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This is quite a prototype as I broke my usual rule and tried a few new ideas at once. Fully adjustable neck and induced lateral arch on the top and back (5') instead of a domed shape.
25" scale, 24 fret "flared" fingerboard, oil varnish finish.
Even though it is a steel string there is an obvious Viennese influence, and the neck mechanism is directly influenced by Rick Turner (with his permission…). I thought about it for a while but couldn't come up with anything better or more functional and elegant.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

And a couple more:

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Nice guitar. I dig the rosette and the bindings very unique.

Very nice! I am finally finishing up my first with a Doolin type adjustable neck (a non-cutaway) and have been racking my brain to figure out a way to make a cutaway without having a ledge of some kind where the neck intersects the body. Yours is an interesting approach as I had not considered exposing the gap.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Laurent, as elegant as ever.
Was this a commissioned piece?
And what are the woods used?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

oh oh oh pick me! pick me!
Is it Cocobolo bound in curly Maple with a Honduras Mahogany neck?

Can we assume there are CF rods in the neck, and if yes, did you follow Rick's lead and dado them partially into the fingerboard?

I do not see a truss rod cover. Does that mean no truss rod, or are you somehow stealthily hiding truss rod access beneath the soundboard, within the box? I grappled with the engineering on that, and decided to cantilever high enough over the top to provide truss rod adjustment access above the soundboard. If you figured a way to do it beneath the soundboard, you must have buried the truss rod deep in the neck, following the neck taper (deeper at the heel end.)

Oh yeah, Beautiful, geetar!

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Laurent -

What an extraordinarily elegant looking guitar - I like the experimentation!!

How does it sound?

Very nice looking guitar Laurent.

I always like the aesthetics of your work.

Looking forward to seeing your guitars in Montreal.

Will this one be there?

Neil

Laurent have you had enough time 'alone' with it to get a good grasp on it's tonal differences compared to your previous work?

It's beautiful! Just another goal for me to look up to.

Chris

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

hi Laurent
Beautifully proportioned, just asking to be played.
How would you describe it's sound?.
Fine work
Geordie

That's really beautiful, Laurent. It looks like all the features fit nicely. Great job, though I wouldn't expect less from you, from what I've seen, here.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Beautiful work Laurent!
That is just elegant all over.

What do you mean, flared fretboard?
And would you give some more details on your oil varnish finish? That is just so warm and inviting!

Thanks,
Joe

I love it, Laurent. Very elegant, very tasteful, very beautiful. Bravo!

How does it sound?

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Absolutly stunning !
A real luthiers art guitar !

I love the bridge shape !
The overall look & workmanship is over the top !

Did ya use Gorilla white on this ?

Mike

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Mike Collins

Very nice guitar, tastefully done.

I too have talked to Rick about that neck joint and have not had sucess in locating the hardware. What did you use for your hardware?

Very elegant Laurent (as usual).

Laurent,
I am very impressed with the purflings. Tell us a bit more about it!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

i'll join all the others in saying that is a gorgeous instrument. congratulations on great choices and beautiful execution.
wouldn't it be great to have rick do a tutorial on the neck joint?!
phil

Looks great Laurent! The purfling is really nice. I dig the angled 24 fret board also! I am about to string one up myself with the same thing. I have been waiting a long time while I have been fussing over the finish but I have been dying to see what kind of sound I would get from the floating bit of the extension, especially way up there. What is it like? Are you still getting a nice clear note? What sort of reinforcement did you run up under the fingerboard?

The Coco looks great too

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

Lovely guitar!

I'm was going to guess Madrose, but then I checked the thread title…

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Thanks to all for the very nice comments!
I'll try to answer the questions below:

This is a spec guitar. Carpathian top, cocobolo B&S, backplate and butt wedge (resawed from a nice plank), Braz peghead veneer, ebony FB, bridge & pins, curly maple/black fibre "wheat" purfling (same for the rosette + 1 strip of cocobolo), 3 piece Honduran mahogany neck.

2 1/8" x 3/8" CF rods dadoed into the FB and neck stock: that's the only way to give support to the cantilevered FB, and it works. The 2-way truss-rod is accessible at the neck block, but the neck needs to come off. I didn't want to weaken this area in the slightest. With the CF rods I haven't had to adjust it beyond tightening it very slightly to avoid rattle. The neck comes off in 3 seconds…

Like one of my guitars…
Seriously, the bracing "under the hood" is the same I do on 12 fretters, except for the 5" lateral arch. Because of this I think it has a little more "bark" in the mids and strong fat trebles as you go up the neck, not unlike an archtop tone. It is subtle and is still a steel strings with a rich, clear tone with good bass registers. That being said I used Carpathian and cocobolo because I am very familiar with those woods and knew what to expect in terms of basic tonal "characteristics", perhaps.

Yes, I am bringing this one to the show, along with 5 other guitars.

The end of the fretboard is tapered from bass to treble like Viennese guitars, or very early Martins (which are quite Viennese…).
I think I've commented quite a few times on my varnish method, a search in the archives should dig it up. Or PM me and I'll send you my schedule.

This one was done with HHG and TB1. But I've used Gorilla wood glue on quite a number of guitars since, I love it. Thanks for recommending it Mike! I use it mostly for gluing the plates to the rims, and for bridges.
It sets much faster than TB1, because of this does not slide around, colour is transparent and it seems at least as strong as TB.

Regular 8-32 set screws with brass inserts and brass nuts for the parallel adjustments, and 10-24 socket cap screws and inserts for the angle adjustment. Most available at your local hardware store or HD/Lowe's, some I got from McMasterCarr. I know Rick fabricates his hardware, similar to that of Howe-Orme guitars, which is player-piano hardware, really.

.050" curly maple and .020" black fibre if I recall, stacked at an angle and planed/drum sanded flat at about .040" thickness. Same principle as making herringbone, but with a much shallower angle. It is the same that is used for the rosette, with a .020" curly maple line between the inverted purfling lines. The rest is your usual 10/10/10 or 10/20/10 black/maple/black purfs that I also make myself (I like curly maple…).

The FB is reinforced with dadoed CF rods (perhaps 1/8" into the FB). I routed 2 channels on the top over the neck block "tongue" to have them full depth there. It sounds fine, no loss unless you fret the 24 fret over the soundhole, which is hardly accessible anyway.
In structural terms I would add that I inserted a 3/8" steel tube in the neck heel, that's where the cap screw determining the neck angle butts against. The 2nd cap screw butts against a brass insert on the upper bout and is there to lock the system. It is unecessary, except to keep the neck in place while changing strings for example.
The neck block is an intricate piece of joinery with Spanish feet going on top & back and butting on the 1st brace of each plate, which are joined by solid side braces and not scooped at the ends. No flying buttresses though, I am not a believer. The guitar has been strung up for 2 months now and is very stable.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Laurent,

That is a beautiful looking guitar.

I've been working for years trying to get that perfect fit neck to body join! Sheesh, needn't have bothered.

Mat

Your usual perfect work Laurent.

Colin

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

Two questions for you, Laurent, if you've got the time. First, is your steel tube in the heel welded to the truss rod? Second, do you feel that flying buttresses cause problems, or don't do the job they're intended to do, or do you simply prefer the construction method you described (with the Spanish feet, etc)?

BTW, I'm sending you a pm about an unrelated subject.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd, the (hollow) steel tube is not welded to the truss rod. It is filled with a 1/4" walnut dowel and does its job of keeping the short grain of the heel from bending with string tension.
I am almost sure flying buttresses work for their intended purpose.
However I prefer not to add those blocks and the tension on the waist, and it's an aesthetic thing maybe. My sides are very thin, so are my backs. In my mind there is nothing like the feel and tone of a lightly constructed guitar.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/