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I finally glued the bridge and strung the guitar after seven months of toiling in the corner of my two car garage with both cars in most of the time. Aside  from some fine tuning of the setup and making a cover for the truss rod it is done. Surprisingly it looks and sounds like a guitar, which is a major achievement for me having no previous woodworking experience. The only part of the build I didn't do was slotting the fretboard. Thank you to all the members of this forum for answering my many questions and encouraging me along the way

The back, sides and neck are Queensland Maple . The top is Adirondack . The bridge , fretboard and headplate are Indian rosewood.

The Sound is quite balanced across the strings. Is has amazing sustain and reasonable volume apart from the low E string which is a little weak. Strangely enough when I fret other notes on the low E string they have normal volume. Any ideas on why this might be?

Thanks for looking

 

Craig.

 

Congratulations!
Concerning the low E string, I'd check for proper seating in the nut slot to start with. I'd also make sure the nut is in good contact with the neck.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Congratulations!  It looks good.  You cant go wrong with the combo of Queensland Maple and Adirondack...Look out Maton!

I agree with Jim, your low E is probably your setup, not the guitar.  If a string is not sitting well in the nut it can have a big effect on the sound.

There is nothing like the satisfaction of having completed your first...any imperfections, any of the opps moments spent figuring out each step are momentarily forgotten when you first play your first strung up.  Then it just pushs you to do another guitar...very addictive...

Enjoy...it is a journey

Craig,

That's a nice guitar - well done

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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

congratulations....
recognised the qld maple and thought you must be an aussie..
well done, looks great

Long live the Queen!  She has lovely maple!

Great looking guitar!

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Yes,Congrats on finishing your first guitar
Craig ! It's a great accomplishment .And it
looks like a sweet guitar! WTG !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

You are now a member of a rare club, humans who've built an instrument with strings. I wonder what the ratio is to humans who haven't?

Mighty nice looking Guitar sir and a Dred to boot!

Where did you get that Addy on that island?

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Congratulations.     Sure looks good to me.  Must feel terrific to have one under your belt.  Have you already planned your second?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

good job!! She's a beauty!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Thanks everyone for your kind words. It sure is a treat to be able to strum a few chords on an instrument fashioned by my own hands . It still has some work left to fine tune the setup but I must say I am very happy with it.

Jim and Shawn I did redo the setup at the nut and saddle for the low E and seems to have improved a little . I think I might have made the neck a little larger than I needed. 12-54 martin strings won't induce any relief into the neck. I have to have the truss rod backed off all the way just to have it flat. Could this in any way affect that low E ??

Bruce the ADI came from Steve at Colonial Tonewoods. It has some runout but still really stiff . I can't wait for it to really open up.

Waddy I have some nice WRC and was thinking of pairing it with either IRW or some local silky oak(similar to lacewood) Not sure on what body shape .

Thanks again

 

Craig.

Great job on the first Craig.



And can you fill in some more details please. Is the neck Qld. Maple as
well? What are the bindings made from? And what about the finish?



I've just resawed some nice Qld. Maple this past weekend and will use
it on a guitar in 2008. Also resawed enough Qld. Walnut for 5 guitars.
It's very dark and I was thinking that off cuts might make nice
bindings to go with the maple. I can't wait to try it.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

Thanks Allen. The neck is QLD Maple ,bindings are tortoise shell plastic. Looks really good but will probably use wood next time round. Finish is nitro furniture  lacquer 70% gloss . Like everything with this guitar it was a steep learning curve and far from the perfect finish but hey it looks ok from a couple of meters.

Regards

Craig.