Official Luthiers Forum!

I was lucky enough to have a client want these 2 great woods together. We decided on the K&K PowerMix Trinity Western. The stock FanTaStick was too small because of the 2 3/8" spacing and I had to order a custom. K&K was great about it and had a new FanTaStick to me in about one week. What a great pickup system that is. Under saddle transducer, sound board transducers and a microphone.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Beeuatifull!!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Awesome!!!!!!!

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Awesome! But can you tell more? What is The Tree and Lucky Strike? I love the look of that bridge too.

My, oh My, that is beautiful!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Beautiful! I really like your bridge design.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I really like the subtlety in the choice of trim, really puts the focus on the beauty of the top and back & sides.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Nice guitar !!!

Nice work Steve!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Soooo nice!

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Very Nice Steve! Must have been really nice working with those legendary woods.

Zoot Alures!

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

It was! I feel so lucky to have done this and worked with these woods.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Nice!! I have a set of thetree and some awesome cedar set aside for a personal guitar. I cut the extra width from the sides and tried to bend it. Easily snaps rather than bending even at 0.05 thickness. Where it doesn't snap, it facets.

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Build log

This is a link to an article on "The Tree" from a 1985 issue of Fine Woodworking - http://www.mermerguitars.com/documents/321_5551_QuiltedMahogany.pdf.

Here is another article from guitarbench.com about The Tree - http://www.guitarbench.com/2009/10/07/the-tree-mahogany-feature-article/.



The following description on the Carter redwood tops was sent to me by, I think, Hank Mauel -

"Several of the redwood logs harvested by Craig Carter were given names (and abbreviations):

LS – Lucky Strike
FA – Fine Arts
TA – Truly Awesome
ST – Singing Tree
TB – Tono Basso

All of them had distinctive tonal properties.

Here are THE Definitions, as described by Alicia Carter, in the last
century.


FA “Fine Art” Log

Salvaged log from old logging operation. Estimated down 40+ years when split into billets (summer 1998). Some Mstr. & AAAA sets were sold to Martin Guitar – later bought back for resale. Approximately ¾ of log lost to splits and rot. Remaining billets, when sound, produced sets that were tight grained, very stiff and of variable coloring. Color ranges from mid to dark (chocolate) brown, with strips of lighter coloring. Some sets are very dramatic in coloration – striped in gold and varying shades of brown. Not the usual soundboard look, but can be outstandingly beautiful. Tonal qualities seem to be particularly strong in the upper registers. Special techniques will need to be developed to work with this wood as it is very hard and stiff – soundboards probably need to be very thin.


LS “Lucky Strike” Log

Craig Carter’s now famous log. Craig located this log in north-facing freeway easement through a redwood forest. He estimated it had been down about 30 years. It fell downhill across a small dip, suspending a good portion of the log in the air; thus it cured in ideal conditions. The portion salvageable was about 3 feet in diameter, 60 feet long. (Unfortunately, much of the best part of the log was lost to fence-post hunters.) Craig began to harvest it in Fall 1993; final harvesting was completed by Alicia and neighbors in Spring 1997. Some soundboards were cut by Craig as early as Spring 1994, including most of those re-purchased from Martin Guitar. Soundboards from this log have been made into fine steel string (including arch top) and classical guitars. Smaller billets have produced mandolins, as well. Stiffness to weight ratio is said to be excellent; grain pattern and coloration generally even, very straight, with lots of “silk.” Sound characteristics combine the warmth of cedar with the clarity and color of spruce. This log set very high standards for redwood soundboards – ones almost impossible to match. Craig cut into over 100 downed logs before he found one – the LS -- that met his exacting standards. He was a classical guitar player and planned to use this wood for his own classical guitar building.


ST “Singing Tree” Log

Alicia discovered this log in the vicinity of the LS log. It had fallen across a steep slope so that the upper side was embedded in the earth and the downhill side largely free of earth contact. Neighbors helped Alicia harvest this log, which she cut into soundboards and marketed to individual luthiers and companies. When the log was being cut into rounds with a chainsaw, she stood on it some 30 feet from the cutting and heard it ring like a tuning fork. (Thus the name.) The wood is warm in coloration – rust, orange and gold shades, generally striped. Tonal qualities are also warm, more like cedar than spruce. The only sets remaining for sale are those recently repurchased from Martin Guitar.


TA “Truly Awesome” Log

This log was purchased from a mill on a private ranch. The tree on a slope and was said to have fallen naturally, due to heavy storms, in 1995. The log was one of three, cut 20’ or more from the ground. It was 5 feet in diameter, 17 feet long – an estimated 10,000 lbs of wood. It was hand split in Fall 1998 and the first sets were cut in Spring 1999. Because of its large diameter, it was sometimes possible to get two rings of billets: inner ring and outer ring. All billets split beautifully – very straight. The inner ring sets were naturally cured; they exhibited excellent stiffness to weight and sound characteristics. Soundboards made from this inner ring wood are pale gold with tonal range rivaling that of LS soundboards with a lighter weight. There were only a few of these inner ring billets, as the center of the tree had center or “wind” splits (common in the larger trees) and areas of uneven grain. Billets from the outer ring were bright, blood red when initially spit – very “green.” There were some billets taken from mid-diameter, also. When soundboard sets were dry, they were too “green” to use in guitars. Coloration was streaked and tone undeveloped until soundboards aged, air dried, for several years. As a result, most of the TA log remains in billet form. All soundboards now available were cut between January 1999 and March 2000. Outer ring sets (what is mostly available) are fine grain and stiff; coloration appears streaked before the sets cure, gradually clearing to gold. Sets cut today from mid-range billets should be ready for building when air dried, approximately 2-4 weeks. Sets cut in 1999, mostly from outer ring, have been made into fine guitars with unique redwood tonal characteristics: warmth of sound combined with clarity and broad tonal range and color.


TB “Tono Basso” Log

The TB log was purchased when it became apparent that the TA log would not
yield sets for immediate building. It was from a tree that fell in approximately 1983. This log was also 5 feet in diameter and 17 feet long – 10,000 lbs. of wood. The log was split into billets in Winter 1998-99 and some initial soundboard sets were cut immediately. Inner and outer ring billets were split, with some billets split mid-width. Soundboards from inner ring billets were generally unsuitable due to wide, uneven grain; outer ring soundboards were, once more, too “green” to build with when dried. Most of this log remains in billet form. Some of the billets taken from mid-width yielded soundboards with striking bass tone characteristics, hence the name, “Bass Tone.” Mid-width soundboards quickly lost color streaking and were very beautiful, with “beeswing silk” – a unique, checked light-reflective pattern that looks like golden flecks of mica. As with the TA soundboards, outer ring soundboards were initially undeveloped, tonally, and streaked in color. Once these soundboards were cut and air dried, tonal qualities gradually developed and coloration evened. This log is characteristically striped in color pattern but stripes are usually subtle shading differences rather than distinctly contrasting colors (as with the FA soundboards). Color tones are mid-brown rather than orange or gold. Successful guitars have been built with TB soundboards, especially when instruments are designed to take advantage of the unique bass tonal characteristic."

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

Steve-

That really is a nice guitar! Any tips on bending those sides?

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

Three days of prayer and fasting worked for me. You might want to add a day to that.

I also used SuperSoft and standard bending temps/times in my Fox bender. It worked great.

I would not agree to do a cutaway

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Awesome! What are the woods you used for the laminated neck?

WOW that's quite a story

Steve, so nice as per your usual!!!

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

+1. Elegant and original.

Mahogany, oak and walnut.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

The new owner just posted a video. Thought you might enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfldjghf ... ideo_title

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Gorgeous!
Thanks for sharing.

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Music Is Forever

Great looking guitar Steve...
I really enjoyed the video too...