Sam Guidry guitars SBAIC PRESENTATION: "The Beam"
 

For my offering I will be displaying at the Santa Barbara guitar show I have chosen a set of Brazilian rosewood that I had resawn from a board that was salvaged from a basement of a house. The oustside of the board was pitch black with no grain features discernible. When I cut into it, the air was filled with the familiar smell of roses and tobacco mixed with an even stronger smell of a musty basement that reminded me of my grandparents' farmhouse cellar. This was easily the most pungent rosewood I've ever encountered. I was able to get five slices from this board roughly 5 inches wide by 36 inches long. The coloration ranged from a dark chocolate on one side to brick red on the opposite end. The pieces would have been too narrow for a back but fortunately I was able to graft "wings" from the upper portion of the slice to the lower section and make it wide enough to squeeze a back out of the slices. Thankfully the color match is so perfect and the grain so straight, the seams are virtually invisible. Some may not like the match of the back to the sides but I am really loving the natural color variation on a true flitch match set of back and sides.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4251/3...379ff535_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr

Looks really cool Sam. I know that musty basement smell, and wood seems to pick it up so easily. But it will all come up smelling like roses when you're done with this one.

Sam,
I have a large lot of heart pine timbers that I salvaged from a house that was built in 1875. When cut into, the smell is intoxicating...resinous, musty, and most definitely a smell that you can't replicate without the 150 years that it took to acquire. I'd love to experience the smell of your BrazRW based on my experience with the heart pine.
And it's also beautiful, BTW 😉

Looks killer, just think, it sat there, alone and abandoned in the basement for god knows how long, waiting for someone to come save it, and then you came, and now it's in a big show and will have super sweet suit {finish}that will last a long time....nice.

I spend my spare time making things from savaged materials and love to see something new come out of something many others would happily throw away - it adds character.

To slice it thinly for guitar sides and back in this way makes it more visible and more magical.

Frasier Crane described his decor as 'Eclectic', if you have fine pieces it doesn't matter if they match, they will go together. These are very fine pieces indeed and should go together perfectly.

I recently spent a week in East Stroudsburg PA where I gave a lecture at the A.S.I.A. symposium on guitar binding and perfling work. It put me a little further behind, but it was an honor and well worth the trip. I've been back in the shop for a couple of weeks and I have had a chance to get some more work done on The Beam guitar.
I will often visualize guitar designs right before I fall asleep. It is one way I think of new directions for myself. The image of black and white lines came to mind one night and I knew what I would do for the rosette on this guitar
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4229/3...dd7d79f2_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4217/3...3539d2b6_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr

I wish I could have smelled it. Beautiful Braz. Cant wait to see more pics.

As a matter of fact, I am in the process of making a cologne from the dust of the rosewood!

Geez -- that rosette is gorgeous. I get so sick and tired of shell-decorated, hyper-blingfest guitars that seeing something that is really eye grabbing because of its design, rather than because of the application of foreign materials, is wonderful! Others might have used abalone between the black lines, etc. -- the see clean wood instead is just great. Love it.

I love black and white build pictures. They seem to have an art house feel to them. I have made a fair amount of progress, the top is glued to the sides and the fret board is glued to the neck. Ill be voicing the top tomorrow and am planning on trying to video that process, but in the mean time enjoy some guitar noir
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4231/3...f66eb08f_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4259/3...9eb63a0f_z.jpgUntitled by sam guidry, on Flickr

Such a COOL set of wood, and your rosette is one of my favorites I've ever seen, really dig it...!

Lookin' good as always Sam!

I finally put the video together of the voicing of the top. Its pretty dry, no accompanying audio, just the sound of the top. I thought about adding narration, but then I didn't want to start a debate, just to show what I do in a fly on the wall type of perspective. If you have the patience to make it to the end, you can notice how the top changes from the start of the process to the end.
https://youtu.be/kKcEsHew-P8
(Headphones are recommended)

Thanks for sharing Sam...:up:

I'm not so abig fan of BR, but this seems to become a real beauty :) congrats to the builder and the prospective owner...:) after studying your website I'm quite sure, that this guitar sound even better than she looks :)