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This one is off to London, so it has to be shellfish free and simple. I did it. No mollusc shells anywhere other than the fingerboard dots. (By request) It hurt






ITs a short scale 12 fret, tapered, slope shouldered jumbo with a sound port. Body is honduran rw, the top is lutz, binding bloodwood, Bridge is A.blackwood, all other black wood is ebony.

This may be the best sounding guitar I have ever made. I am wondering if thats partly due to the sound port.

Thanks for looking
John

Very nice....Going to make someone very very happy...I like the sound port thingy...Might give it a try later.....Larry

I like it!  Bling free can be a good thing.  It is on this guitar.  Great look.    

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

John-
That's a great-looking guitar. I like the back (no center strip) and the simple end wedge and binding.
I've got some bloodwood binding and was trying to think what sort of colour sides/back it would look good with- you've definitely nailed one combo with yours.
And, of course, it sounds better because it isn't loaded down with bling!

Cheers
John

Or if there is a center strip- it's subtle!

Love the rosewood and the headplate is nice and thick - boy that is cool.

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

[QUOTE=John K] It's a short scale 12 fret, tapered, slope shouldered jumbo with a sound port. Body is honduran rw, the top is lutz, binding bloodwood, Bridge is A.blackwood, all other black wood is ebony.
This may be the best sounding guitar I have ever made. I am wondering if thats partly due to the sound port.
[/QUOTE]

That might be part of the reason why you feel that way, but I would also venture to say that there are two other factors that may be at play, and they are the AB bridge, and the HRW body.
We know that the Lutz has terrific potential, but to me, there's nothing as good as a BRW or AB bridge, and HRW back and sides are also fantastic. It all makes for a terrific combination. (No, not *magical* for all you newbies and players...just a combo with great potential.)

The fact that John Kinnaird built it will help it reach that potential a lot.

Nice job John...even without the bling it's awful nice!

(confession: I too like the shell bling...to a certain degree)

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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."

Superb John!!!!  I love it!!!!

Besides the sound port do you think that the Honduran Rosewood/Lutz has a lot to do with the great tone?  I think that this combo is beautiful and more then makes up for any lack of bling.

The bloodwood bindings really work well with it too.

Very nicely thought out and beautifully executed.  I am sure that someone in the UK is going to be absolutely thrilled.

Thanks Mucho guys

Larry its not hard to do a sound port if its unbound. This is my first. Easy! Go for it.

John, You got it. No back stripe. My rationale is that I like the look of the book matching uninterupted by extraneous strips of wood. In reality I'm just too lazy to do it unless prodded.

Terry, Just for you



I did not post this picture because of the buffing compound accumulation in the slots that I didn't notice before I took the pic.

Don, I completely agree with you about the rosewood bridge and the HRW body. I think this is my first LUTZ top so I cannot speak from a depth of experience on that but there is lots of good press out there on lutz.

Hesh, I think so. HRW is every bit as good as Braz tonnally and really underappreciated as a great tonewood and a bargan to boot. I push it so wind up building with it a lot. I think I really like the lutz.

I was going to say the same as Don, it probably sounds so good because of who made it! Or of course it may just be that the shell was killing the tone on all of the others, maybe you've just found the secret to a great sounding guitar.

I certainly think that a soundport gives the player a better perspective of the sound the guitar is making.

So how long is the shipping going to take to get to me, it is me your sending it to, right John?

Great guitar as usual John, but then we expect no less.

Colin

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

Terry, I forgot to add that those are waverley 3500 tuners with ebony knobs. What I am really proud of is the Santa Domingan Mahogany veneer covering the back of the headstock.   I got that stuff from an old woodworking friend (who has passed on to his reward) and he had it for just forever and would never part with it. He made beautiful furniture with Spanish Cedar cases veneered in this SD Mahog. Really pretty stuff. When he retired from furniture making he asked me if I wanted to buy some. I did.
There is not any stain at all on this mahogany, unlike the neck which does have a stain.

Thanks Colin
   I was hoping you would have a look and give it your stamp of approval. I wish you could have a good look at it and maybe strum a few chords, but actually it is headed to Dennis C. of Good Acoustic and suposedly he has a buyer. You know with the devaluating dollar I am supprised that more shoppers from Europe and the UK are not checking out American instruments

Lovely looking guitar John.

I made a short scale 12 fret guitar with a lutz top and african blackwood bridge (tassy blackwood back and sides). Mine sounds fabulous. Perhaps its a great combination.

John, I'll give Dennis a call and see if he can let me know when he gets it so I can pop round and give it a go, but 'strum a few chords', I think not!

It's the same old problem with US guitars in Britain. If they don't have 'Martin' on the headstock, then they have to be really special to get noticed here.

If looking for a custom made guitar players here aspire to a George Lowden or a Sobell, then maybe Fylde or Northworthy or Benjamin or White. All good British makers and with known names. Also of course with overseas guitars there's the problem of warranty, so they'll normally have to be bought through an agent which again can increase the price.

I have a solution though, if say a dozen or so of the top builders on the forum, I'll PM you all, would send me one of their best guitars, to my spec, then I'll showcase them for you over here. Can't say fairer than that.

Colin

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

John I too suspect your skills had a greater impact on the tone of this guitar. Have you played many guitars with soundports before? I suspect this is also colouring your impressions.

Bling or no bling I love seeing your work...they are all good!

<Just to show that I can do bling free>

Like we doubted that you could!

Beautiful work, once again, John. That guit speaks, just sitting there on the screen, bling or no!

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

I am a big proponent of unblinging guitars - beautiful wood and beautiful work.

                    Peace, Paul

Thanks again guys
Hmm Colin
   Lets see, all I have to do is send you some guitars and then you will sell them for me. Sounds like you could be giving Dennis a little competition.
   I know what you mean about strumming. I actually have two of your lute pieces on my I-pod. Quite impressive.

Anthony this is the first guitar with a sound port I have ever played. I tried to decide if I could hear anything in particular from the port but really could not tell. I will say that this guitar sounded better than I thought it would. I was afraid that it was over braced and would need some sort of remedy. So, who knows, there are so many variables.

Beauty John! How's that OTHER one coming????

Craig

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Lets see, sides are nearly all bent, just working on the cutaway part, top is braced, not carved, just braced, back is joined and ready for the back reinforcement. Coming along pretty well. I am taking pics. I'll send you some if I ever get off this forum and take care of business.

Craig, you mean the B&W ebony one? I'm dying to se that one too....

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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."

JOhn, I love that shape--What is it exactly? I'd like to replicate it without the cutaway.

John...wow, you continue to amaze. Beautiful guitar.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

John get off this forum NOW!!





Me..

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www.handcraftinlay.com