Official Luthiers Forum!

My #3 has come to a close. I'm really pleased with the sound.
There were lessons learned on this build that will carry over to the next as
I continue to grow.
As always, thanks so much for all the tips and words of encouragement
along the way

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

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

Knockout guitar, and gorgeous Zoot!  You done well there Chris.   

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

outstand guitar unk!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Beautiful!!!! I love the all Hog look
As said above, what lessons did you learn and are they
worth sharing

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

VERY Well Done Chris! What a gorgeous guitar you made!
I like the mahogany very much! WOW !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

That's a beauty! Nice job.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Wow, Chris, that's a fine looking instrument. Love that mahogany. Great job.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

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

[QUOTE=fmorelli] Beautiful guitar! Would love to hear about the
"lessons". What did #3 teach you?

Filippo[/QUOTE]

Well, I definitely made some mistakes on this one.
Not the same ones I made on 1 & 2, but ones that could have been
avoided had I really just slowed down and paid better attention.

The thing is, I have 2 small children who deserve my love and attention.
Therefore, I only work in the shop after they've gone to bed or when
they're gone away which leaves me with small windows of opportunity to
get things accomplished. So sometimes I may hurry and we all know that
that is a big #1 no-no.

I'll just add that this guitar has a flaw that I consider serious enough that I
turned down a sale. It's realistically a cosmetic thing but as they say, you
only get one chance to make a first impression.
Although I could really use the money, I know that if I want to continue
this craft, I can't have guitars floating around with my name on them that
fall below my standards.

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

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

Chris,

I'll say it again - that looks fabulous

I can see where you are coming from and having standards like that is great. However, sometimes I think it a shame that if a guitar looks as though it is made of wood rather than glass it can be judged as somehow inferior. But then again, fortunately I don't have to rely on selling instruments to make a living. For me sound and playability are the number one drivers, and if the sound was killer I would want it out there with my name on it. The people who would not want to buy one of my instruments as a result of playing it are probably not the people I'd want to build for anyway.

I'm really getting to like this "Grumpy Old Man" thing

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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

Chris, you just know I'm going to like it, all mahogany!

The guitar looks wonderful and should have a stunning growl when played, I'd love to hear some of it if that is possible. As Dave says nothing wrong in a wooden guitar looking like wood, in fact in my view it's preferred. After my guitars have been finished for a couple of months I like to knock them back with 0000 wool to give a sort of lustre.

The only standards you need to maintain and take notice of are those that you set for yourself. Well done.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

[QUOTE=Dave White] Chris,

I'll say it again - that looks fabulous

I can see where you are coming from and having standards like that is
great. However, sometimes I think it a shame that if a guitar looks as
though it is made of wood rather than glass it can be judged as somehow
inferior. But then again, fortunately I don't have to rely on selling
instruments to make a living. For me sound and playability are the
number one drivers, and if the sound was killer I would want it out there
with my name on it. The people who would not want to buy one of my
instruments as a result of playing it are probably not the people I'd want
to build for anyway.

I'm really getting to like this "Grumpy Old Man" thing [/QUOTE]

The reason I wouldn't sell isn't because of the finish.
It's because I thought the neck I ordered was 2-1/4" at the body to match
my fretboard and the bridge spacing I use. I didn't realize until I was
shaving down the fretboard to meet the neck that this neck was 2-1/8" at
the body. This led to the strings being closer to the edge than I like and it
also caused a bit of "ugliness" as the sides of the fretboard are not a
straight plane. I was able to compensate somewhat by moving the
spacing on the nut. Had I really thought this through, I could have
prevented this by A) measuring the neck before building with it and
assuming it was right or B) making a new bridge with 2-1/8" spacing.
At this point it seems to make the most sence just to play it, keep it and
learn from my haste.

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

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

Chris,

It still looks pretty good to me, but I know we are our own fiercest and merciless critics - which is for the best. The really nice thing is that you get to keep and play this beauty. I wouldn't want to part with it if I'd made it.

Well done again

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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

Chris, it looks great!
Its been great to see you "grow" in this art. Well done!

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

Lovely guitar, good job!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Really nice Chris. Any chance of a short sound clip?

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John S.

[QUOTE=john487] Really nice Chris. Any chance of a short sound clip?[/
QUOTE]

That's something I've been wanting to figure out how to do.
I'll see what I can do.
So where's Oscoda, MI ? I'm in North Muskegon
Lots of luthiers here in Michigan.

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

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

Very nice Chris, I've always dug Mahogany topped guitars, and yours looks great! Having the HS match the body is a nice touch. Well done!

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

North east side of the state Chris. On the AuSable River at Lake Huron's shore.I'm going to try to get to the next MI gathering to meet some of you creative folks.

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John S.

Great looking guitar, I like the color.

Bee-u-ti-ful, makes me tear up it looks so good

                                      Red

Haste problems aside, you made some very nice choices on this one. Sure is pretty!

I think you are your own worst critic Chris. I know that I have built guitars that to me have obvious huge mistakes/flaws, but others dont even notice. To me, these are HUGE mistakes, but to others it is not even noticable. I'm sure that the things you have mentioned here as being faults would only enhance other's decisions to buy. I know when I was younger I would have killed for a smaller neck with closer string spacing. Now that I am older and my fingers have fattened up some I appreciate the more full fingerboards.

The big thing is that you learn from each build as I have done and that you enjoy doing what you do. I had a conversation with some old friends today and it led to asking me the question if I was making any money at building guitars. I told them that wasnt the important question... the important question is that I actually enjoy going to work every day and sometimes work on my guitars through the weekends. I dont do this because I have a deadline to meet, I do it because I love building them. I'm pretty sure that is why you are building them too and I celebrate your new build with you.

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Reguards,

Ken H

That really is a stunning instrument! I'd love to hear a sound clip of it too.

[QUOTE=Dave White] Chris,

I'm really getting to like this "Grumpy Old Man" thing [/QUOTE]

Welcome to the club Dave

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Say what you do, Do what you say.