling it with a tung oil and finishing that before sticking it on, gave the back of the guard plenty of time to dry and then followed Howard Klepper's advice on preparing the back for attachment - that worked well. i.e. I used double sided adhesive sheet.
Back/sides are Gippsland blackwood - see previous reply for other info on this.

this is probably the first time I've ever seen a wooden pickguard that I've actually liked....

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Wow, very nice. That pick guard is really nice. Very elegant shape.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Congratulations! Nice work. Thanks for mentioning me, but the credit is all yours.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.