Official Luthiers Forum!

Lurking here contributed so much to my build. Questions in my head turned into answers from so many walks and ways. It took me a year of reading, learning, getting some great advise from those that know so much more than I. The build took from June 29th 09 to June 22 10
Man, the stuff I have learned. Right and wrong.
I built her backwards (not on purpose) The front arched the back flat. I used high thin braces many advised against. A few quietly supportive. They worked!


I made so many mistakes.

Redid many things more than twice; such as removing and replacing the Backstrip, chipping out a Mahogany bridgeplate and put in a Osage Orange plate (Tim made me!).
Redoing glued in bracing.

The neck angle was a bugger and could not have done it without some valuable advise.
The string heights still need messed with but boy she plays. I brought the guitar up to tune half expecting wood to go flying! It didn't. A very warm tone, medium sustain. I played the first tune for my family. My wife cried with joy.
Copious amounts of pictures and notes for the curious have been gathered in book form.

If you'd like I can share the story. It would be 20 pages or so. How would be the best way to post it? My wife is putting it together in Hardcover, likely an edition of 2.





Some bone dust near the nut.
Mahogany Back and sides, Lutz Top, Spanish Cedar neck, IR fretboard and Bridge, 84Pa Ninja Cow Bone for the nut and saddle, Walnut trim, McKnight Osage Orange in the fish, Bridgeplate and Heel cap.
Finding coherent time was probably my biggest obstacle. I photo thousands of portraits a year. Long days and 1/100th of an inch are not copilots.
Yep I have my next build planned; 00 shortscale. First 2 1/2 restoration projects. Meanwhile I will be at McKnight Jam and Blues Creek shindig absorbing whatever I can!
I'm sure I have a few hours of fine tuning on this one. Tonight, I'll just play her!

Congratulations, John!
Lots of ambitious features for a first build- complex rosette, "v" volute, etc..
It's a big accomplishment.
Play it for a couple of weeks and then fine-tune the action/setup- enjoy it!

Cheers
John

What? You made mistakes on your first build? Noooo!

Soon hopefully you will realize that mistakes are always made, it's just that you get better hiding them.

I love the little lady bugs crawling around the binding, very cool.

She looks great John! Enjoy!

Chuck

_________________
_________________

Hey John - Great job!! And I love that quirky inlay overlapping the rosette.

Bring it to the next ASIA symposium! We can have a few cold ones and play our first builds!

Nice! It' a great feeling, hearing that first one. Congratulations.

Chris.

Great job I hope you continue playing it, I am building number 8 right now and still play my first almost every day. There are a lot more memories of that build both good and bad than the later builds.

Fred

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

Quirky inlay / Creative Superglue spill..... I like Quirky inlay
I hope to bring my first couple builds with me to ASIA! You're on.