Official Luthiers Forum!

First off, let me say how much I have enjoyed lurking here. I've learned a good bit, and been inspired even more.

It's been a long time (almost 8 years) since I last built a guitar. I got involved in other things, and now I have a wonderful wife and a nice house. Last fall, my wife noted that her daughter was due to graduate in the spring, and I suggested we build her a guitar. We had given her a nice Yamaha for Christmas the previous year and she had really taken to it. My wife thought that was a great idea, so we went digging through my stash of wood and decided on a nice englemann spruce top and quilted maple back/sides.

Construction started last November, and we took lots of pictures as we went so we could show my stepdaughter the whole process. 382 pictures later we were done It took us until the day before graduation to finish everything up well enough to hand it over, which meant I was filing nut slots and shaping the saddle in a motel room in New Mexico on our way to Utah. The end results, while a little rushed, were great!!



The guitar was given a hand-stained sunburst using water based stains, then 4 coats of wiped on shellac (Zinser sealer), then 8 coats of Tru Oil. The results were not bad for 4 days finish time, beginning to end.





We inlaid my stepdaughter's name (Teju, an old indian name) and her initials on the fretboard, and found a clipart pic of a quail on a rock (for Quail Rock Guitars) we adapted for the peghead inlay.



My wife was involved a great deal throughout the process, and was fascinated with everything. She is a great helper, and can't wait for the next one we build. She even came up with our label.





We inlaid square silver wire along the binding on the sides, and inside the purfling on the back. It was quite a chore because we decided to add it after the binding had been done. I used 2 craft blades glued together to cut the slot the wire was inlaid in, they were just the right distance apart. The wire was glued in with epoxy. Next time, I will try to incorporate it before we glue the binding on



The top was braced a bit differently from what I have done on other guitars - no scalloping. My stepdaughter is a fingerpicker, so I decided to try something that would give me more of an even tonal range. I used tapered braces, with a little *****bolic shaping thrown in. The results made me happy, the strings seemed to respond evenly, and it had pretty good volume. Can't wait to hear it in 6 months or a year. I know it's new owner is very happy with it - she's already written a couple of songs on it.



Overall I am very happy with how this guitar came out, especially since most of the work was done after February. We have some good ideas on how to improve our workspace and what tools and jigs will make our work better. I am pretty happy with the finish, for once. It would have been better had I had time to work on it more - next time, right?

I hope this isn't too many pictures...

Kevin Thomas
Quail Rock Guitars
Austin, Texas

Kevin WOW, What a beautiful team effort! Congrats!

That guitar is just gorgeous and i'll bet your daughter can't keep her hands off of it huh?

Ain't nothin' like family!

Way to go Kevin, thanks for sharing such a beautiful experience!

Serge

Very nice. I always like to see guitars that are made and then given as gifts. Well done.

Well done folks, looks cool. So how does she sound???

Cheers

Kim

Great job Kevin and thanks for sharing. I really appreciate your hearts to
bless your daughter.

Nice guitar. Congrats!

blessings,

Ross

Can someone please give steps and info. for sunburst?

Kevin,

Well done! I really like the soundhole and rosette. And I notice we have another forum member from the Austin area.

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http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/

[QUOTE=bob J] Can someone please give steps and info. for sunburst?[/QUOTE]

I was about to ask the same thing. I won't be spraying any finishes in the near future, so I'd love to hear about the rubbed sunburst finish.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Looks great! I like the silver wire idea...nice. Great looking color choice for the burst.

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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."

First off welcome Kevin. If you ever get out to west Texas stop By. Second beautiful guitar

Great looking guitar! I really like the soundhole and headstock shapes.

Someday I hope to be able to make a similar gift to someone.

Nice guitar and great story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Good on you - shes a beaut - How does it sound - is it brighter than average with the maple?
Cheers
Charliewood

How does it sound... well, it struck me as being pretty evenly balanced across the strings, especially for a guitar that is 16" wide. Very clear sounding, but more complexity than I had expected - not as much as a rosewood guitar, but more than I expected from maple.

How I did the sunburst:
dampen wood, sand to 320 (twice)

mix red and yellow water-based stains

mix orange from the red and yellow

using seperate cloths, wipe on yellow stain first in center, followed by orange stain and then red stain along the edges

using a damp cloth, blend colors together

repeat steps as necessary until you are happy

easier to do than describe. It dries dull, until you put finish on it.

Kevin Thomas
Quail Rock Guitars
Austin, Texas

Kevin--great job! I bet your daughter loves it.
I think the silver wire is a nice touch.

Good to have another Texan on board.

SteveSteve Kinnaird38852.5966319444

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Very nice job and beautiful sunburst! Very cool how you did it.Your daughter will love it I'm sure!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I LOVE the rosette and am tempted to try one like that!

Nice wor indeed!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com