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Finished beginning of October but I wanted to have sound samples before
posting. Most of it came from a kit provided by John Hall: pre-carved
Martin neck and sides/bindings already bent. It's a 000/12fret body with
a 26.5" scale neck. Sitka top, EIR back and sides, Honduran Rosewood
fingerboard and bridge (from Bob Cefalu), mahogany neck, koa bindings
and butt end, Brazilian headplate, jumbo frets, ebony pins, bone nut and
saddle, Tortis guard, 4:1 banjo tuners, shellac finish. I built it extremely
light, the plates are really thin, braces are very scalloped as well. It's
holding well so far but might be at the limit of structural integrity. Great
dynamic range and bass response though, above my expectations for
sure. I'm recording my next project with it, short excerpts from 4 new
tunes can be heard at the link below (mp3):

1st build medley

Katie Kennedy plays the cello, I play this guitar:









let me know what you think, criticisms welcome!

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Hey looks great! You should be very proud to have your first build turn out so well.

What kind of tuning pegs are those?

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Laurent nice looking guitar and a good sound (the most important thing!) I like the clean look of the banjo pegs. nice FP finish. What's thr rossette made from?

My only comment for the future would be that it would look better for the pick guard (if you really must use one) to butt up against the outside edge of the rossette.

I wish my first had looked half as good. Great feeling playing your own guitar isn't it?

Colin

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

Wow, that's a beautiful intstrument, first, second, tenth, thirtieth, whatever. Elegant, sleek, clean lines. I like.

Laurent...That's a great looking first effort. Sounds like John Hall addicted another!!

Comments:
- Looks like a 14-fret from the pics. You said it was a 000-12 Fret
- How did you decide on a 26.5" scale?
- Why banjo tuners?
- How thin are the plates?
- Great looking finish. You said shellac...French Polish?

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Laurent, One thing critical I have to say is.......It is not in my stable good job

Looks great! The shellac finish looks kind of dark (I like it), what type of shellac is it?

Is the 12 fret 000 a 14 fret (almost! ) because you used a longer scale than conventionally, and if so, did you adjust the bracing for it?

Good job, congrats!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Very nice!

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Laurent,

It's really lovely with a fabulous finish. I'd be very proud to have that as my first. Love the adaptation of a 12 fret body to a long scale 14 fret join - in essence that's what I did for my baritone design.

Like Colin I'm not a huge fan of pickguards but having seen what some players can do to a guitar without them I see their need. I haven't quite yet found a shape that really appeals to me but the nearest I've got is to take the bottom shape that you have but let the middle and top follow the outside shape of the guitar. This is a pic of a black-card cut-out test that I did recently to give you the idea:



Unfortunately I have no sound on my computer at present(screen gave out and the temporary one is without speakers) but I will get to hear your playing soon when it's fixed.

I wouldn't worry about the top, I suspect you have it on the right side of structural stability - I end up going lighter and lighter on bracing the more I build. Too thin and you would have pretty thin trebles which from your description is not the case. Anyway if it "explodes" your skills will have developed such that re-topping will be a piece of the proverbial.

Looking forward to seeing/hearing number 2.

_________________
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

Beautiful guitar Laurent, both looking and sounding and I love your finish. So much warmth in that you can almost heat your house. And I love your rosette as well. Absolutely great.
Do it again and give us more music John How38705.6787615741

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Laurent, extremely impressive! Not only for a first build, thats an impressive guitar period!
Keep up the good work! You no-doubt have a talent for it!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Very nice Laurent! I'm working on number 15-17 now and mine still don't look that good. Make more!

_________________
Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Thanks to all of you guys for the kind words and comments, it really feels
good! You bet I am already thinking of building other guitars, it will be for
the spring now: there's no heat in my shop (I live in Maine…) and I will
spend the winter recording/producing new music. A childhood friend of
mine already wants me to build him a OMish rosewood or walnut guitar,
and I would like to build a second guitar for myself, an OMish thing with
maybe a shorter 25.75 scale using local woods. I do not intend to do this
commercially though… I have little merit, it is my first build but I have
done a fair number of neck resets, refrets, crack repairs and so on in the
past few years. I also do some carpentry on the side, I just love working
with wood.

[QUOTE=Josh H]
What kind of tuning pegs are those?[/QUOTE]

Those are 4:1 Stew-Mac Five-star banjo pegs with ebony buttons, they're
lighter and smaller than the Waverlies and in my opinion work as good, if
not better.


[QUOTE=Colin S]
What's the rosette made from? My only comment for the future would be
that it would look better for the pick guard (if you really must use one) to
butt up against the outside edge of the rosette.[/QUOTE]

I made the rosette out of leftover BR, IER, koa and BWB thin purfling. To
say the truth it was a Martin top with a plastic rosette that I routed out, I
messed up (the soundhole was misaligned by a hair, but enough to
bother me), so I decided to cut a bigger soundhole and patch up with
what I had, I came up with that… There's a reinforcement under the top
and a koa binding strip to close the soundhole. I also thought a larger
hole would put out more treble, and it did. You're totally right for the PG
but the rosette is so large that it really looked weird on the outside line of
it.


[QUOTE=JJ Donohue]
- Looks like a 14-fret from the pics. You said it was a 000-12 Fret
- How did you decide on a 26.5" scale?
- Why banjo tuners?
- How thin are the plates?
- Great looking finish. You said shellac...French Polish?[/QUOTE]

- The body is a Martin 000/12 fret form factor (with the longer upper
bout), I decided to use a Martin 14 fret neck.
- I use ornkey and DADGAD tunings practically all the time, I wanted
something to give more string tension to the lower strings, but without
drastically changing my left-hand technique, as I would have to on a
baritone. Worked pretty well.
- You can't beat the 4:1 ratio for speed, I change tunings all the time.
- I think around .090 for the back, .080 sides, and maybe .100 for the
middle of the top and probably close to .080/.070 on the edges. I don't
have large calipers, so it's all by ear so to speak…
- I tried to fench-polish and I failed… I applied the shellac with a rag,
many, many coats and wet-sanded.

[QUOTE=Arnt]
Looks great! The shellac finish looks kind of dark (I like it), what type of
shellac is it? Is the 12 fret 000 a 14 fret (almost! ) because you used a
longer scale than conventionally, and if so, did you adjust the bracing for
it?[/QUOTE]

I used Zinsser seal coat dewaxed shellac, it looks really good out of the
can but I mixed some aniline dye with it to make it look a bit more
vintage. The bracing fell exactly in place with the longer scale, I didn't
have to alter the placement although I used a much smalled maple bridge
plate and added a brace behind it, as per Proulx or Kinnaird guitars.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Laurent

Really Stunning Guitar and I love the rosette.

WOW! That's beautiful. Great Job Laurent. You've got a lot of talent if that's your 1st.

   Laurent
   I have to be totally honest , when you first mentioned this project I thought you may be over your head. This is not a project I would have recommend to a beginner. You pulled this off beautifully.
    You sure did prove to me that you did your homework and were very well prepared. Your first sets up very high on my list of clients first guitars.
    The length and complexity of this is outstanding. I would be happy with a result of this grade.
   Thanks for allowing me to be a small part of it. Your work is impecable and of the highest degree.
CONGRATS ON THE INSTRUMENT
OUTSTANDING RESULT
john hall

[QUOTE=laurent] - I tried to fench-polish and I failed… I applied the shellac with a rag,
many, many coats and wet-sanded.

[/QUOTE]

Laurent, if you rubbed the shellac on with a rag, it's as near as makes no differnce French Polish, whatever, you did a good job.

Colin

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

[QUOTE=laurent] I tried to fench-polish and I failed… I applied the shellac with a rag,
many, many coats and wet-sanded.
[/QUOTE]

I hope my successes can match your failures!    With what did you wet-sand the shellac?

[QUOTE=CarltonM]With what did you wet-sand the shellac?[/QUOTE]
When I say I failed with the french-polish it's no exageration, it would have
been much faster applying the shellac with a brush, but this I realized later
while touching up another guitar… I wet sanded through the grades like I
would do nitro, 3M paper I think, 320 to 2000 and then Meguiar #1 and #2
plus a good deal of sweat, I do not have a buffer.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Stunning!

[QUOTE=laurent] [QUOTE=CarltonM]With what did you wet-sand the shellac?[/QUOTE]
I wet sanded through the grades like I
would do nitro, 3M paper I think, 320 to 2000 and then Meguiar #1 and #2
plus a good deal of sweat, I do not have a buffer.[/QUOTE]

But what did you use for the "wet" part? Soap & water--on shellac?! How long did you let the shellac dry before beginning the wet-sanding?CarltonM38706.9504976852

Very pretty...Good job.

I like the overall look and like that the pickguard overlaps part of the rosette as the coloring of the pickguard blends together with the color of the rosette really nicely...

I also like the banjo tuners...they look great and add a bit of interest that will make people look alot closer to see all of the other elements you built into the design.

Well done...now your hooked

[QUOTE=CarltonM] But what did you use for the "wet" part? Soap & water--
on shellac?! How long did you let the shellac dry before beginning the wet-
sanding?[/QUOTE]

I used water and a drop of dish soap (can't remember the brand, Palmolive?),
I think it dried for a week or so but here in Maine it was constant rain the
last week of September so… In any case you can probably wet-sand shellac
a couple of hours after application depending on weather conditions, it
tends to sink in the wood though.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

[QUOTE=laurent] I used water and a drop of dish soap (can't remember the brand, Palmolive?),
I think it dried for a week or so.[/QUOTE]

Very interesting! I would have thought that the water would, at the very least, blush the shellac rather than help you polish it. Obviously, that's not the case! Nice!