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I decided to build a smaller BBQ Bob Stella copy many years ago, but the finished instrument took around 5 years to complete. Here is a photo of the size comparison to a Leadbelly Stella...



A couple more construction photos...





Unfortunately, I took no photos of the inside of the top, but this is the bracing with one difference, the ladder bridge plate was made of BRW. Top was .152" at sound hole so I can assume it was probably around .154-.156" in the main part of the box. Other details are red spruce top, 26" scale, reduced from the Leadbelly 26.5", .070-.014" strings and tuned to A! I've never had one "bark" that low before. I had it briefly tuned to G, but the strings got a little rubbery at that low tuning.



To give a relative size, here's Bob himself. He worked at Tindall's BBQ outside Atlanta in the 30's.



Bit of a problem but solved. Here are the rest...













Binding on fingerboard is ebony...





I did use my favorite, white oak for the back and I am really glad I did! The tone is wonderful. Note the heavy .090" binding.



Heel detail...



AFB bridge...



I have never been so happy to have finally completed this instrument with a lot of help from Ron and Michele of St. Paul Guitar and David, a local builder that sprayed it. I had to stop at the point of sanding the whole instrument and they finished it and really came through for me!

Awesome work Hans !!! I really hope some day that I get a chance to play one of your instruments.

That is exceptionally cool. Something about the spruce with the wider thicker grain always felt a bit more organic to me, might just be my perception but always liked the look.

Really nice work Haans

Thanks folks!
Sorry it took so long to load all the photos. I had to resize a few...

In love with that body shape, and makes me want a twelve!

Nice, nice, guitar Haans. Oak back and sides? I see white oak in the description - very nice...

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Thank You and Best To All

A stunner for sure, would love to play that thing.

I like everything about that guitar! I'm not an oak lover, but you've made me question my issues with it. What is the top purfling? Looks lovely!

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Absolutely wonderful!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Every element looks great. I wish we had some of that white oak here in Australia.

Gorgeous!

Handsome work, Haans, as always. Congratulations on adding another to your long and impressive "completed" list. I wouldn't mind playing a tune on that while enjoying a plate of Texas-style BBQ. Would have to clean my fingers up a bit first, of course!

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George :-)

Very nice Hans!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Sorry about the focus on some of the photos, had to open up the lens quite a bit and the old man isn't as steady as he used to be.

Dan, I have to say that I never liked "whitebread tops" on any instrument. Throughout my life as a builder, I always tried to find good "B" grade red spruce with wide grain and still stiff.

Glen, Stella and others did have some well thought out shapes to them.

Larry, yes, good 'ole white oak, except for having to fill twice, a darn good wood for back and sides and really stable too.

Tony, top purfling is available at LMI.

George, wish I could travel to Seattle and the Olympic peninsula once more, but it's out of the question at this point. I'll have to try to find a photo of a antique shop we saw there last time we went...

Mark, a quick look at Startpage (my goooogle) shows some white oak in Australia...



I will try to get a comparison shot of it with the big Stella in a day or two.

Haans, your builds always look spectacular. I've picked up a couple white oak sets and hope they look and sound half as good as yours when completed. Congrats again!

Hans, a gorgeous guitar. I have a nice piece of white oak I need to resaw and looking at that guitar reminds me I need to do it!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Lovely in every way. Thanks for sharing it.

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Great looking guitar!!

Beautiful. Does the smaller body with the longer scale give good volume? How might it compare to the large Ledbelly?

Ed

Beauty Haans! Yo are an inspiration!

That is a thing of beauty!!

Bob

Thanks again folks!
Doc and Steve, the white oak will surprise you. It's a little crisp at first with a red spruce top, but when broken in, it just mellows out very nicely. Always worked really well with my laminated braces and thin triangular cross sections...



Both top and back were my standard 10' radius, cylindrical on the top.

Ed, the BRW bridge patch and laminated brace back gives very good volume. It's louder than the Leadbelly 12 which makes me wish I had tried all that on the big Stella. Only advantage to the big box Stella is the more of a "room filling" sound, if you know what I mean. The BBQ Bob is just a little bit more focused sound while the big box seems to envelop the whole room.

As far as scales, the BBQ Bob is a half inch shorter than the Leadbelly. Using the same strings, that half inch difference allowed me to get all the way down to "A" instead of "B" on the big box. It's a VERY deep sound.
I really don't know what they used to call the Stella size, I called it BBQ Bob, even though I didn't care for his strumming picking style compared to McTell. Some have likened it to clawhammer banjo playing, but I don't hear that...

My friend Bob came over this morning to check it out. He is the only guy left that I know around here that can play this kind of 12 string with the Leadbelly/Dave Ray kind of feeling. It was a great chance for me to sit on the other side for a change. He liked it a lot more than the older big box ones that I had and said it sounded broken in already. That's something I have been thinking myself as the boxes on these instruments have been together for years and all the stresses of building have worked themselves out. Wish I would have had something to record his playing, but it's all been sold. It was a real pleasure to hear some Dave Ray tunes on it. I loved it! He did too...

I really like seeing your work, Haans! Such great craftsmanship.

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Thanks Rod...

Part of the enchantment might be that these days, the more traditional look has become the "novelty" or the exception to normal. It is rather difficult to beat the look of a classic instrument that has been slowly refined over thousands built.

Today, many handmade instruments are Martin or Gibson on the inside and the outside runs the full course of the imagination. An inlay of Wm. Boyd on the peghead and "H o p p y" on the fretboard or clockwork gears never tripped my trigger. My intention from the start of building instruments was to emulate classic instruments faithfully on the outside and make my "originality" on the inside. Probably came from building 1 or 35 too many F5's, but I did finally do some original thinking with mandolins. Consider that I never built a 14 fret guitar, no dreadknots, no cut-aways, no arm bevel, no wedge and only 2 solid pegheads on guitars...I only built traditional blues guitars.

Narrow market and tunnel vision...