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Here's my 9th guitar. The serial number is 11 thanks to my complicated numbering system of assigning a number when the soundhole gets cut out. This was made for the New England Luthiers group OM build. I strung it up this morning. It sounds pretty nice. Still needs a pickguard and the action at the 12th fret is a little high, so some set up work is still needed. The shape was designed by Alan Carruth. He was planning on participating in the build but looks like he's too busy with orders to be able to get one done in time. Anyway, he had decided to design a new OM shape for the build and came up with this shape. He made a template and built a mold for it but then decided it wasn't quite what he wanted. So, he gave me the mold and template and redesigned his shape. I decided it would be cool to use this shape for the NEL build rather than the OLF-OM since I was already working on one of those (that still isn't done yet). And here it is! It's double X braced. It also has a bolt on neck, which is a first for me. It has a major flaw on the neck that happened when I was thicknessing the headstock with my Wagner drill press planer. It's pretty glaring even after my poor attempt at fixing it but it didn't show up well in pictures. I may still replace the neck so I haven't glued the fingerboard extension yet. I also forgot to drill a hole in the neck block to adjust the truss rod. Oops! Good thing I didn't glue it down yet. I'll probably give this to either one of my nieces or to one of my brothers after the group build activities are done.

Top: Adirondack Spruce
Back & Sides: Cherry (Colonial Tonewoods)
Neck: Cherry
Bridge: Walnut
Bindings: Walnut
Headplate: Walnut
Fingerboard: West African Ebony
Finish: Behlen's Rock Hard Tabletop Varnish brushed on

Matt

Very nice! How's she sound? I have some cherry I'll eventually get to one of these days.

Sent from my Droid

Very nice! I like the cherry!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Sweetness!

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

I think cherry looks classy. Nice job!

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

The cherry is nice - classy indeed.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Looks great

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

Super nice looking guitar!!!!!

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Very nice!

Oh my....that back is just delightful!!!!
The bridge shape is cool as well.
Well done!!!

Could I be so bold as to ask for a pic of the double-x bracing?
Always interested in alternate bracing patterns....

Rob

Thanks, everybody.



Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of the bracing. I had loaned my camera to someone and didn't get it back until the box was closed up.

Matt

Really nice, Matt. Steve sent you a really nice set, and ya done good!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks, Steve! He did send me some nice cherry. Between this and the neck on the 12 string I'm working on, I've decided I really like working with cherry. It bends nicely and carves really well. And looks great if you get some figured stuff. Oh, and it sounds good, too. I like using North American woods and this one is all North American with the exception of the ebony fingerboard, tuning machine buttons and bridge pins.

Matt

Nice guitar - love the cherry.

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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.

Looks great, Matt!

Love the back. Very Nice.

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EddieLee

Looks great! Thats some very nice cherry. I like the walnut bindings. I just resawed some cherry today and was curious about what binding to match with it. How do you like the tone of cherry? Care to elaborate more on the tone? (I know, very subjective). I have tapped several pieces of it, thin and billet size, and Im always impressed. Very long sustain and depth. About as good as h. mahogany. I'm curious how good of a guitar it makes. Again, excellent work!

I love the look of cherry too especially when figured like that. Nice job.

Seems I like Cherry too! Nice!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks, guys!



I think cherry sounds like a cross between mahogany and maple. It has that warm tone of mahogany but seems a bit brighter, like maple. This guitar certainly is both of those. I think cherry makes a very nice guitar. Alan has made a few with cherry since I've been going to his class and they were all excellent guitars. I have another set but it is pretty plain, no figure at all. Still, I'm sure it'll sound just as good. As for bindings, curly maple looks really good with it, too. Another nice thing about cherry is it's relatively inexpensive compared to other woods, even the really figured stuff.

Matt

mmm...that's some sweet sweet cherry. Looks great

Just finishing up a flamed cherry and Lutz spruce OM. Now you've made me impatient to be finished

Steve

Matt, that came out beautiful, it's got me thinking about cherry too! Any thoughts on the Behlens finish and what it was like to brush it. I'm always interested in finish options that can be brushed. Wendy

Thanks, everybody!



I find it works pretty well but it's all I've ever used. I do what I learned from Alan. I'm pretty sure he's outlined his schedule in a post on here somewhere. It works out really well and looks great.

Matt