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Here are some shots of my most recent build which was a 000 style with Imbuia back/sides, Adirndack top and Snakewood Appointments. Not nearly as nice as some of the stuff I have seen on this forum but I am still learning.












Before you ask - I made this a 7-string based on idea from Martin "McGuinn" guitar and yes I put the G string in the wrong place. Doesnt matter because I do not like the sound of it. Going to replace the bridge and neck - did I mention the airlines cracked the neck last week when they made me gate check it on my way to a business trip. It wasn't three weeks old yet - but maybe meant to be because I was planning on redoing the neck, fingerboard and bridge.

Great sound and came out ok for an amateur. Better than my last one and not as good as my next one if you know what I mean.

I did fall in love with snakewood through the pricess and storing up for my next build.

Wow! That guitar is just Beautiful! I really like the Bridge.

Hi Rich,
You have been holding out on me...really nice workmanship!!
That snakewood is really neat. I love it.

What's the next guitar you are making??

Take care, Walter Kiralla

classy! Great job.

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http://www.mayesluthier.com

Nice job. Gotta love thet snakewood.

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Rich...very nice looking guitar. I really like the snakewood bridge and binding. I am also curious about your opinion of the Imbuya...do you like the workability of the wood and sound of the resulting instrument. I just bought a good little quantity of some nicely figured "thick" boards and will be cutting it into sets soon. You are the first person I've seen to post photos of a finished guitar made from it. I'd really like your feedback and comparison to other woods you've worked with. Will you use it again ? And would you recommend it to others ? Keep up the good work and welcome to the OLF.

Regards, Jeff

Very nice guitar!! Love the snakewood bridge and all. Too bad about the airline screw-up. Beautiful work !

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Clearwater,Fl. 33755

[QUOTE=Brazilwood] Rich...very nice looking guitar. I really like the snakewood bridge and binding. I am also curious about your opinion of the Imbuya...do you like the workability of the wood and sound of the resulting instrument. I just bought a good little quantity of some nicely figured "thick" boards and will be cutting it into sets soon. You are the first person I've seen to post photos of a finished guitar made from it. I'd really like your feedback and comparison to other woods you've worked with. Will you use it again ? And would you recommend it to others ? Keep up the good work and welcome to the OLF.

Regards, Jeff [/QUOTE]

Jeff

Great wood to work with. Sides bent very easy with no problems and refinished nicely also. The sound was absoutly great - now dont know if that was the back/side set or more so relative to the Adirondack top, thicknessa and bracing. The guitar had really nice volume, good base and balanced highs. I was very happy with it and would probably build with this wood again some day. Not sure what to compare it to but I think it worked a little easier than rosewood but not as easy to sand as Mahogany if that helps.

Thanks all: Pretty proud of the body and neck but the fretboard with hand made inlays didnt come out as nice as I would have liked. Tough doing those inlays.

Thanks for the feedback rich. I haven't built any guitars with Imbuya but, I really like the qualities of what I have experienced preparing back/side sets. The smell is really nice too. A very unique wood..I am looking forward to making a guitar with it myself sometime in the not too distant future. And i know what you mean about the fingerboard inlays. Not sure if that is an Ebony or Rosewood fingerboard but, they aren't the most forgiving woods when it comes to inlays. But, the guitar really looks great..and that bridge is "out of this world". Very nice !!

Rich
On the fret board, did you inlay snakwood where most of the time you see dots. (frets 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th etc) That looks really great. It's hard to see on the photos, but it looks like that's what you did.
Awesome looking guitar.
Doug

Rich
Very nice looking guitar. I love the looks of that Imbuia and snakewood. Your package arrived today.

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Great looking guitar with excellent workmanship.

I agree the snakewood bridge looks great, however I don't believe snakewood is the best choice for bridge material. with a density of about 1300kg/m3 compared to about 850kg/m3 for BRW you would have to make the bridge considerable smaller to get it down the the low moving mass of a BRW or IRW bridge. I like Snakewood for headplate and bindings but would stick to BRW for FB and bridge.

Colin

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Very interesting guitar!
I too like the snakewood down the ebony fretboard.

John

[QUOTE=BlueSpirit] Rich
On the fret board, did you inlay snakwood where most of the time you see dots. (frets 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th etc) That looks really great. It's hard to see on the photos, but it looks like that's what you did.
Awesome looking guitar.
Doug[/QUOTE]

Yes, I inlaid the 3rd,5th,7th, etc. Made inlays by cutting up some of the left over snakewood into squares and then cut them diagnal and inserted a piec of abalam purfling. Really reallly hard to get them perfect and will not use same approach in the future. Just too challenging for my patience level.

[QUOTE=ToddStock] Rich,

Very cool.

I'm curious - what bugged you about the McGuinn configuration?

Cheers,

Todd[/QUOTE]

It's just a personal taste issue. I see it much like a 12 string in that you wouldn't use a 12-string for all your music - after a while it gets annoying (to me). Ever got together with a friend who wants to do 12-string on every song? Same here - after you have played it for an hour, it starts to get annoying. That is just my personal taste. I watched McGuinn on an Internet clip and he plays one or two songs, and then switches back to another guitar. It was a good experiment but just not my cup of tea in the end.

Rich, one of these days give a 9 string a try, Gg, bb and ee. not nearly as overwhelming as a 12 string but still provides a sweet unison harmony

[QUOTE=MichaelP] Rich, one of these days give a 9 string a try, Gg, bb and ee. not nearly as overwhelming as a 12 string but still provides a sweet unison harmony[/QUOTE]

For the 7 string I did noting extra for the bracing in terms of worrying about having thicker or higher bracing. Wasn't concerend about the tension from adding one light string. For a 9 string what do you do different for the bracing???

On Om's I go 1/32 wider on my x-brace, and upper transvers brace and two fingers instead of 1, on a dread I would probably do the same, but I have not built a 9 string dread yet. I also make my bridge 1/4" wider and 1/8" deeper, same thicknessMichaelP38622.7059490741