Official Luthiers Forum!

Just finished building this 16 " archtop in european maple and spruce , first time for me building a archtop and it was quite time consuming but fun!
Heres some pics for you!

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www.astrandguitars.com

Yowzer! What a gorgeous color! Beautiful work, looks like it was well worth the time.

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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

Yowzer is almost an understatement for this beauty, but I agree completely! Sweet curves and contours, beautiful execution inside and out, and the finish color is to die for. Headstock design is just perfect--very elegant and beautiful. No instrument gets me quite as excited as a nice arch top.

Can you detail your finish process on that top? The color is fabulous. And while I'm begging for more, how about a sound clip?

Congratulations on a beautiful instrument.

Patrick

Nice job!

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

Dear lord.
That's the most beautiful thing I've seen all week.
WELL DONE!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks for the nice comments!
The guitar is finished with nitro.
The colour is a mix between ColorTones cherry red, tobacco brown and black.
I sprayed 4 coats of nitro to seal the wood then sprayed the burst mixing the colortones colours with thinner only.
Cant remember the colour mix exactly but it was about an equal amount of each colour.
Afterwards I scraped the bindings clean and finished of with several more coats of nitro.
After hanging for three weeks sanded to 2000 grit and buffed with menzerna compounds
Im off for a trip during easter so I wont be able to record for a while but maybe when I get back:)

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www.astrandguitars.com

Ted, this one is beyond words. Your design sense is impeccable!

That's a stunner Ted!

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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.

that´s a true beauty, can´t stop staring at it!
I want to build one of those sometime soon. I already have a sitka wedge awaiting.
thanks for sharing

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

What he said

Ted, that's a thing of beauty, way to go!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Beautiful work Ted. Great lines, terrific finish, understated elegance. Stunning!

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Dave
Milton, ON

Very pretty, Ted!

Wow! This is my new favorite.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

Beautiful, beautiful work, but it can't be playable like that? You have the bridge way too far back. I realize your photos aren't straight-on, but even at the angle they were shot at and using my fingers on the monitor to "measure", it appears you've place the bridge about 2, 3 maybe even 4 inches closer to the tailpiece than it should be. There's no way it can play in tune..... Do you understand scale length and intonation? We can cover that if you wish.

If you did this on purpose, please explain?

Haha, yes I understand scale length and intonation, its a 25.5" scale length and it intonates beautifully! seems like your finger might be a little crooked.

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www.astrandguitars.com

Thanks for the great comments and im glad you like it!

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www.astrandguitars.com

WOW, Awesome guitar!! Love the color and finish job alot.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Fabulous! I've been toying with the idea of posting a picture of my first, which is a Benedetto style archtop and is quite playable, but this has inspired me to do the job properly...not quite starting again as the box is OK. This is just so perfect in all respects though, amazing workmanship, congratulations!

Alan

its a 25.5" scale length and it intonates beautifully! seems like your finger might be a little crooked.

My fingers are fine.. I wouldn't expect them to be off by that much, since my eyes told me something was wrong, too.

Can you post a straight-on shot? Maybe it's just the angle you shot the photo at that makes it look so far off....

Beautiful work of art!

Lovely!
Puts me in mind of a glass of the finest wine.
Coe Franklin

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Here's what I see. Taking the section from the nut to the 12th fret, and taking it down should come close to where the bridge is(it should be right there, but the photo isn't straight-on, so we need to account for the angle), and it's not even close.

I'm not trying to ruin your day; with a floating bridge, it's an easy task to move it forward to where it needs to be. It wouldn't be centered with the F holes any more, but having a playable instrument is more important.

Again, if you provide a straight-on photo, we'll know for sure if it's your camera and lens that distorted it so much, or if the bridge is incorrectly located.

Trust me , the bridge is in the right position. Ive built enough guitars to know where the bridge sits . Its compensated 1mm on the treble side and 6.5 mm on bass side for intonation . Its the angle of the photo making it look off. I spend allot of time on intonation so i know Its right .

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www.astrandguitars.com