Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Folks;
I figured I'd try again with some pics.
This is my recently completed 100 mile guitar. Wherever possible, materials were grown or produced within a 100 mile radius of my shop. This was a stipulation of the client & caused a few fraught moments over the duration.
Back & sides - Western Bigleaf maple
Top - Local second growth Sitka. The log washed up on a friend's beach three winters ago... Roots & all. He was kind enough to cut a round for me & bring it to my shop. His property is isolated, so it had to come by boat & truck. (Good friend!)
Trim - WB maple & black walnut from a local tree blown down in a storm.
Peghead veneer & rosette - lightly figured spalted WB maple.
Fingerboard & bridge - Cut from a blow-down branch from a Garry oak tree. I tried MANY local species before I settled on this. The parts are slab sawn, because I found the medullary cells present make for a much harder surface than a quartersawn face. It looks way better too.
Bracewood - Vancouver Island Sitka (a short ferry ride away.)
Nut & saddle - supplied by a local rancher. Soaked for weeks in lacquer thinners to dry out the oil.
Inlay - Local Red Abalone from a carver at our nearby reservation.
Finish - (which doesn't show well in the pics) Mohawk Classic Instrument Lacquer
The body shape was supplied by the customer in the form of a tracing.
The extra wide, thin neck is also made to his specs.

The frontal pics didn't come out well so I didn't attach them... Sorry




Well... You get the idea.
This has been a really fun project. Scrounging bits of wood from every source I could find.
Finding a piece of local red abalone big enough for the peghead inlay was a real challenge! Lots of challenges & plenty of satisfaction, now that it's finally done.
A friend of mine dubbed this "The Million Mile Guitar". I had a couple of do-overs which slowed things down... Including replacing the top after whacking it with a steel ruler when I was measuring it for its new Ameritage case. (the bindings were, of course, finished) The first inlay had to be dug out because it had a void that didn't show up 'till I levelled it. Etc Etc...
And OH YEAH... It sounds really nice. Plenty of bass, nice clear mids & trebles, great sustain. You can beat it up or play it soft... Better than I expected actually.
Thanks for lookin' in.

Awesome, Dan!

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Awesome concept, and execution as well
More pics! At least a full front and full back shot.

I love the headstock. Simple but not boring shape, beautiful wood, and amazing inlay. Nice choice of wood for the FB/bridge too, it looks great.

But now... did you use all hide glue from a local cow?

I'm a big fan of the 100 mile guitar idea and practice that approach whenever I can!

Looks great.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

You are lucky that you did not live in Taiwan... I may be able to get materials for back and side that came from Taiwan (acacia or something) but top wood will be a real challenge because if any material here is suitable for topwood it came from thousands of miles away. The only thing that may fit the bill would be cypress but the truth is any wood grown in Taiwan are very expensive because almost all forest lands here are protected.

I don't think yours is that much of a challenge if you live in North America but try doing the same challenge if you live in an island.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai Fu sounds like you may have to build a pallet guitar

Great job Dan and a very cool idea! I have been wanting to do a guitar out
of local woods too.I hope to get to it someday. Could you post a frontal shot?
I'd like to see the fb. and bridge. I also like that headstock.It's a beauty!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Very nice Dan! I too like your selections of local wood as well.

Looks great. Nice job.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks Guys;
I really appreciate your comments.
I'll try post a couple of more pics later today.
Cheers! Dan

Tai Fu;
You are so right. I am thankful every day, that I am able to live in such a beautiful & rich environment. Many places in the world, this kind of project would be impossible.

Well, if we use non-standard wood (like lauan for top and back and side and neck and fretboard) then it would be possible, but then again Lauan came from the Philippines... Taiwan isn't devoid of resources though, its just harder to find outside of retail channels. For example the supplier I found sells Taiwan acacia fairly inexpensively, and a top could be made from that too even if it would not sound as good as sitka spruce. Taiwan acacia looks like Koa but much cheaper. One other OLF member knows about this supplier by the way.

Other wood that could be used includes Taiwan cypress but that is a very expensive wood, and certain species of rosewood and sandalwood grows here, but again its expensive and most of those trees are illegal to cut down (and those are among the few laws that the government here enforces!)

So if a Taiwanese client came to me and asked me to build a guitar that uses only wood from Taiwan (basically 100 miles from Taipei), however unlikely seeing how most musicians here are obsessed with Gibson, Taylor, Martin, etc., he'd have to sacrifice a lot in the way of tone, and pay good money for it to source expensive and rare Taiwanese timber.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Just wondering if I'm the only one who can't see the pics?????
Sounds like a great (and challenging) project! Congrats.
Rick

I think that the spirit of the "100 mile" guitar is more about using woods within your region than it is about the 100 mile/km restriction.

Just a thought but it sounds like there could be a great build challenge here. TDPRI and MIMF have hosted the $100 Challenges, perhaps there is interest in a 100mile/km (give or take) challenge? With the 100 mile meant to mean within the region of the builder not an exact distance restriction.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Cool idea Douglas;
I'd be up for building another. Maybe with Cherry instead of Maple. Hmmmm.

great idea daniel.
could use it in marketing as well. "green guitars".
my second to last build is what i call a ten foot guitar.
it looks great from ten feet away.

Thanks for a good laugh Alan!

Here are the pics a few of you asked for.
Again... Thanks for looking in!
Dan