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Well, I finally (almost) finished up the OM I started a few years back for the NEL 2012 OM group build project.

This is the one I sprayed Royal Lac on. I'm pretty happy with the finish, and the guitar itself isn't too bad.
Brazilian Rosewood B&S, Adirondack Red spruce top, Ivoroid bindings, Madagascar Rosewood fretboard, bridge, and headplate from the same piece.

Better pictures to come...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Beautiful!!!

Absolutely stunning, Don. I love your aesthetic.


Ken Jones
Mountain Song Guitars

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

That is a very nice guitar! Well done.

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Rodney Paul Adams

Nice looking guitar. The finish looks great!

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Some folks just seem to have a super sense of design. Don's seems to be in the top group. That back stripe of sap wood with the run off into the heel cap is superb. CONGRATS.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

WOW!

Very,VERY nice, Don!

It's great to see it strung up! Congrats, Don!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's super nice Don!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Thats a nice one!

Looks like taking your time paid off! VERY NICE,
Mike

Dang, that's sweet.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Thank you all for the kind words.
As we all know, there are often things that "go wrong" in the process of building an instrument, and this one has many of those things...

It has several patches on the back from cracks that were in the wood, and a number of other things that didn't go "as planned". The herringbone on the back was not at all in the plans, but a loose bearing on the binding router setup changed those plans, so the herringbone was added to hide what was <ahem> unplanned. This is actually the second neck and fretboard I made for it. The first one split down the middle, destroying the fretboard along with it, due to over-clamping when gluing the fretboard on. I won't make that mistake again!
I'm also having to drop fill a couple of places - one where I dinged the top, and another where a small patch of wood I fixed on the headplate has been exposed by the shrinking finish. Fortunately, this is a keeper, so none of the issues matters all that much, and I will have fond memories of all the things that went wrong that I was able to overcome.

The Royal Lac is a gorgeous finish, and literally every builder who has seen this instrument in person has found it to be stunning. I know of a few who have already - or are about to - order some to try on their next projects. You can expect a good amount of shrinkage like with other finishes, but if you plan for it carefully, allowing plenty of time between an initial wet sanding and the final wet sanding and buffing, you can keep it to a minimum.

Onward now to my next project, which is replacing all the windows in my house, and putting on all new trim and siding. During that time, on rainy days I will be starting a few other projects - two 00's, and a guitar similar to a Lowden F model. I might do another OM in there somewhere too.

This guitar has a really great low end, and the mids and highs are all pretty even and very musical. I am aware that this combination of wood does take awhile to open up and come into its own, but already I feel that it is probably going to be the best sounding instrument I've ever made.

I just wish that my photographs could compare to those of David Wren's! One of these days I will snap some better images and post them. I'm waiting for FWI tuner buttons from Burton LeGeyt, and I still need to replace the bridge pins with the FWI ones that Burton is making as well.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Beautiful guitar Don, top notch!!! Love the inlay but I'm afraid it is beyond my capability.

Tell me there was a CNC involved and I'll feel slightly better.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Holy moly! That's beautiful !

Looks like it was worth the wait!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Wow, that looks great, Don! Will it be making an appearance at this year's NEL show?

Matt

Fantastic guitar Don and thanks for the honesty with build issues something which makes me feel better as a new builder..great job

Matt, I hope so. At least that is the plan. The neck angle is a bit high for my liking, and I may have to tweak it a bit over the coming months.

Joe, yes my CNC was very involved in the process. This is the first instrument where I used it except for the Smiley-Uke I did back in 2012.
It's actually amazing how much work goes into programming and all to make those things do what they do. But it is only a means to an end, and ultimately it still boils down to how well you execute the hand work. A CNC can help it look good, but everything else comes down to your skill, and often that comes with time.

Cable-puller, most builders experience things that go wrong with more frequency than they might admit. The trick is to learn to cover mistakes and find ways to salvage things that might seem impossible to overcome. I remember visiting one professional builder's shop and there was a beautiful Brazilian OM in the works that a big splinter had come out of the side while routing for the bindings. Their solution was to carefully piece in a section of wood from scrap material, and the result was virtually impossible to detect.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Beautiful. Thanks for posting.

Don, I'm very proud of you for getting this done! I know the pit falls which have made this the labour that it's been.

You've done very very good my friend!!

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"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

Thanks Rod! There's nothing quite like a labor of love. It's always worth the work in the end.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

A mighty fine looking guitar, Don! Congratulations on finishing it up so nicely!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

A really nice looking guitar, Don!

Looks great, Don! Congratulations!

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com