Official Luthiers Forum!

here are some pics of my first guitar. a friend of mine shot the photos today in a walnut orchard down the road. it took me the better part of two years to complete this guitar and im quite pleased with the way it turned out.

here are the specs:

top - carpathian spruce
back and sides, headplate - peruvian walnut
binding, fretboard, bridge, end graft - macassar ebony
adirondack spruce bracing throughout

finish is KTM9 - brushed

binding from rc tonewoods, pink paua heart rosette from andy depaule, everything else from LMI.

thank you to everyone here at the OLF for the vast knowledge and the willingness to impart it.

_________________
sweat the small stuff.

Nice Heath! I guess you'll be working on plans for number 2 now...
Great lookin' guitar!

I like it.

actually i can't figure out what is up with the second picture. Was it photographed in a mirror or something?

_________________
It is better to try and fail, than never try at all

I really like it!!! Shows that minimalistic trim can make a beautiful guitar. Nice photo setting too.
At first without reading I thought the b%s are IRW.

_________________
Build log

Great job Heath It is a beautiful instrument and I'll bet you were thrilled to hear it sing for the first time. Keep up the good work! Just as Dan said, I'll bet you are already planning the next one.

_________________
Peter

Great looking guitar, Heath. You should be justly proud of your accomplishments. I would love to hear what it sounds like.

Max

_________________
Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Looks great! What a beautiful top too!

I really like your neck, specifically the back of the headstock and the heel profile. What kind of neck joint did you use and does the heel get in the way if you play up on the neck (I only do that once in a blue moon anyways...)?

_________________
Don't confront me with my failures--I have not forgotten them.

Looks real good. I really like walnut, my first was walnut and one of the current batch is some nice french walnut I got from Larry Davis about 8 years ago.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Well done Heath, very nice looking guitar. How does she sound?

Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Super nice. Hope it sounds as good as it looks.
Wow ...nice job on the brush on finish. I've never attempted that on a musical instrument......but now that I see how good it looks....I might need to experiment on some pieces and give it a go.
Kent

_________________
Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Looks very nice, Heath! Congrats!

Ken

_________________
http://www.casperguitar.com

Amazing first build... this is one of my favorite things to see on this site - first builds. It just shows every time that this guitar building thing is doable.

thanks to everyone for the kind comments.

plans for number two are well under way. unfortunately, im having a hard time finding the money in the budget. we just had our second child and im home on daddy leave for seven weeks, which is totally amazing, but the pay is only 55% of what i normally make. thank you state of california!

as for the second picture, i set the guitar on its headstock so we could take a picture of the eng graft, but that never happened. i just threw the picture in because i knew it would mess someone up.

matthew, i used a bolt on butt joint. i would have liked to make the heel slightly smaller, but chickened out because i thought the extra meat was needed since there is no tenon. i like the look of the jazz style heel though. it poses no problem playing up the neck. i regularly go past fourteen and see no issues.

the finish is decent, but not amazing. it was a royal pain in the neck to brush and while i will probably do the next few the same way, as soon as im set up to spray i probably wont look back. theres a learning curve to everything though.

the sound is as good or better than i could have hoped for. i didnt mention and if you couldnt tell the shape is that of a martin OM. i said if it sounded good enough, i wanted to sell my 10 year old taylor W-10 (a very nice guitar IMHO). any buyers? it sounds a bit more forward than i expected, but it is opening up more and more all of the time. definitely not lacking in volume for such a small size. the highs sing and the bass is quite tight and crisp. it breaks up when played hard, but i have a a pretty light attack. could use some further set up.

hopefully ill have some sound clips up soon, as a friend with a studio has offered to record it.

_________________
sweat the small stuff.

Heath-
Beautiful guitar- very impressive for a first build!
I like the very restrained look of the whole guitar-nothing too flashy.
Congrats!

John

Thats a great looking guitar!
I have to agree with everyone on the beauty of simplicity.

Nice job on the guitar and great background for the shot...Mike

Kudos for your lovely guitar! I like the top, too. You can be confident that if you should choose that same neck joint for your next, that you can take more off of the heel. Mario builds without a tenon, so you should look up some pics of his instruments.

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

Nice looking guitar Heath. Job well done.

thanks again to all for the encouraging words.

steve, thanks for the advice on the heel. i think it is only 7/8" long, but because of its width it looks pretty huge. with the same width, what would you say is a safe length to make it? ill probably reinforce it with a long grain dowel next time. i think thats what mario does as well. love the simplicity of the butt joint.

_________________
sweat the small stuff.

Nice work Heath, especially for a first guitar. Looks like it has a nice little belly.

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Congatulations:
I reconize the posture you have in the pic, this is what I have made and this is the sound. You look satisfied.
Bill