Official Luthiers Forum!

Here are a few of my last builds. The first is an 0-45:





Red spruce, BRW, and violin varnish.
Next is a Larson 12-3/4" body parlor, also red spruce/BRW/varnish:


Last is a Larson 15-1/2" bodied 12 string, Carp/BRW/lacquer:





Thanks for looking!

wonderful clean work haans.......are you x bracing those little beauties???

Haans those are beautiful. And I like the effect of the clocks in the pics. I love old clocks!

_________________
Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Dang!
They're all super, but I would like to try that 12-string.
You're my "vintage vibe" brother!

_________________
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008907949110

Haans,

Beautiful work. I love old style guitars. I notice the fretboards are slightly elevated, care to elaborate?

_________________
Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

I don't usually comment on these types of threads but wow! These guitars speak to me. Nice photography too.
Terry

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

those are some classy looking guitars

Classically Magnificent, each and every one.

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Thanks Much! It made my day seeing that great work!

_________________
John Nowicki

Great looking guitars Haans! I'm really partial to 12 fretters and smaller bodied instruments;
Many thanks for posting them here... Classics, just like your mandolins!
best regards,
jack

Haans,
Those are absolutely beautiful guitars. What great detail work!!
And I agree, I really like the smaller bodied 12-fretters.

Beautiful

_________________
Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Haans, it's always a treat seeing your work.
Very elegant, very nice.

Steve

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

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I'm also a fan of your work, Haans. Very clean and elegant.

Kent

_________________
Kent

Facebook Page

Beautiful guitars, Haans! Great look!

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Man - those are sweeeet.

Haans - how do they sound? Is there a particular sound you're striving for? Tell us more.

Beautiful work!!! Those are gorgeous guitars. How did you apply the varnish for you finish?

_________________
Eddie Lee

Hans, you sure do beautiful work (and as you know, I have seen your work in person)!

Wonderful craftsmanship.

I sure like the tactile finish you have achieved (shown in the 3rd photo) without pore filling and with minimal, light coats of finish. I think a lot of builders overlook the sensuous quality this finish can have.

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

All very beautiful Haans. The 12 string has me especially intrigued. did you work off pictures, plans a tracing?

Hey, thanks folks!
I wanted to post a few photos of the new 12 (compression STIFF Engelmann/BRW), but it's been really rainy lately, and I can't get any good shots. Pretty much looks like this one (24.9" scale and .054-.011" strings). Strings on the new one are .068-014" cables, scale is 25.34" and the tone is VERY strong. Next one will be Eng/Honduras with a 26.22" scale.
To answer a few questions...
Joekelly, the bracing on the two 6's is X, but the 12 is a hybrid. Here is a photo of a similar bracing on a prototype 6...

Bill, I've never liked the "guitar on velvet" look, and have always looked for still life photos. Old clocks are always a great prop.
Dave, we just may be "vintage thinkers alike". You would want to try the new 12, it's much more powerful than the first...none of that "harpy 12 string sound" on either though...not where I want to go with a 12.
Jimmy, the fretboards are not elevated. In the case of the 0-45, the neck is loose on the body, and on the Larson style instruments, the ebony shows below the binding. Here's a better photo of the bound F/B...

Corky, I've returned to building guitars after a 37 year hiatus, so I haven't found the 6 string sound for me yet. The 0-45 sounds VG, the parlor surprisingly strong.
Seems as though I found a direction on the 12 strings though, so I'm spending most of my non-mandolin building time with 12's. I'm looking for that solid, strong, Leadbelly/McTell/Dave Ray hefty sound. I think between this next mahogany 12 and the last one, I'm there. After I get the 12's to my liking, I'll tackle a 6 string, probably a 15-1/2" Larson. All my 12's have had laminated bracing and I'll do that on the 6 strings too.
Eddie, the two 6 strings use violin varnish, spirit over oil. It's sprayed and the process is similar to lacquer except the buffing is touchy as varinish burns easily.
Dennis, the 0-45 photos of the neck joint and peghead are unfinished. I did use pore filler, and although the varnish is very thin (too thin actually I've been told), I've gone over to a thin lacquer finish for guitars.
Darrel, I originally found a 15" Larson photo that was dead on front shot and scaled that up. Then I redrew it slightly till I liked the looks of the body. All the internals are way different than Larson although the "tone tubes" of the Prairie State's intrigued me so I doubled them up, used CF instead of metal, and splayed them out ending in buttresses at the rear.