Official Luthiers Forum!

My latest Archtop ...

17” x 3-1/8” deep
25-1/4” scale
Sitka top from Brent Cole at Alaska Specialty Wood
Honduran mahogany back sides and neck
Gabon ebony Fretboard ,bridge, bindingpickguard and head veneers
Kent Armstrong custom pickup
Gotoh tuners
Nitro finish




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Yowzaa!!

Pretty! (but I think you need to gloss up the pick guard to make it match)

Wow!

Stunning

Very nice! I like the smooth gradual sunburst. I also like the pickguard as is. It has more character than a straight glossy black guard.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Very nice!

With that Mahogany body and solid wood construction with a floating KA better make some F hole plugs for it. It will probably feed back quite a bit. That was my experience with the one Mahogany archtop I made.

BTW the $5 flip flops at Target yield great material for F hole plugs.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Very nicely done!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Fabulous!!

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

That's real purty!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Really beautiful. The ‘burst just blows me away!!! Thanks for sharing.


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I like the color variation in the pick guard, I just think it needs to be gloss to match the glossy finish everywhere else

Brad

Just lovely. I like the pickgurd the way it is.

Ed

Thanks for all the kind words!

Yes, always a battle with the Archtops.

I have done it both ways- on this one I like the natural finish on the board, bridge truss rod cover and pickguard...

Very nice. I've never actually SEEN an arch top, but I'm making one; my first real guitar. I made violins before I actually held a real one too. You'd think that I'd learn. It does make my work come out very "original." My wife says that I should get a vanity plate that reads: YBNRML

The shiny bowling ball finish is FAR different from what violins are, but even then, most new violins are pretty smooth. Way smoother than mine. If I get it anywheres near as nice as this I'd be really happy. It has very clean look. That will be a real switch for me! Lots of ideas there. Like the treatment at the heel, and at the head on the neck. I'm just working and figuring out as I go. I've never done bindings and that sort of thing; but I do have lots of ideas about them. Are they just to cover up joints and end grain, and at the same time bring something more to the table?

Gluing the back on, and cutting the neck dovetail now. Been busy and it's going slow. Retiring the end of June. Will have time then.

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Why be normal?

That is rad bro!!


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