Official Luthiers Forum!

Finally I (almost) finished the guitarmaking class I'm in here in Stockholm, Sweden.

One of the last things we do is to make the "joureymans letter" which is the traditional craftsmanship certificate here in europe. It consists of making one guitar of your own choice. This year, we were two students who graduated.


The project starts with making a full scale drawing, which we are expected to follow in detail.



Then two master guitarmakers comes to look at the drawing, and give a 'clear' to start the building process. The student then has 7 weeks to finish the guitar(incl. a NC or FP finish).

Last wednesday the guitar was done, and we had two master luthiers coming and grading the guitars in several aspects such as finish, miters, glue joints etc,etc, all between 0,0 to 5,0.

Then three professional guitarists came to grade the guitar in aspects such as playability, volume, balance, tone etc, and grade it the same way, between 0,0 and 5,0. Then an average of all those grades was taken.

An average of 3,0 means that you have passed, 4,5 gives you a small silver medal and 5,0(which is almost impossible to get...) a big silver medal. But the best thing about it is to hear all the experienced craftsmen and players give their thoughts on the instruments, both encouraging words and honest opinions. I'm really happy to say that I got an average grade of 4,95, much thanks to the inspiration a have from places such as this forum, and the time I had as astudent with Dana Bourgeois.

Thanks all!




The guitar has a carpathian spruce top from Steve at colonial, brazilian rosewood back and sides(epoxied double sides) and an all bolted honduran mahogany neck.

Here are some shots of the finished guitar.







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And a glamourshot of the back:





Finally a few pics of me struggling with the neck bolts...





Thanks for looking!

Lars,
Congratulation on what you are learning and that beautiful guitar!
Thank you for sharing.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Thanks!
Heres the shot of the headstock that fell out... (sorry for the dust)

man oh man! that is one beautiful guitar. gorgeous brazilian. i really love the simple elegance of that guitar. and im sure it sounds angelic as well. superb job lars! the only question is, how can i possibly ever compete with that?

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sweat the small stuff.

Blimey. I swooned at that beautiful plan in the first photograph, then saw the finished article!!

Amazing, amazing, amazing!!!!

Beautiful!!! AND, everything said in the above post!

Great lookin guitar !

I hope this means that there will be more to come from our shop. Looks like you have earned the master's seal of approval and musicians would love to get their hands on one of your guitars!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Lars! You have a bright future ahead of you. The plan and the guitar look fantastic!

I commend you for taking the steps of studying with Bourgeois and going to school... You are a wise man!

Keep us posted about what happens next!

long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Lars,

Kudos and cheers for your masterful instrument. Congratulations! Now, from those who have great gifts, we expect great things! (paraphrased)

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Excellent, congratulations Lars on your great work. Nice guitar and I agree nice Brazilian. What does the little green sign mean in Sweeden, the one in the photo with an arrow pointing down?

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Man!  I'm really impressed.  There is some fine detailing in that guitar.  It would have been fun to hear the critiques as they were given.  You knew it was good, but not knowing how the subjective review of players will come out had to be trying.

Beautiful work though.  You have to be pleased.  I look forward to seeing more from you on this forum. 

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Just awesome Lars! The proportions of the shape, the headstock size in relation all work great. That guitar is a classic in appreance already and judging by the marks you got it is a classic in playing and sound as well! I am really looking forward to future work from you, now that you have your papers and all .

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

Thanks for all encouraging words everybody!

Well, this is a little step in the right direction... but I guess the REAL test is
to see if people are willing to use my instruments, and also willing to put
some cash into them and maybe commisioning one...

Bruce, its funny that you ask... I was thinking about that sign the other
day. Its a pretty silly looking sign and it tells you this is the emergency
exit... a weird sign for such a serious purpose. Also if there is a fire i
guess it would be pretty hard to see the sign up there   

As far as my future plans, Im currently starting a shop inside one of
stockholms bigger guitar stores, to do repairs for them about three or
four days a week, and build my own instuments on the rest of the time...
only wish the week would have a few more days.

Cheers,

Well thanks Shane! Next up is to use your Lutz, Im really excited about
that!

Congratulations, Lars! And a fantastic-looking guitar as well!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Nydelig arbeid, gratulerer!

Lars, you know I am a big fan of your work (I am also envious of the stash of braz you scored...), but this is the best one I have seen so far. Man, that is some nice work.

What is the name of the store in Stockholm?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Man tackar sa mycket!

The stores name is JAM, and if you come across stockholm some day,
please bring a guitar and stop by!

Will do!

I haven't been to Stockholm in years, but I actually lived there for a period while I was working as a cable guy; long enough to convince me to get back to school! Let me rephrase that; the work convinced me to get back to school, not the city, which is beautiful.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

[QUOTE=Lars Rasmussen] ...I got an average grade of 4,95... [/QUOTE]
Congratulations! I told you so!    Probably the only way to get a "5" would be to do a backflip on the balance beam while tuning the guitar. However...considering your final score, you must have had a "5" from someone.

Your guitar looks terrific. Well done! I know the acoustic guitar market is a difficult one in which to make a living in your part of the world, but if you can't sell instruments like the one above, there's no justice.

Very, very, very nice. Everything works together perfectly on that one! Exactly my kind of guitar, from the design (flowing, round curves, none of this flat tail or headblock area nonsense, modern-classic lines throughout) to material selection and execution. Wonderful!

Very nice indeed!! Congrats!

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

Completely amazing. Are those strips of abalone along the fretboard? Beautiful!

Stunning work Lars, congratulations on your extremely high marks, those judges clearly must know their stuff

Cheers

Kim

Huzzah! Congratulations! Well done! The guitar is beautiful and I know that it sounds amazing. You deserve your marks.

So, what's next, now you have this little hurdle out of the way?   

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Aoibeann

Absolutely beautiful work, Lars!!! Good for you.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......