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I've only built one, so I guess that'll be my fave so far. Although the baritone that's been lying around waiting for binding is alos looking might nice...

Mattia Valente38371.2004976852

Can I cheat and say that of the guitars that I have built my favourite to date, or should I say the one I'm most proud of is a lute! The soundhole rose was an enormous challenge to carve and took me every evening for over two months. The whole lute was made using only hand tool, how I missed by router when it came to cutting the binding channel! The back slats are from a 1000+ year old English Yew that blew over in a storm in 1987, the soundboard is a piece of 90 year old European spruce and the fingerboard and frets are hornbeam that I got from a hedge. One of my friends asked me how I could call myself a luthier if I hadn't built a lute? The pic of the rose doesn't show the correct colour, the shadows of the strings and red cast are from the flash the true colour of the top is seen in the fingerboard pic.







Someone mentioned Koa, here's a pic of my latest OOO.



Colin

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

My oh My, how I do love Koa and Acacia from down under. Your sound hole carvings are incredible. I throw that part of the guitar away. Or rather make coasters out of 'em. I'll have to say.... there's no comparison to the effect your exquisite carving lends... Dickey38371.3646064815

Is that your own design? Very nice!

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

Thanks! Yes, it's my own design, my take on a grand auditorium. Pretty good all-rounder, I feel.

Forgot about this one.
Its also a fav, kinda like your kids, cant just have one favorite

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Man... there is some beautiful koa in this thread.

I'd have to say I am always in love with whichever guitar I happen to be making at the time. I recently sold a guitar which I was FINALLY making for myself, which is my recent favorite. Its a smaller bodied guitar, based on an 1860 Torres (catalog number FE13), though it differs aesthetically.

Sorry if the pictures are too big, but they're on my server should they should be pretty fast.




Regards,
Joshua A. French

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Very Very Nice ! Joshua. How does it sound. The top looks like it is curly spruce? Very striking at any rate. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks a lot Ron. The soundboard is Alpine Spruce cut and air dried by a friend of mine in Austria - it has a lot of bearclaw to it. Its hard to photograph the figure in it, but it has a beautiful 3-dimensional look to it.

The owner is quite happy with it, and reports back that it has a "luscious elegance" and "far, far surpasses [his] greatest expectations". He's had her a week as of today, but made a journey from Memphis to Houston to see and play her before I began the french polish.

To me, the sound was refined, even, and deep with a lot of complexity. She is a very expressive guitar with a lot of color in the tone, and possesses a lot of clarity. For a classical guitar, clarity and expressiveness are the two most important factors for me.

Best wishes,
Joshua

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I thought I had see massive bearclaw before. I have to say now that I was sadly mistaken. Absolutely awwww-some

Joshua,

Fabulous guitar! Looks like cocobolo on the back and sides? I agree with Michael, that is some serious bear-claw on that top.

Where did you get the plans for that guitar?

Jeff

Thanks for the replies.

Jeff - actually its some very old Brazilian Rosewood I got from a friend of mine who is obsessed with the stuff (and reasonably so). He obtained it in log form, if i remember correctly. It does appear quite reddish in the picture, and seems somewhat similar to cocobolo until you handle it and work with it.

I've got tracings laying around here of some various Torres', including La Leona and the first one Tarrega owned. The one I based this guitar on though is FE13, and was at one time owned by Hauser Sr. The original is a few miles away from a friend of mine in Germany who as a guitar maker has been quite influential to me. I got much of the information from him, including thicknesses.

I've gotten to see and hear a few original Torres instruments, and to my ear they're impossible to beat. They're truly unique and great sounding guitars...

Best wishes,
Joshua

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I love that top

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Beautiful Guitar Joshua, I'm sorry you didn't get to keep it...

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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."

Man, oh man, what one can miss if a thread is not visited! The site still loads quite slowly on my po' old dial up, so I'm always running out of time to view things. Revisited this thread and saw some jaw-dropping stuff. Joshua, that is one stunning guitar! I know the owner must be thrilled. And Colin, what can I say about that carved rose? Other than: That is the most delicate carving I've ever seen. Perhaps the most beautiful as well. As you would say on the other side of the pond, "Brilliant"!
Thanks for the inspiration, guys. Makes me want to work better.
Steve
P.S.--Joshua, are you located in Houston?

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks a lot Steve. I was originally making it for myself, but I've since introduced a new rosette design and am making myself one from the first of that rosette instead. Consequently, I've already completed a 3 more with the new rosette, and haven't even braced the top for mine. One day though...

Yep, I live in good ol' H-town. I see in your bio you're from East Texas - whereabouts?

Best wishes,
Joshua

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

We're in Nacogdoches, known as "the oldest town in Texas". Located on the old Camino Real, the first stop in Texas settlement. However, I've met Texans that have not heard of it, and don't know we're here. Unlike Houston, we suffer from a lack of name recognition. No one says "Nacogdoches, we have a problem". Well, other than my wife....

We should talk shop some time--better yet, you should come to a LINT meeting! www.lint.org

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Gosh thanks Steve, you've got me blushing now. That Lute rose was an incredible challenge and took more than a couple of months to do, one slip of the scalpel and mistakes can't be rectified. It's the sort of thing that only an amateur could do as a one off, professional Luthiers would find it impossible to charge a commercial price for the work. But of course with more experience speed would develop. I'm actually just about finishing a more complex rose for my second lute, based on the old Celtic/Norse knot patterns. When I have it finished I'll post a picture, it's a great project to fit in while glue or finish is drying on a guitar.

Colin

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

"One slip of the scalpel..." I bet that the further you went, the more careful you became? I always do my slips right toward the end of a project. I can see the scalpel poised over the last cut, and you're thinking "this is it--one slip and it's all for naught". But it worked.
By the way--is that your own design?

SteveSteve Kinnaird38378.5544907407

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve,

It's a variation of a traditional design which I took from a lute in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Oh yes, the nearer you get to the end the more careful you become. Like everything else though in the woodworking game very sharp tools is the secret, I used a new surgical scalpel blade every hour or so.

If you liked that one wait till you see the next one finished!

Colin

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