Official Luthiers Forum!

I wanted to tell everyone about my friend Steve Spodaryk's great Stauffer styled guitars, which are now completed and are on display at the Music Emporium in Boston. Follow this link to the Emporium to see these outstanding and unusual instruments. Congrats on the beautiful work Steve!

There are actually 2 guitars of Steve's on the site.
One is here.
The other is here.


Don Williams38757.7687384259

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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."

Wow he sure does some nice looking work.   

Let me just say that's a really nice guitar! Wow, Steve, that is extremely impressive.


I should probably try and get myself to an NEL meeting one of these days and meet some of the very talented people in New England.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

I was just looking at that yesterday on Steve's website. Very, very impressive!

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

Don, I saw Steve's Stauffer with the "Vienna" headstock at the last NEL meeting. It made quite an impression. I think Julius was particularly impressed with the finish as well. Incredibly meticulous work. Nice job Steve if your out there! You have inspired us all!

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

Just as impressive is the case. WOW!!!

Very nice.

Very impressive work!



Serge Serge Poirier38757.9719328704

Impressive indeed!

did you guys see the $16000 Fox?

nice...

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Wow...I didn't see the cases when I last saw the guitars...they're something else! Bookmatched wood even!

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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."

Don didn't Steve have one of those at ASIA last June?
Beautiful work. Even the case is gorgeous.Bobc38757.7781365741

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Nice work, Steve! I especially like the cedar/maple.

Several people on the OLF have been seeking cases to fit their custom/non-standard guitar sizes recently, and I had the thought of buying an oversize case and making my own padding additions to make a custom fit, using an appropriate material covering and some velcro to make the attachment to the interior. It looks like you already know how make an interior--could you share your procedure and materials with us? Any photos of the process would be appreciated, too. TIA.

Thanks guys - you're embarassing me! I did have those with me last summer. They took me forever to finish - but they did turn out nicely. I've started a few more, so I'm really hoping there is a market for this kind of work. It might just be a very expensive experiment for me.

Carlton,

The cases were a bit of an adventure. I wanted to farm them out, but (understandably) nobody wanted to tackle them. I wish I had documented the process, but I didn't think of it at the time. I received some good advice from Al Carruth and it made a world of difference.

The wooden box is straightforward. The interior took some guesswork and trial and error. The material is velvet. One trick is no loose edges anywhere - all the material is folded over and hemmed - either with the iron on hem tape or Arlene's Tacky Glue. This glue was perfect for this kind of work and every craft store seems to carry it.

Where you see padding (back, bridge, neck, sides), it's soft (but thick) poly-fill crib bumper batting. The form fitting area around the body was the biggest challenge. I definitely struggled with a way to make it look clean, and provide enough protection.

Basically, the "form" is 2" pink polystyrene insulation, laminated and bandsawn to shape, leaving about 3/8" for the padding. I glued velvet to the inside face and stretched it over the top and onto the backside. I then wrapped a long strip of batting in velvet and glued this to the inside of the form. The whole thing was then glued to the wooden case sides.

I think this will make sense looking at the picture. The batting compresses slightly giving it a firm, but comfortable slip fit. The cases obviously aren't Calton protection, but do what they were intended to do.

The first interior seemed to take days, and the second was most of a day. The velvet was offcuts from a local store for $10/yard. Normally more like $25-30, probably way cheaper online. The royal purple is my favorite.

Given the amount of time and energy I put into the guitars, it seemed fitting to have a "period" case as well. I'm sure I've built entire guitars in less time. If the demand is there I would definitely consider doing it again - but it sure is nice to pick up the phone and order a case!

Steve

Thanks, Steve! I think you've given me just the information I needed. Making a full case is REALLY difficult--probably why most luthiers don't do it--and custom-built cases are prohibitively expensive for many of us; but modifying a good store-bought seems within reach for the financially impaired. By the way, I took another look at your cases, and man, that is really impressive work!