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Hey all,
One year ago, my uncle's house burned down. A few of you helped with his recovery by purchasing raffle tickets for a guitar build from some walnut he had cut down in western MN.

The lucky name drawn in the raffle was OLF Member Jason McGowan who should receive the shipped guitar on Monday. He and I have been working out details since last April.

Below is my own little journal of the experience.

The top is cut from a white spruce tree I felled here in Eastern MN.


Here are pictures from the build.

Enjoy


We start with pictures of the trees. First my uncle with the Walnut tree then, the white spruce.



These were taken a couple years ago.




I finally got around to processing the logs this summer



There were three of these white spruce trees. One blew down in a storm. that's the one I took for the guitar


The logs were split by hand



Then the fire happened


This is about all that was left of the farmhouse


I worked throughout the year to make this for my aunt and uncle to raise some money for their recovery from the disaster.



The ring finally closed at about 246, this is just a reference shot.


This was my first attempt at an adjusta-bolt-on neck. That is why there are two channels cut into the top.










The walnut was a really unruly piece of wood, so I did a pretty elaborate brace job on the back.












Notice that there are no screws in the trus rod cover. I used two rare earth magnets and really like the effect.


Finally the real end result

Here are some shots of the new house.
The original plan was to build on site, but with winter coming to MN, they really wanted to get done asap so they had the place built off site and brought in. Friends and family pitched in to put a garage on and add finishing touches.





Here's my favorite shot of the entire project. Al and Karin and their grandkids in their new home.

Very cool Dave!

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

Great heart-warming story and great looking guitar.
Thanks for sharing,
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

That's great Dave........ accept for the fire part. That was pretty nasty looking. It's great going from tree to finished product.

Danny

Thanks much for the kind words.
DL

Love to read this kind of story......

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......