Official Luthiers Forum!

Friends,
I've been too busy and disorganized to participate fully in this challenge, so I am not entering as a contestant for any prize. However, I have been building and I thought I would go ahead and share what I have with all of you here.

Here's the stuff I consider "local"...

Top wood: Lutz spruce (purchased from Shane for practicing jointing)
Back, sides & back headplate: Cherry (purchased from Bob for practicing plate jointing and bending)
Braces: Sitka
Linings: Port Orford Cedar
Neck: Port Orford Cedar

Since this started out as a practice build, I didn't want to spend much money, so I used a few non-local elements that I had on hand...

Fingerboard: EI rosewood
Bridge: EI rosewood
Front headplate: EI rosewood
Binding: Ebony

Bang all that together and you get this 12-fret Slope D, which I strung up last night and photographed today (pardon my poor Photoshop skills). I'll probably post more info and a few pics over in the main forum, so I'll save some bandwidth by only posting a couple of pics here:

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George :-)

Looks nice, George! Cherry is one of my favourite woods. What did you use for stain? I've got a few cherry sets, but instead of staining, I want to try applying a source of tannin, and fuming them with ammonia.
I might be in a minority, but I like some less than "perfect" tops. Yours is pretty silky!

Alex

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

Thanks, Alex. I really liked working with cherry. So much so, in fact, that I've since purchased another very nice set. Since this one was somewhat challenged cosmetically, I decided to play around with staining, something I'd mostly avoided previously.

I tried a very dark stain at first, but thought it just made everything look dirty. I sanded most of that off and then applied some Minwax Red Oak that I had left on the shelf. I like the resulting color and think the dark blotches left from the first stain are kind of cool and rugged looking. I'm giving this guitar to my brother, who's a big, hulking guy, so this one should suit him well.

I hope you'll record and share the results you get with your stain experimentations. I, for one, would love to see what you dream up.

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George :-)

George, that looks so VERY nice!
I like the look of the traditional approach (you knew that) and cherry seems like a nice looking wood, and a plus, sustainable. Makes me want to try cherry.
Keep us posted on the tonal qualities!!

Excellent job, George. Everything blends together really well and looks very well built. Pity you didn't use all local woods (you have so many to choose from in the USA) then you could have entered the challenge.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Very nice George. What finish did you use? ...and did you design the shape?

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

Thanks all. For something that started out as a bunch of leftovers, the guitar turned out pretty nice. Hope to take better pictures this weekend and record a sound clip next week.

The shape is a 12-fret variant of a Gibson J-45, so not my design. I finished the guitar by wiping on Pratt & Lambert #38 gloss varnish.

For me, the best thing about this project was making the Port Orford Cedar neck. Liked it so much I went out and found a plank big enough to yield several more. I love that stuff.

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George :-)

Cool guitar!

Matt

Very nice George. May I ask where you got the P&L #38. I can't find that stuff Anywhere.

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Alain
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Alain,
P&L #38 varnish is getting harder to find here in the U.S. as well. I thought we'd seen the last of it several years ago, but every now and again I stumble across a can at a paint or hardware store. I've had good results with the finish and like the slight amber hue it adds, so when I saw a can of it last summer I snapped it up.

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George :-)

George, Excellent looking guitar, I never thought of Port Orford Cedar for the neck. Does the the guitar with the Port Orford Cedar linings still have that great smell. Also that is a nice top! I am not sure I would call it a practice top for jointing. It looks like a sister of the top I used in the guitar I just posted.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com