Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, I'm very much a newbie and I'm kind of embarrassed to post this. Most of you make such amazing looking guitars, my guitar feels very much like an ugly duckling. But I'm posting anyway.

I started with bent sides and an inlaid rosette from LMI. The neck was a pain to make. I used Cumpiano's old scarf joint...I went through a couple.

I also started with the Antes OM plan, but opted for a 24.9 scale, which required some tweaking of the plans. I decided to shift the braces forward a smidge, so I wound up changing things and sort of went out on a limb. For all I know, the guitar may fall apart in a year, but right now it's working out well. It's loud and the tone is warming up. (It squawked at first.)

Here's the Ugly Duckling OM: Adirondack top, Indian Rosewood, Koa Binding. French Polish finish.





Thank you to everyone on here who provided advice and encouragement. And thank you all for the many threads you've created over the years! There's a ton of info on here. It's a boon for us newbies.

What's ugly about that? Nothing, IMO!!! It's a very nice looking first guitar Flori, well done!!
The FP finish isn't too shabby either!

How does it sound?

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Flori my friend I agree with our pal Dave - this is a GREAT guitar!!!

The finish looks excellent too which is not easy to do the first time either.

You should be very proud you did great!

Yup, nothing ugly about it. Looks just fine from where I sit. Congratulations on a job well done!

It looks a lot like my first, an LMI OM from a few years ago. Looking back, a kit was a good way to get started.

So, Flori, what's next?



Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I took the pictures into Photoshop and blew them up. I looked, but I couldn't find any ugly in them. So either you've been taking lessons from Billy or Hesh and Photoshoped them yourself before posting, or you are being overly critical of your own work. I vote for the latter of the two.

What's next?

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Aoibeann

Thanks everyone! It does look quite a bit like yours Pat. And very funny Todd. I've actually been forbidden to ever sell it by my fiancee. I take that as a good sign.

I didn't take a picture of the heel joint...it's not perfectly snug like I see on ya'll's guitars. I did a flat butt bolt-on (no dovetail) and now realize why the dovetail is still so popular. It's much easier to get a snug fit if you're only concerned about the two outside bearing edges. Plus, I melted a small spot of finish buffing the back. It's cloudy now. Next time...

I'll try to post some sound clips soon. A friend has the software, but it currently claiming computer trouble. To me it sounds a bit like a Santa Cruz pre-war, just with stronger base response. It's quite bright...I'm curious to see if that fades as the strings break in more.

Next up, I'm toying with cocobolo-redwood, koa-spruce, or an all-hog. If I'm lucky, a friend will play this one and offer to cover the costs of the next build. Thanks for all your encouragement.

No need to worry, that is a beaut. Better than my first, for sure.

Nice...I love koa binding on EIR.

Well Done

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--Kyle Burner--

I sure didn't see any ugly on that guitar. It looks fine to me. Great work. Nice finish too.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Like everyone else said, ain't no ugly there.
Looks quite handsome!
Spend some time analyzing that heel joint.
I've done it both ways (dovetail and bolt-on) and find the bolt on to be far and away easier to accomplish. There could be one little booger in there holding you off from a snug fit, because the bolts should pull it up tight.

Again, nice job.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Yep...nothin' wrong with that at all. Much nicer than my first one.

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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."

Thanks for the additional comments everyone. Steve, that's a brainfart on my part. I meant to say I'm going to try a mortise/tenon bolt-on next time (not a dovetail). This time I did a flat bolt-on (no m&t). I thought it'd be easier than cutting the mortise & tenon, but don't think it was. It was a real struggle to get the entire butt flush. It feels like it should be easier with a mortise/tenon joint.

That's a really nice geetar mffinla...I am a newb as well and this gives me something to shoot for....real nice...
very clean looking IMHO.
big John

If I were a duck of the opposite gender to that beaut I would have no qualms asking it out on a date!

Congrats an a great first. I only hope mine will look half as good.

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Flori, try one more thing. (I also jumped in on your other post w/ an idea or two.) If you'd like to have another go at the flat butt joint (don't say that around your fiancee) then relieve the wood on the inside surface of the heel. Finish the outer profile of the heel to the final shape, then on the butt of the heel (the inside) draw a line 1/8"- or so- in from the outer edge. These lines will be parallel to the heel's profile. Use a tiny router (read Dremel) to rout the area inside those lines, say 3/32"-1/8" -or so. What will now bear against your sides is just a thin web of wood, which can easily be sanded where needed to mate tightly to the sides.
Obviously you would have to do this before you glue on the fretboard and it gets in the way.

I hope that makes sense!

Good luck,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks Steve. If I do another flat butt heel, I'll definitely try that routing method. I don't know about the rest of you, but whenever I try to talk about building with my fiancee, I get this look that's somewhere between "You know I have no idea what you're talking about, right?" and "What's happening to my man?"

I like it.

And I think there is a lot to like here.

We're all pretty critical of our own work, but I don't see anything to fault in that guitar. Looks good, and if it sounds good then your well on your way to some more successful builds. Congratulations on getting your first to completion.

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

Yep, noth'in wrong with that, it's a fine guitar. Well Done

Cheers

Kim

Flori - Another vote for nice, and the French Polish job sure looks good from here.

To amplify what Steve said, the relieving on the heel that he describes can be (should be as far as I'm concerned) done on any type of joint - butt joint bolt on, mortise and tenon bolt on, dovetail, whatever. It simply makes it easier to get the flush fit between body and heel

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Great first!!! Be proud of it! What you building next?

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Thanks again to everyone. The encouragement is invaluable. I played a Goodall today, cocobolo-spruce...gorgeous. I think I'm leaning that way.

I'm now obsessed with planning the details/purfling. Not that any of you have had that experience. Also planning to sell my Gibson Hummingbird Artist to finance the new build.

It's a good sign when you sell your factory guitars to help you build your own. Nice job.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Thanks Ken. I played an OM of yours at Westwood Music this past week. Very nice!