Official Luthiers Forum!

Got this very basic OM setup yesterday and took a few pictures. Nothing too fancy. The top is Lutz (BTW, Shane, it sounds nice!). The finish is EM6000. I stained the neck and rosette more of a reddish brown, which I thought would bring out the reds in the tulipwood backstrip and EIR. Now its done, I'm not sure that was the right thing to do. Oh well! The guitar is a surprise gift for a friend, who'll love it even if the neck looks a tad out of place to my eyes. I also got the bursted LP setup. I'll post more pix of that one over in the electrics forum.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Looks great to me Ken !
Nice workmanship also !
The fact that you made it for a friend
makes it really special !

Mike

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Mike Collins

Awesome job Ken! Do you like how she sounds?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Now that's lovely! Nice work!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

That is delightful Ken!
A little more than "very basic" methinks.

I agree, that a beautiful guitar...I have to look at your more then "basic" guitars!
That's also a great burst! Well done

Wow, that's a beautiful guitar!

Matt

You chaps are very kind, thanks!

Mike, you overstate my generosity! This guitar was built on the cheap exactly because I was giving it away! I still put a fair amount of time into it though

Darryl, it sounds nice, but is still trying to find its voice. The sound is much fuller today than Friday when I strung it up. It seems pretty well balanced, but every day will bring a little more bloom to the sound--I hope!!

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Ken,

I agree with the crowd. I think it looks awesome! Very nice work. I am also sure that you will be delighted with the sound as she opens up.

Congrats!
Shane

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Canada

Dang double posts!

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Canada

Hmm, that is not exactly the standard OM shape? looks very nice. At least the top looks rounded instead of flat.

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Build log

Beautiful job, Ken. Congrats.

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Love the lacewood binding. Tried to bend a couple of sets myself and gave up. Lots of cracks and cross grain seperation and had purfling glued onto the binding. Maybe just my piece of wood. Again congrats.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

+1 to the raves above. That's a handsome guitar and I really like the visual texture added by the lacewood binding. If you hadn't mentioned your misgivings about the stain on the neck I probably wouldn't have thought it out of place at all. Lovely work, as usual.

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George :-)

If you gave that to me I'd accept it with no quibbling! Everything looks "of a piece", just as it should.

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

Ken, don't worry about the neck. I'm certain your friend won't.
It's a lovely piece of work, and quite a gift...wow!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks again! When I first put the finished neck on the guitar, it seemed a bit out of place. I generally feel like I have a good sense of aesthetics and thought I knew what I was after, but when the guitar was done, it didn't work like I had hoped. My immediate thought was to sand the neck down and start over. I sent pictures to a buddy of mine who is a real acoustic guitar connoiseur then followed up with a call. He talked me off the edge, but he did say, "If it has your name on it and it bugs you that much, then redo it." I decided to leave it for several days prior to final buffing to see if it grew on me. In the end I came around to accepting it and now think it does indeed bring out the red hues in the back. But a part of me still feels like the first thing someone will say when they see it is, "Hey that neck doesn't match!" Which made me a bit anxious to post the guitar on the forum. It is a sweet playing guitar, though, and your are right, Steve, my friend won't think the neck is a bit out of place.

Alexandru: Yes, the top is rounded just a touch.

Tom: I tend towards skinnier bindings, which may be why I didn't have too many difficulties with the lacewood.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

I agree a more subdued color would have matched the binding (and the back) better. It stands out a bit too much but I feel this might change as the guitar ages. You could try it again on a maple back though!

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Build log

Can I be your friend!

Alexandru, yeah if I were to do it again, the neck would be more subdued, more brownish with a hint of red rather than more red with a hint of brown +1 for experience

Hey Frank, anyone who is willing to look at pictures of a guitar I made is a friend of mine (but that doesn't mean I'm building you one )

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Shane,

The lutz is opening up nicely. I had it over to a local shop, Bluefish Music, last night for its debut. Folks were surprised it had opened up as much as it had in less than a week. Great stuff. Now I need to get those other 9 tops I ordered from you on some guitars! So many woods, so little time!

Thanks again for taking such good care of me with the lutz! BTW, how is that wood pronounced? I was saying lutz as in clutz, others were saying lutz as in loots.

Ken

p.s. No one minded the the neck color at all. Those who saw it thought it was great. Go figure.

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Well Ken ,
Me thinks staining the neck and rosette red were just the thing to do as
it gives her a not often seen look without being pretentious or over done.

Real nice.

Me like her.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Nice job as usual Ken. The neck is a little red, but not bad looking. I stopped staining necks as I could never get anything I was excited about. On one guitar I sanded the stain off 3 times and still am not real happy with it. Z-Poxy on a hog neck looks cool without stain.

Fred

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

Very Nice Ken! Your friend should be real happy with her. Good to know it's opening up nice for ya. Mabey i'll get to hear it at the gathering. I find those stiff tops take awile to open up most the time.

Wow -

What really nice, neat work. She's beautiful...