Official Luthiers Forum!

I finally strung up my first guitar with the help of Jason Simpson of Simpson Guitars. Man what an experience! to begin let me start by saying that i was very blessed and fortunate to have a professional luthier like jason open his house and take part of his own time to help out an aspiring luthier, people like that are far and few between. Anyways the journey started with the desire to find a way to lower my cost in acquiring custom guitars, after buying 3 custom made ones, i figured my wallet would be happier if i was able to learn how to make them! so i read books, hung out at forums like this one and AGF, and gathered all the knowledge i could capture. Then with a leap of faith i reach out to jason simpson, to see if there was any way maybe i could come into his shop and learn hands on, he got back to me and explained that he was busy and would not be able to guide me step by step, but that i was more than welcome to come to his shop and watch him work on guitars and have talk everything building! so i spent two days, and crammed in all the knowledge i could. He sent me aways with gifts such as the engelmann top used in this build, the gotoh tuners, fret wire, the mahogany neck, fretboard radii sander, etc. i got back and got to work and this is what came out of it! But i still wasn't done i needed to do the final set up on the guitar, so i reached out to jason again see if he had some time to come into his shop to work on the set up and intonation of the guitar. this time, he actually guided me step by step and showed me how to properly adjust the nut and saddle and get the action i was looking for, so we finally strung it up and man did this thing sound like a beauty! We both looked at each other in disbelief because typically a first guitar isn't supposed to sound that good, in jasons own words he said (" if you were to give me a blind fold test on you build and your mcpherson i would have chosen yours!) (i took my mcpherson to compare it to). So finally got home and did the fist thing everyone that makes a guitar does or should do, go to Guitar Center and compare it, so i went with my brother and compared it to other "high end factory guitars" and boy do i tell ya, it sounded REALLY good in relation to the others! A couple workers from guitars center tried it out and attached is a link to a video shot of singer/songwriter Zach Balch giving us his honest opinion. Enjoy the video and pics, and as always any ideas, suggestions, recommendations, etc, are welcome. Let me know what you think about my headstock design, thinking of making that my Trademark design!?

Jonathan

Here is Jason Simpson Holding the new 1st Razo Guitar


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Youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H613iVjq28s&feature=g-upl&context=G22025d7AUAAAAAAAAAA

Wow, what a sweet looking guitar! I can only hope that my first turns out that nice. We'll soon see. Looks like we're practically neighbors. Have you been to any of the LINT group meetings yet?

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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United States of America, looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children....
Casting Crowns

No unfortunately the last meeting they had in december i was out of town, but i definitely plan on being there in February! Just Give it your best and take your time on the first, it took me almost a whole month to complete and then another month to finish it!

Awesome job!

I actually like the fact that the rosette is less, not more.
It looks quite unique.

The sound is FAT!

Great job.
Thanks for sharing.

Florentin

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Music Is Forever

Really nice that you could find someone to give you an honest assessment like that with the good and the bad (not that there was that much bad). I really like the rosette, I was a little surprised he criticized it, though maybe it just wasn't to his taste.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Looks like a beauty. (alot better than my first)

I would definitely try and make it out for the next one. Also something that you may be interested is that Steve Klein is coming to do a Master Class on Feb 17th for the group. I believe the cost is $60. Well worth every penny!

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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United States of America, looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children....
Casting Crowns

Really great first guitar, much better than mine.
I wouldn't listen too much to Zach Balch his playing sounds as sensitive and boring as hell.
Personally, I don't like the headstock but I think the design elsewhere is stylish.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Beautiful guitar! What is the rosette made of?

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

really nice one! congratulations.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Although I'm sure he is very nice, Zach is being somewhat of a big shot. He knows it's your first... right? This is an amazing first effort - hard to believe actually... Your rosette is really cool! Initially the headstock doesn't seem to exactly be my taste, but I'm not crazy about the Breedlove headstock either and they have a lot of fans... Your design could grow on me. What is he talking about "the lines aren't straight"? You've definitely got talent... Keep it up. What's next?
Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Looks very elegant and Custom.
I really like the body shape and the cutaway
congrats!

I like it! Great job and you should be proud. I too like that rosette and was surprised he didn't like it. I think it was creative. Like Tony, I'm curious what the rosette is made form?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Incredible first effort - congratulations!

That guitar looks and sounds very, very nice. I'm sure there are some places for improvement, but I'd say you're off to a great start. I really like the rosette. Zach is apparently accustom to factory built guitar looks. I've seen a good number of Taylor guitars with imperfections too. Old Martins, forgettaboutit. Nice work. Now build another.

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Aaron Craig

Awesome guitar, I love the rosette and the finish job. Modern looking and somewhat art deco. Its got STYLE.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Beautiful!!! Body shape, woods, rosette, finish the whole nine yards.

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No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does.
Christopher Morley

Yes lots of nice design aspects going on there, big pluses to my eye are what looks to be a compound cutaway the bridge with what looks to be a bit of pyramid influance and the rose, all very nice...agree with Joe, the headstock is not to my taste but that is an individual thing. All in all, very well done

Cheers

Kim

That's a pretty bold first build. You did a great job on it.

Tim

Looks wonderful, and a very very nice rosette. Sincere congrats. I would have went for a longer and narrower bridge though.

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Build log

An outstanding first! I'm with Todd, looks like it should be well along the experience line, to me. Way to go!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Jonathan, that's an excellent sounding guitar and it has a lot of the nice design influences of a Matsuda. I assume that you are asking us to comment on the headstock because you are uncertain about it yourself. The headstock looks like an early effort to me but with tweaking it could be something that you really like. I wouldn't give up on it yet. It's so hard to find a unique headstock shape.

I suspect that the nitpicking that Zach Balch is giving you is pretty much right on from his point of view. Take what you like but as time goes on your work will naturally become cleaner and more refined. It's easy to get pats on the back but harder for people to give you their honest opinions. Something that I think you might work on for the next one (there's always a next one) is leveling the sides. My guess is that there aren't really ripples in the wood but the finish gives the impression that there are. If you level with a hard flat block before you buff those ripples will be gone.

What a class guy Jason Simpson is. You were blessed to have so much help from him.

Great work. Keep 'em coming.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Thanks everyone for the kind words! It took a lot of work, and pain! (First thing i did this morning was stock up on an assortment of Bandages )

As to address the question on the rosette-
the rosette is actually a funny story, it is cocobolo. the plan was to have the segments fill with coco, but what happened was i inlayed the rosette, being a novice i inlayed the coco only slightly in the top, max of 1/64 i believe, i left my coco stand out a lot figuring i would only sound down to the top, Well as it turns out i was using my jet 16-32 drum sander, and it was the first time i used it, so i sanded down past part of the cocobolo! But it turned out great, it looked like legit tortoise. the problem was when i was doing my final sanding before finishing, i sanded through most of the cocobolo, so the bits of red is what is left of the cocobolo! Here are some pics of the rosette prior to sanding and after first sand and you can see the progression!



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after sanding



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But yea i already started my second build, its going to be a Cedar/EIR combo! here is a pic.



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Your first is an unbelievable guitar. Still working on mine and I would be pleased if it turns out half as well as yours!

The rosette on your second is absolutely phenomenal! I love it!

Very nice Jon. Like your fret inlays as well.
Number 2 looks like it will be just as nice.
Cheers

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Mike

(MH)===:::