Official Luthiers Forum!

Well I have been a major lurker here since about last August when I started to do my first build. I want to thank all you frequent posters for all the tips and info that can be found no where but here! I haven't posted much, as you can see, but I have been a daily lurker. I used the usual resources on how to build a guitar. Including the Mayes DVD's, Finoccio's DVD's, and Robert's finishing and building DVD's. I am constantly in awe at the beautifully crafted guitars that you guys turn out. And can only hope to some day be half as good!

On to the guitar info!
This is an OM off of Michael's wonderful plans I purchased from here. Made my own molds and jigs based on some of the great designs seen here in the archives and on a daily basis.
Woods: Backset from LMI IDR, Top from LMI Carp Spruce, Neck was also the pre-shaped mahagony from LMI, Finger board, headplate, and bridge are ebony from LMI. All bindings and truss rod cover are from a piece of curly, tiger striped maple purchase off ebay. I did the re-sawing and thicknessing. Pearl rossett from Rescue Pearl was a red heart color. Also got the pearl "R" from them. The finish is all Tru-oil. I thought about this a lot and listened to a lot of opinions on the finish. This seemed the best way for me to go, as I have no spray equipment. Filled with Z-Poxy then wiped on the Tru-oil, maybe 8 or 10 coats.

Made a lot of mistakes but was able to fix them. Learned tons, but really learned that I have a lot to learn!

Here are some pics. As far as sound and playability goes, everyone who has played has loved it! Maybe they were just being nice. I had two people ask me if I would build one for them and I told them they should get one built by a real builder! Not a hack like me, I have some years to go yet!

Just click on the pics and you will see a bigger one from image shack.

Let me know if anyone has any suggestions or comments! I need all the help I can get....

Barry,

Nice guitar bud! How does it sound to you? You've got to be proud of it, man. Very nice job!

Darren

Wow! I'm amazed that is your first! That finish is astounding! I just can't believe it is true oil. I've never seen it polished up like this. You should be very proud. Look forward to seeing more from you!

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Barry:
Very pretty, you should be proud! I did not know that Tru-oil would shine up like that , would you mind going thru the steps to get that shine? Tru-oil is much nicer to use/less toxic (friendlier) than all the lacquers. I'm amazed...........Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

Your first? Lies! And that finish must be Photoshop enhanced!

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Build log

That is amazing and you should be very, very proud of your creation. No GLO there. That is 100% guitar!!!!! Congrats and I can't wait to see your sophomore guitar!

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Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

Astonishingly good...and very impressive. Congratulations. Man, don't it feel good to get that first one strung up?

Can't wait to hear what's in store for number two.

Bill

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

I'm starting to think we've all been had.....there's no way this is someone's first guitar. Twentieth, maybe. First? No way.

It's gorgeous. Nice work!

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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."

Tru-oil
I started clicking on pics before I read the post and was wondering about the finish. I'm planning on using tru-oil and am thrilled to see another high gloss tru-oil body. I've seen a few posted before. Cant wait to get all moved and get the new shop set up.

Barry, Beautiful job on your 1st geetar ! I too am impressed with your shiney Tru-Oil finish.
I'm using it for the 1st time on my neck only. I'm glad to see it buff up so nice for you.
Just a Great job on everything. Very Impressive !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Great job Barry!!!!! I too am impressed with the True Oil finish and it reminds me of Ron's (Old Man) who has done 4 or so with True Oil and has the fantastic shine too.

Outstanding effort and you should be very proud.

VERY well done Barry! I really like the way ou got the tru oil to make that shine too... outstanding !!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Wow, what a great looking guitar. Hard to believe it's a first. Congratulations.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Sweet ! Jody

I'M IN LOVE!!!

I also would like to see a Step-by-Step of the finish process.

Mike

Barry,

Very nice.

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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

Great axe Bazza and for a first effort it's extraordinary

Looks very crisp and the depth in the finish is schweet

Cheers

Kim

If this is the work of a "hack" builder, as you call yourself, then we are in trouble.

Excellent work, nice detail!!

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John Ressler

Wanted to thank everyone for the encouraging comments! Unfortunately I have some bad news. The guitar took a fall
on the concrete floor in my garage! . The treble bout took the brunt and caused some damage to the edge of the top. Kinda squashed the spruce in. But the maple binding held up pretty well, just some surface splintering, very miner easy to sand out. Worked late into the night to route out the damaged top wood and carefully cut and shaped a piece of leftover spruce I kept when originally I cut the top out. Tricky to get the grain lines lined up and cut the piece to follow the curve of the bout. But it came out better than I thought it would. I did not get a before picture and could kick myself for not being able to show the original damage. But I was in a hurry to get it fixed and only thought to take pics after the fact. I have pics here:

This is a pic of the repaired top piece:



You can barely see the wood insert from this shot so I tried to get a close up and put some lines around it to show where it started and ended.



Here you can see it a little better. The grain lines are almost dead on with the rest of the top, but the silk direction is different.

I had to clamp and re-glue the binding area, but don't have pics of that. I do have pics of filling the gap that was left
after the glue up. I filled with medium CA the scraped and sanded it back down:







I did not have to sand past the original Z-Poxy filler so I will just do a wash coat where I sanded to the wood to blend it all back in. We will see how well it goes!

For those who want to see a step by step on the Tru-oil process I use and the final buffing, I guess this is good news as I will be re-finishing the entire guitar now, as there were some scratches hear and there after the fall that need to be addressed.

Wow this is some hobby I got myself into!

Great guitar, very nice work.

You handled the repair excellent.

Very nice guitar and you can do repairs as well!

Did you have woodworking experience prior to making this guitar?

Beautiful work! And your shop is so neat!
Good luck on the repairs

John

Your finish is outstanding !!! I second a step by step tutorial

Barry,

Nothing like the feeling of stinging up your first. The original pictures look great and an excellent save with the mishap. I feel for you, that had to be gut wrenching. Looks like you got the chops for building these things.

Cheers,
Anthony

Just wanted to answer some of the questions that have been asked in this thread.

Firstly: Really! This is my first!

Someone asked how long I have been in woodworking. I have been and ASE auto mechanic and have done basic home repairs around the house so I am kinda handy with tools. As far as woodworking:

I went back and looked at my receipts and saw that I got my table saw on 2/18/2007. It seems like alot longer than that. Then a bandsaw, then a jointer and so on. I sure many here started the same way. So I'm kinda new to this stuff. But with help of this site and the DVD's that I studied over and over again, some books by Siminoff, among others, and lots of desire thrown in, I got it done.

Believe me this was no easy task! I fixed alot of screw ups and even put the kerfing on twice!
Quite a personal jurney, questioning myself the whole way...what am I doing taking this kind of stuff
on?

What is my next guitar going to be?

I am working on a dread disgn now and will pretty much be using the same woods and parts.
We have alot of bluegrass people about and they seem to love the dreads.

Will I do a step by step on my Tru-oil finish?

I will be doing a step by step on how I finish with true oil and make it shiney, but I don't know
how much value it will add to what has already been posted by luthiers that know what they are
doing. But I'll give it a go. I will be about 3 weeks or so because of the cure time.

Thanks again for all the kind comments on my first, you guys are the best!

Barry