Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everyone,
I just strung up my first two guitars and I thought I would share some
pictures.

#1: Walnut back sides and neck
cedar top
birch binding rosette and heel cap
rosewood fingerboard and bridge
spruce bracing
mammoth ivory strap button bridge pins saddle nut and fret markers.

Finish is French Polish, I am going to do a little touch up on the top still.

I am going to make some birch knobs for the tuners and possibly change
to gold.

It has a nice full sound, clear notes good bass and highs, I am really
happy with it.

#2
cedar top
tulip poplar back and sides
walnut neck binding and part of rosette
boxwood rosette purfling fingerboard binding
mammoth ivory bridge pins nut saddle fret markers
rosewood bridge and fingerboard


It has a kind of banjo/mountain dulcimer like sound mixed with the
regular
guitar sound (I'm not very good at describing sound).

Congratulations...both have a very well executed design concept...very distinctive look.

As far as tuners...I like your idea of the birch knobs for the first...while gold will probably look better than the chrome on there now, because both designs have a woodsy theme with use of contrasting woods, birch knobs would look good on both. As far as the shape of the tuning knobs, rather than just copy the shape of the knobs that are there now, it would look very cool if you could repeat the three lobed arc segment design element that you used in both guitars.

Personally I think that while I love the dark look of the woods used for the tops that if you had not added the boxwood contrast it would have been too dark. By playing up the dark and light contrast it rreally helps to balance the design nicely.

The only thing that I would change and it is not at all negative is that in the second guitar the curvature of the tail section of the lower bout makes it so the guitar can not be stood on its tail. Alot of steel string players like that they can stand up their guitar on its tail without it falling over. I really like the proportions of the elongated body but would like to see if fairing out the curve of the tail section would help to even out the continious tight curve of the tail section.

Well done...As you showed in the thread obout how you did the segmented curve section blocking, all of the elements are thought out and stable.

Excellent job and I am glad that the sound is good as well.

Very nice concept!
Great job!

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Congrats!
It must feel extremely good to have the first two completed! What do you have planned for #3 and #4? Very cool!
Christian

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

Congratulations!

They both look great. I'm sure you'll enjoy them for many years to come.

My first flattop is my ugliest guitar, but it always gets lots of complements, has great tone, and remains the one that I play the most. Nothing like the first guitar!

Well done

Very original designs and concepts. I'd love to hear how they sound.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Very unique and nice. The only concern I would have would be on the first one with the points in the bouts. Those points are natural stress risers and can lead to cracking in the top and back there. Certainly the design is thinking out of the box though, and nice looking.

_________________
"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 !!

I like how you took a simple design motif and worked it into various details from one end of the guitar to the other to. It all balances out nicely.

Good work!!

Mark

These are both fine examples of nice design concepts that really work.  If they even sound near as good as they look, you'll should be very happy.  Nice FP work too.  The finishes look great.  I agree with Shawn, that the light bindings really set off the beauty of the darker woods.

Great work, especially for firsts/seconds!

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Unique is definitely the word to use for these guitars!

Also, I get a real feeling of antiquity when I look at these guitars.

Love to hear what they sound like!

Great Job!

Robert

_________________
Everything has beauty, But, not everyone see's it!

Those are fantastic! I don't think I have seen anything quite like them, yet they both look natural and harmonious; a well executed design! I would also like to see a closeup of the birch rosette...

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Good Job
and WOW thats one cool looking guitar, and one cool lookin parlour!
I see alot of people making alternate body styles of thier own design and some of them are mugly (IMHO)
but yours are very well thought out, pretty, as wel;l as novel.
They appear to be done in such a way that they wouldnt look as though they would alter the classic tone of the instruments they were modelled after too too much..
Im not 100% sure of this - but Id love to hear how you think they sound, or how the sound departs from a "classic" style instrument,
and Id be very interested in hearing them also,
Cheers
Charliewood

Ditto with some above comments too... if possible, you should upload some sound clips and post a link for us. I'm particularly interested in hearing that parlor. Let us know. 

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

Those guitars have a wonderful warmth to them and the details are very thoughtful.

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Wow! That is some amazing attention to details in your designs.
Very nice my friend.

_________________
Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

http://www.yardsaleunderwear.com
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.cordle

Thanks everyone, and thanks for all your help along the way.

Shawn, I was planning something like what you suggested for the tuner
knobs.

Arnt, here is a closeup of the birch rosette:



Ill try to get some sound clips up before to long.

Ok, here are the sound clips:
http://web.mac.com/jebarri/iWeb/Site%203/Sound.html

Lovely!

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Great work and wonderful creativity. I can't wait to see what's next. Congratulations!

They both look so sweet!
Nice sound too!
Keep them coming friend!
Thanks for the show.

Wade

_________________
Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

The both sound really good.  Subtle differences in sound.  I'm surprised.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Very nice!

_________________
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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Thanks everyone,
By the way
they took four months to build
The larger one weighs 4 1/4lbs
and the smaller one 3 1/2lbs

for what its worth...