Official Luthiers Forum!

It has been a few weeks since the last build thread so I though it might be time.

I am working on a couple new builds while waiting for the lacquer to cure on the Cocobolo wedge. One is a African Quilted mahogany Jumbo wedge fan fret with Englemann top and the other is a Bubinga small jumbo with Lutz top. Both back and side sets from the zootman at RC Tonewoods and the Lutz from Shane at High mountain Tonewoods









Fred

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

This one is at my mothers getting scrimshaw on the Ivory medallion





Black Tahitian pearl purfling/rosette African blackwood/Euro spruce.

Will get this bridge, pins and saddle (All Pre-Ban Ivory) That Zlurgh here on the forums milled for me! If you need a good CNC guy he does it!

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

I must say John... You have a really nice sense for design..

PZ

I just finished these body panels for four guitars. Three are chambered like this and one is a solid body. The pickups and woods are exactly the same so I'll get a chance to make a true comparison between chambered and solid when they're done.

I got a tripod for my camera and finally got the chance to use the shutter delay and a stable platform...hoping I could improve my photos.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

This is my first addition to one of these threads. I had been building kits but this one is a mostly scratch build. I had the sides bent for me and I bought the neck. Other than that, its all my own work. It is an all Koa Wedge OM. I do not have many pictures since I am at work, but here is what I do have:
Without flash

With flash:

Another for good measure:

From the top:


I brushed on Deft nitro in gloss. I need to wait another couple of days before I can sand and buff. The longest week of the entire process as far as I am concerned.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I got the sides bent and hooked up and the end wedge in on a Guatamalean rosewood. Trying to decide on it's rosette. I'm on spray shellac coat #12 on a quilted maple/redwood. Just 2 coats on the top, though.
Hugh

I actually have build thread going on in the electric forum for the guitar I'm working on at the moment. Here's a link to that build.
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=31625

And here are a few pics of the body carve.





Headplate and fretboard

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Lot's of great looking work going on here. Tony, way to go on your Koa box, it looks just great.

I'm just finishing up a Honduras Mahogany dread spec build and a Hoduras Rosewood OM commission build.

Chris.

A pair of Weissenborns - one a commission, one for me.

Working on two at the moment. Laurel/sitka spruce & Redheart/WR Cedar

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-Marcus
http://www.bailieguitars.com
Instagram | YouTube

is that real ivory?? it gives me creeps to think about that....

Indeed it is real Ivory taken from estate tusks before the ban. Perfectly legal although I understand why many disapprove.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Regardless of the material, that is still a great looking bridge design John!

Chris,
Thanks for the compliments. I worked hard on this one as it is a commission and I wanted it to be perfect. Its not perfect, but its pretty good!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Finishing up the first incarnation of my "retop test" guitar. It is very rough, and staying that way, but the tap is quite nice. Hope to get it strung up tonight.

Top #1 is plain old sitka spruce with standard X bracing. I carved it down pretty low, since it's no tragedy if I've gone too far. The top is a little on the thick side, about .120. It feels good. A bit of flex, but I think it can handle the strings.

The back is bubinga, and I hate it a lot. Nothing but trouble right from the start. Trouble thicknessing, trouble gluing braces (water expansion, not adhesion), trouble flattening it back out after ungluing braces to try again. The mahogany strip down the center is a joint reinforcement, because the center seam has rather little contact after all the problems it's been through. It's also using a new asterisk bracing pattern I came up with, although unfortunately it seems I forgot to take a picture of it before closing up the box... But it has a good tap, so barring structural problems, I think I'll continue to use it.

The neck is Spanish cedar, integral headblock with tongue and foot anchoring it to the upper transverse braces of the top and back for maximum stability. It butts right against the top UTB (I would dowel the endgrain joint there if this guitar wasn't designed for retopping), and has a small space between the foot and back UTB, incase of future heel-slip resets. Actually it needs one right now, because I forgot to clamp the 2x4 to it to lock the neck angle when gluing the back on, so it's a little low Oh well, that'll give me an idea what it's like to do the reset procedure, to help decide whether to do more integral necks. I really like it for a lot of reasons. Difficulty/invasiveness of adjusting the angle is the only real drawback. This heel style, smoothly curving out from the sides, allows a French polishing pad to slide right over, eliminating that advantage of separate neck building.

The fingerboard is short, so I don't have to remove it when swapping tops. And please no comments on the headstock, it was a monumental failure at being artistic

Bridge is Indian rosewood, and rather nice compared to the rest of the guitar. I thought I'd try a new design and see how it looked. It's rather light, only 23 grams. But it's as big as it needs to be to connect to the X brace underneath. Maybe I'll try making a wider bridge out of heavier wood and see if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

On to fretting!

Pore filling a koa and redwood OM.
Build #2. First from scratch with help from Sound Guitar Workshop.

I am moving my photo studio to a larger local. My workshop is more than doubling in size Thats what I am working on for the next week or so!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know it this qualifies as "building", but...

My farmer neighbor logged some spruce a while back. This wood (picea abies, or Norway spruce to some of you) is actually a relative newcomer in these parts, its only been here for a few centuries, but by now its our most common wood by far. Unfortunately, most of the logs aren't that big, as the trees are usually harvested before they are 100 years old, and there is no such thing as "old growth" spruce here.







I did find these 3 nice bolts, plus one biggie in his scrap pile, though. He told me to help myself...







The green wood was easy to split it into quarters with wedges. I only picked the nicest ones, but as you can see, the growth rings aren't perfectly circular or evenly spaced everywhere, so many of the sets will have "cosemtic issues".








I cut more than 50 guitar sets, plus plenty mando sets, brace wood, and a few larger arch top sets from those bolts, so I should be set for a while. Thanks, neighbor!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Here's my first build, I found the wood in an old barn and I'm not sure what it is.

Scott

I'm working on a mandola at the moment. Great to be back in the shop full(ish) swing. It's my first experience with figured wood, black walnut in this case, so we'll see how that goes. It'll have a walnut neck and an englemann top. Tuned CGDA with 1 17.5" scale length. Not quite ready for pics yet but we'll get there.

I'm working on a budget 000-21. I got the EIRW from martin for $6 and the Lutz was a gift from mario. I plan to spend until $100 for this guitar. It's the one on the left...

Guitars.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
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I've been spending most of my time OUTSIDE the shop getting estimates on our hail damage we got sunday. New roof, gutters, siding, a couple windows. The hail was from the size of a marble to a lime. Good thing for insurance.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

three on the run this week , teaching a class , 2 14 fret dreds and a 12 fretter .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Making progress on Padauk OM & Wenge Dred.

Routed the end wedge mortise too wide on the OM - waiting on a piece of tortoise.

Installed linings on the Dred with HHG. I liked this better than my previous Titebond & clothes pins method.

Also need to finish up my first attempt at neck carving. I started with a neck billet from GMC.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.