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You guys are probably tired of this shape and cutaway but it seems to be what people want from me so here goes another one. The tiger myrtle back and sides are from Steve at Colonial as is the Adirondack top. The bindings are ebony with gonçalo alves and dyed maple purfling. It has another of my side grained rosettes. Since I had never worked with tiger myrtle, which had a somewhat dull tap tone, I didn't know quite what to expect but the sound is warm and focused. The tiger myrtle doesn't seem to affect the Adi top much. Two big pluses were the ease of finishing since there were no visible pores and bending which was a breeze.

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

Up late installing a dishwasher (or early depending on your point of view). No doubt I'll nod off in church later this morning. Anyway, nice work and nice combo.
BTW how 'bout a pic of that rosette you mentioned. I've not been too frequent here lately so I'm not familiar with your designs. TIA

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DES - Shepherd, MI

Nice work Ken, I particularly love the binding/purlfing job. Tiger Myrtle has to be one of the most beautiful tonewoods Ive ever come across.

Cheers martin

Wow is this one sharp looking guitar Ken buddy!

I would be interested to know if you find this guitar to be on the loud side?

Outstanding!

Nice! I really like the purfling scheme on the back. Congrats!

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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."

Very nice looking guitar Ken. I too, really like the purfling scheme.
Nice mitres !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

MmmmMmmm...myrtle..... . My favorite wood next to Osage Orange. Nice guitar attached to it BTW.

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-They made me do this-
My name is Matthew Luce

That's one beautiful guitar Ken. And your joinery work is immaculate.

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

What a great looking guitar, Ken, thanks for sharing!


warmest regards,
terence
www.guitarbench.com
www.goodacoustics.com

Thanks everyone.

Darin, here is a pic of the rosette.

Hesh, it's not a boomer but it is very responsive and there is more than average headroom.

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

Hi Ken,

Great looking guitar! I checked out your web site for more photos and info. Gorgeous woods, lovely design, beautiful and creative rosette, very nice details...



I have a few questions for you if you've got the time. First, regarding body dimensions: I'm just about to make the mold for my new "SJ"-type body, the design of which I've been laboring over for the past couple weeks, so I've got shapes/dimensions/curves/etc on the brain big time right now. If you don't mind, what are your dimensions? ...Lower bout and upper bout widths, waist width, body length, body depth. What's the scale length?

About bracing: I see in the photo of the bracing on your web site that you have only one "finger brace" (the small brace that goes out from the leg of the X, adjacent to the bridge plate, up towards the waist) on each side. Care to share any thoughts on that? Have you built several guitars that way? I'm interested in your thoughts and observations about sound as well as structural integrity. If I were thinking about bracing like that, I would be concerned about the possibility of not having enough strength in the area of the lower bout that's straight out from the bridge; as the bridge is torqued and lifted under string tension, that is an area that I've seen distort more than one might wish on some guitars, adding to the bulge in the belly and creating a bit of "recurve" out toward the edge. I'm not meaning to criticize, just to probe a bit into your thoughts and experience with this as it applies to your bracing design.

Thanks!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Very Nice guitar!!!
Love the rosette.

Hey Hesh...Tiger without a black top!!!!
Actually I loved the black top

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Very cool design all around!

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Very clean Ken! I like that Tiger a lot!
Very well done!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

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

Beautiful instrument. I don't often comment on finished instruments as I usually see something that I don't particularly like so I keep quiet. And anyway, I'm not one of the gurus so who cares what I think?

Anyone (who can afford it) can buy stunning wood. What counts is the way it's used and I especially like your choice of subdued colours for purfling and binding which harmonise perfectly with the myrtle and let it 'shine'.

I love the rosette too. Personally I would have liked to see a little spruce on the inside of it but that's only my opinion so you can ignore it Being a Brit I don't do adulations, but it certainly deserves one of these

Ken, your work and your eye for design is just great.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I completely agree...Ken's aesthetics are top-shelf. His rosettes are stunningly beautiful...

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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 again everyone.

Todd, here are the specs:
body length- 20"
upper bout- 11 1/4"
lower bout- 15 3/16"
waist- 9 1/8"
depth at the neck join- 3 5/8"
depth at the tail- 4 1/8"

I only use one finger brace on each side because I like to keep the bracing to a minimum and let the top dance. Compared to other SJs that I've made these guitars seem to be more open sounding. Since the pull is in the middle of the guitar the side braces aren't doing as much. I've seen many OMs with only one finger brace per side and an SJ isn't much bigger. I've been doing it this way for about two years and I don't know of any structural problems related to it, but that's not much time I suppose. The finger brace that I use is the front one which supports the wings of the bridge. It's the back one that I leave out. I think that support under the wings is important.

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

whoa....am I hallucinating or is that a tapered heel on that neck, which means you did some twisting with the cutaway to get it to be planer with the neck?...I've run that through my head as a possibility and wondered if it would actually work in the long run (built up stresses because of the 'stretching' required to pull off that type of bend)...

awesome joinery on the purfling/backstrip and kewl rosette...

Ken is that the guitar you had in Montreal?

That was a stunning piece! Theresa says "That is amazing!"
Plus she says your a good dancer!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Thanks for the dimensions, Ken, and for addressing my questions about the bracing. What's the scale length on that beauty?

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Killer Guitar, Ken. Great work.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Todd, the scale length is the common 25.4".

Yes, Lance, that was the one in Montreal. I'm a little slow at getting things posted! Say, "Hi" to Theresa for me. I think her comment was a hint to take her out dancing sometime.

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

Ken,

very nice. The rosette is lovely.

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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

Very, very beautiful guitar, Ken! The rosette is high art - I love it!

The shot of the back stripe & binding & purfling (meeting at dead center on the heel, alongside the compound cutaway) is a pretty good indication of your skill level.

I'm curious to know how you align your plates when gluing to the rims. Is this just by hand and eye, or do you have some alignment tips that you'd be willing to share? Might even make a good tutorial or at least a separate thread (where others might chime in as well.) Many of us are at the mercy of the glue's slippery whims when we try to quickly align and clamp down the plates.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia