Official Luthiers Forum!

I know I'm starting a few months late, but I hope I can finish in time. This will be my 2nd guitar. (Technically, I built half a guitar in my friend's shop as my first, but since it's more of a drum at this point, I won't count it.) I finished my first guitar last November. I didn't have much woodworking experience, and I messed up every step of the process, but somehow I managed to fix or disguise most of my blunders and make a guitar that I actually like! Since I haven't done much on this guitar yet, I'll post some pics of my first build. I'll probably stick to the same basic design, but with different wood, and hopefully, fewer mistakes.

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https://www.facebook.com/lee.nunes.35

Redwood/E.I. Rosewood and about 20 other woods.

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https://www.facebook.com/lee.nunes.35

The sunburst neck was a last minute decision, because I botched the heel carving really badly, and needed to plane it down and glue some extra mahogany wings to the heel. I wasn't planning to do a burst, but I needed to hide the glue joint. I French Polished everything except the neck. I used a $10 Harbor Freight airbrush and added black powdered dye to the shellac I used for the rest of the guitar. I've never done any finishing before, and I didn't have any spray equipment, so French Polishing seemed like a decent option. I knew it would be labor-intensive, but had no idea just how out of shape I really was until I tried it!

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https://www.facebook.com/lee.nunes.35

Lee my friend, you are *not* a great photographer, but I know that this is a nice guitar! Can't wait to see what you do for #2.

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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 Don. I agree wholeheartedly! I should probably invest in a camera that doesn't make phone calls.


Here's a little video sample of my friend Ken playing it. It's a little out of tune, and was recorded on my phone (see above), but you can tell that it kinda sounds like a guitar.

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https://www.facebook.com/lee.nunes.35

I really like the binding, headstock and rosette, congrats!

Really nice first guitar. Can't wait to see your second!

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Thanks, Peter and Mad Raxz. I'm anxious to hear it as well. The binding on the last one gave me some issues. I cut them from a piece of Cocobolo that I had. I don't know if it was the oil in the wood or a bad job of chiseling out the binding channel (fun!), but I had a really hard time getting the glue to hold without gaps.

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https://www.facebook.com/lee.nunes.35

Looking forward to seeing you work. That first guitar is impressive.

I've got some catching up to do, but I'm making progress. I have a couple of spots in the rosette that need fixing, but I like it so far.

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https://www.facebook.com/lee.nunes.35