Hey everyone!
I have asked several questions and pleaded for advice on multiple aspects of construction, and thought maybe it was time that I contribute something to the forum. These are images of my father and I's first and fourth guitar builds.
The first was a funny hodge-podge of several "scrap" woods we had in our garage, including stock from a cache of walnut my grandfather gave us to burn - if you can believe he would want such an awful fate for such suitable wood - and some mahogany that was left over from some cabinet work. I still own this guitar, a year after completion. And it is still one that I play constantly.
The fourth was also constructed of walnut, but had a beautiful sitka top and a mahogany neck. An ebony bridge and fretboard with a dyed walnut faceplate was also present on the instrument, along with the large les paul block inlays. What made the instrument special, was that we made it to give to a friend who was going away to college, so we asked his girlfriend who was going to art school to design the headstock inlay. It was a christian symbol. A cross supported by vines, and other swirly figures. The cross was fashioned of MOP and the rest of the shapes were crafted of the newer, perhaps less popular, inlace. The guitar also sported a neck carved of mahogany. The special thing about it was the fact we used Drain-O (or more properly "plumbers aid") to give the mahogany a different color. I don't know for sure how it works, but there is a chemical in the cleaner that I guess causes the pigment of the wood to rise to the surface of the wood, giving beautiful results in mahogany, but horrible results in what I've tested on Western Red Ceader and Walnut. The guitar was one of my favorites to play and the sound topped that of most high-end store models. We are currently re-topping the instrument, as there was a flaw in the bridge bracing, and that caused a belly in the top... which is not good
![[headinwall]](./images/smilies/headbangwalluf8.gif "Mad")
. But the instrument is more than salvagable, and will be fixed shortly. I sadly do not have pictures of my 2nd and 3rd guitars. They were similar to the first in design and material. We gave the second away immediatly, and the 3rd was given away fairly recently - but I neglected to get pictures of it too
. I only have generic front-back images of the guitars, but in the future, especially my Ziricote model I'm working on, I will have better, closer, and more specific images.
![[clap]](./images/smilies/smiley32.gif "adulations")