Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello All,

I've been lurking here for a while, much of the info I used to build my first guitar was learned here....thanks for everything. I built most of this first one without a book or anything, and boy did I make many mistakes, but I think it sounds fantastic, and it was a blast to build. The guitar is a 13 fret to the body 25.4" scale. It is 000 style body with Black Walnut B/S and a nice Sitka top. I have two coats of epoxy on the B/S, nothing on the top yet, I plan on using KTM-9 to finish the guitar.....just can't stop playing it to finish the darn thing. I'm just starting #'s 2,3,4 with Cocobolo B/S, EIR B/S, and Black Walnut again. I'll try to document them as I go, and hopefully receive some advice from everyone here. Please let me know what you see from the pictures how I might improve the next batch of guitars. I built this one in a couple of months, and really went way too fast for perfection at the time....oh well, I was so excited I just wanted the first one done. Thanks for looking!

Greg











LanceK38626.3398263889

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Gwaltney Guitars

Hello Greg!
I think it looks great! About the only thing I would suggest doing different would be a smaller rosette, more delicate for such a nice body shape.

Nice work and it sounds like your completely bit by the lutherie bug! WELCOME TO THE CLUB BUD!

LanceK

PS, I edited your post to get your pics all in a row.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Hi Greg,
Welcome to the OLF. Your guitar looks nice! I really like the walnut. I agree with Lance about the smaller rosette, but if you like it, that's all that matters.

I really like your bridge shape. I may have to borrow a few elements of it for my next build

Please don't hesitate to post in-progress pics of your other builds; there are a lot of experienced guys here who are generous with their help.

Great! Now get that thing finished! You can't say the first one is done until that finish is buffed out and you string her up for the first time. Well, in this case, the second time!

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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."

Lookin' good!

The rosette's quite bold, but I quite like bold. We've got more than enough narrow wood, pearl, and 1, 2 and 3 ring rosettes out there already :-)

Thing I'd do on the next is make it a tiny bit smaller (not much) and frame it with some very fine line black/white/black or black/maple/black purfling. It's a small thing, but I think it really helps.

This one's burl maple with fine bwb/bwb (double lines), but from a distance, it helps frame the whole thing:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics/Body_GAB1_03.jpg

Thanks Everyone,

GregG38626.4978819444

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Gwaltney Guitars

Thanks Everyone,

All of your suggestions are great, I've thought of a few of them myself.

I've passed this guitar around to everyone I know to critique it, their comments are fascinating. Here is what I've heard to date.

Best sounding guitar I've ever heard. This came from a young man who is a very talented player but has not had the opportunity to play very many custom guitars. Flattering comment though

Great tone, sounds better than my Martin guitar. Came from another awesome player who loved the sound of the guitar, but said the fretwork needd some refinement....I knew this as this area gave me the most trouble during the build.

To my ears it ranks up there with 2 of the best sounding guitars I've played...a Goodall & a H&D....not bad company for a first guitar. I was very lucky I think.


Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Hi Greg, Welcome! I gotta tell you I love that 00 shape in a 000 body size. Great idea. I've read good things here about the 13 fret too so it doesn't surprise me that she sounds good.

I would agree with the others that the rosette is a bit too bold but otherwise a fine first try.

BTW, is there a tail wedge? If so how about a pic.?

Very nice. I really like the Maple around the finger board. Looks cool!

I was rushing things a bit during this build and decided to go with a very simple back strip, no wedge shape to it because it was going to be a pain so I just used a piece of flamed maple binding. I'll post pictures of it anyway, along with the truss rod cover.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

A mighty fine first effort! Especially considering you used internet-only info! I'll have to agree about the big rosette. I think Mattia's advice is good. Also, it looks like your strings are a bit close to the edge of the fingerboard at its end. It's best to keep the margin fairly consistent along the whole board. BTW, why did you decide on a 13th fret join? Interesting choice.

Greg--"Nice Sitka top"... Indeed!
I love it when Sitka's rays look holographic like your top shows. Where did you find that nice piece of wood?

Great first effort!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Hi Carlton,

When researching guitar building it seemed that many builders found their 12 fret guitars to be some of the best sounding(sweetest) instruments. Players loved 12 fret guitars as well but felt they limited play a bit unless there was a cut-away. Some players/builders also felt that the short scale on a 12-fretter affected the "pop" of a guitar. So I thought that a long scale 13-fretter would be interesting as it would move the bridge back into the belly like a 12 fretter, and maintain the longer scale "pop" of a traditional 14-fretter. Geez, I have no clue really, just went on intuition I guess, like many areas of this build I just felt my way through it. I also increased the depth of the body(outline is based on a Martin 000-15)quite a bit, not really knowing how that was going to affect sound. I'm not sure how my creation compares(sonically) to the beauties you guys build, but I am so pleased with the results that I'm using the same design for the next couple anyway. I also used different bracing designs based on some info I found through my research. One thing I know for sure from this build is that EVERYTHING affects the sound of a guitar.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Hi Steve,

I thought that piece of Sitka was really cool too, surprised that you were the first to comment on it's uniqueness. At least I thought it was unique, maybe it's fairly common to find a piece like that? Anyway, when I decided to get into this luthier thing, I found this Billit of Spruce on E-bay and decided to buy it because it was fairly cheap. Turned out that it cost me about $20/top after resawing....I've got 12 more just like it. Well, at least they are from the same chunk of wood, assuming I resawed perfectly quartered, I should get similar grain patterns I would think?


Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

[QUOTE=GregG] I have no clue really, just went on intuition I guess, like many areas of this build I just felt my way through it.
Greg[/QUOTE]

Intuition, yes, but tempered by a lot of research and thought. I think that's the best way to achieve something distinctive without going over to the dark side of science (or lutherie) fiction. Evolution is the best revolution! Press on!

Hi Roy,

Here is the picture of the tail piece and truss rod cover...plenty boring that is for sure. My next guitar will be a bit more interesting asthetically....I hope!

Greg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/GregGwaltney/260d2133 .jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/GregGwaltney/b011da5a .jpg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Hi Greg,

12 more tops, huh? Good for you. I've only seen one other top with that much stuff going on--it was an old Martin D35, and sounded super. Didn't look too bad, either.

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Good job...there is nothing more satisfying that to play your first and be surprised at how it sounds.

I too am often seduced to play mine while they are still unfinished...it is too tempting not to...

Keep it up...it is as enjoyable as it is challenging and certainly addictive.

Greg,

Great job. I agree with Don, get er done man, you'll be glad you did.

Also agree with John, that is got to be one of the best looking sitka tops I've seen. Tons of silking, very well quartered. You said you did it yourself    . You could get a job resawing if they all come out like that. I think Jason's company is looking for someone.

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From One Rookie to Another

AWESOME!!!!

Now we need to build more!!!

Welcome

Andy

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Yeah, I did the re-sawing myself, hoping all of the tops look as good as that one. I peeked at the quartering last night they all look like they were cut dead-on....so we will see when they are sanded how they look.

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