Official Luthiers Forum!

Up to this point I've only built classicals and since this is my first steel-string I have decided to not be quite as austere and to exercise a bit of artistic license. I've always admired the work of Chris Jenkins and his ideas of dressing up the inside of the guitars he builds.

This one will have a soundport in the upper left shoulder as is typical to many others and I started thinking that surely there will be those who will peek into the inside of the guitar through the soundport and what will they see? I added an inlay strip in the tailblock and two others on the 45 degree faces of the headblock. I think they came out well and will add a bit of interest and visual impact.

The top and back are not yet glued to the rims but I've placed them for the sake of the photos. In the photo of the headblock you can see the laminated veneers to the left to strengthen the area of the soundport. I will cut it after the body is complete.

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Peter

Peter, you are right, Chris's guitars are a visual treat.
Now, if you really want to be Jenkins-esque, use those inlays on your side braces, glue a good-luck fetish to the back, and do some painting somewhere inside the guitar.

Your guitar is looking great by the way!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

love it!!
it also looks like a few coats of shellac on the inside of the back - another nice touch.
well done.
phil

Nice touch!
It's important that the work inside is as clean and nice to look at as the outside.

It shows the client you care about the whole guitar-not just the outside!

Mike

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Mike Collins

Very nice Peter - great eye for the details!

It looks great Peter. I like the idea of sprucing up the inside.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Very handsome work Peter, I like it.

Peter,

Here is an Om I just finished. I loaded it up with little details on the inside including a pearl engraved bolt cover on the heel block. The lion is from my coat of arms.

Thanks for sharing Robbie. That is EXCELLENT .... Exactly what I had in mind when I first started to envision "peeking thru the soundport."

Beautiful guitar and your mention of attention to detail is what I'm after. It should leave a definite impression of precision, professionalism and craftsmanship.

Since this is my first SS, would you mind sharing how you fasten your bolt cover onto the heel block?


Peter

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Peter

Thanks for the compliments Peter. I hollow out the back side of the cover to allow for the protruding bolt heads. I then use a special high tech lutherie fastening system know as double sided tape to secure the cover. The cover is then easily removeable. If you want to be nice to fellow luthiers and/or repair folks you can even write information on the inside of the cover. Things like the type of joint used on the neck and whether or not it has glue and perhaps what type of glue, your favorite beer etc.

On the one hand, I love seeing this kind of stuff, and agree it looks great and is a nice touch for the future owner. On the other hand, I also enjoy looking in my 70 year old Holzapfel 00 style guitar and seeing saw marks on the inside of the back, a little bit of glue squeeze out here and there, the back braces are not perfectly smooth... human imperfections, in other words, and the sign of someone focusing on the important things - like how it sounds.

Both are perfectly valid methodologies....

That is really pretty. I especially like the position markers that carry the theme from the binding. Excellent!

John

Thank you John! Those fret marker inlays are actually really easy to do too.

Robbie, I agree with John, I don't use fret markers myself, but I have to say that your use of the binding scheme to transfer to the fret markers is inspired, and so much more attractive that pearl dots or stars or whatever. Very nice, but then what else should we expect from you.

Colin

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

Thank you Colin!