Official Luthiers Forum!

Actually I finished this guitar several months ago. Thought maybe I'd post a few pictures.
It is my 'J' Model, but the first one I used my 'Art Deco' motif on.

It is koa, Lutz spruce, curly eucalypyus binding, bois de rose bridge, finished with cardinal luthierlac.

The rosette is made from rosewood, ebony, mop, Tagua nut and sterling silver.

The guitar is well balanced and loud. When I first played it I was startled by the volume.

Thanks for looking!!!

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Beyond yummy! Very well done.

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

That's quite stunning Joe.

_________________
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.

Wow!

_________________
member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Beautiful work, Joe!

Alex

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

That's a great looking guitar Joe.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

That is stellar! Love the rosette...

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

That's really something!
LOVE the beaver on the back of the headstock!

Congrats, this is a beauty...

_________________
"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."

Wow! That's impressive.

Is that carbon fiber I see laminated into your back braces?

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Beauty Joe!

Nice work!

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Love that rosette

Wow, that's really impressive! I really like the rosette and all the other detail work. Very nicely done.
The only negative comment I could make is that I don't really like that shape much. It looks a little like what Trevor Gore is using, and I don't like his either.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Wow! I love how you carried the theme throughout the guitar. Nice work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Really really nicely done. Lots of beautiful touches.

Thank you so much for all the nice comments !!! It is appreciated.

Kevin,
Yes, I've been using CF in the bracing for awhile now. My original plan was just do the X brace, as in Mario P, but after I made a batch of them I couldn't stop using it. All the braces are CF reinforced. I do love how they resist deflection from humidity changes. Very stable when compared to spruce alone

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I should also mention that although I usually cut and inlay all the pearl, I knew I could never get the JB logo perfect by hand. I asked Andy Birkonium to make a few of them for me which he did in grand fashion!!!

The rosette was a major pain. I usually take 1 to maybe 3 hours to do a rosette. This one must have taken close to 20 hours. Not counting the design time, but I do love how it came out. I have 3 more guitars with 'art deco' trim planned. Maybe I can figure out how to do them a little quicker.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Stealing a quote from Leslie Nielsen, " That's a good looking beaver".
Wow!

_________________
My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Excellent work, Joe. You've done great justice to an intricate style that is difficult to pull off. Looks like you had an interesting take on your stacked heel? Well done!

_________________
George :-)

Brian,

I'm with Leslie, love the concept of a great looking beaver. If I'd been born up north I could claim it reflected national heritage but at last, I'm just going to have to go with the family connection.

George,

Thank you for saying that. I can't even guess at how many hours I spent looking at art deco drawings, trying to decide which elements would work for me, and the countless hours I sent drawing many, many pieces and finally narrowing it down to a few.

I have to admit the JB was a blatant steal from the logo used on the gate of the Great Gatsby (second film). I just couldn't come up with anything I liked better. All of the rest, including the rosette, which was loosely inspired by the Chrysler building, are originals.

Regarding the heel block, actually it is pretty standard. The shadows and lighting might be playing tricks.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Can you comment on the effect of the carbon fiber in the way you now shape braces and what it does to the sound? Very curious! Did you manage any weight reduction?

That's a beautiful instrument. All of the execution and detailing are just great, and I love the shape most of all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhyCL-ELRxg

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

Patrick, thank you for the kind words. Always good to know what others think!!!

Joost,

I do my braces just about the same as before as far as thickness, height and scallop pattern. The sound is pretty much what my guitars sounded like before CF. The big advantage to me is they seem to hold the plates far better than before during humidity changes. I build in Southern California where the humidity goes from very low (10-20% to the high middle range (55-65%). Most of the time it is around 45-55%. But, I do have a few guitars in the Carolina's where they have a much wider humidity range. Don't see near as much change in the plates as I use to there either.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust