Two New Edwinson Guitars

theEdwinson · #1 11-10-2013, 08:49 PM

Hi, everybody!
For several years now, I've been participating here on the AGF with the username, "Cminor7sus4", which is a nonsense chord that MANY people have told me does not exist. Picking this as a username was actually my lame attempt at ironic humor. Quite a few times, people asked what I meant by that; a couple of folks actually seemed a little offended.

So today, I finally requested that the AGF Administrator allow me to change my username to something a little less obtuse. They graciously allowed the change, so hereafter, I will be posting under the username, "theEdwinson".

The origin of my brand name is that I am, in fact, the son of Edwin. My Dad, Edwin Sheriff, is a genius of Fine Woodworking, now retired. The name is an homage to him.

And since I'm here now, I thought I'd like to share some photos of my most recent guitar work. The first one is a Zephyr 00 Florentine Multiscale. The back and sides are some outrageously quilted Sapele that I bought from Michael Gurian in Seattle in 2010. The top is Red Cedar which I got from my Alaskan supplier. It has lush silk, and some light bearclaw figure.

The scale spread on this guitar is 25- 25.75". The perpendicular fret is number 9. I've found this configuration to be very comfortable and ergonomic. You don't even have to think about adjusting your playing style from a standard uni-scale.
I play about 80% in D- and C- based open tunings, and that's pretty much what I designed this guitar for; although I had it tuned to standard for the first week or so, and it sounds and feels great there, too.

I actually started this build back in 2011. This was going to be my personal guitar. But it got sidetracked by some custom builds I had going at the time. I got as far as getting the sound box built and bound, but then I put the box in a case and stowed it away, out of sight, while I worked on some commissioned instruments. I almost forgot about it, until last year, when I moved from Seattle to Birmingham.
Then, I got the idea that I might finish this guitar and take it to Healdsburg this year. But I had too much on my plate to fit it into the production schedule. A couple of months ago, I decided to quit procrastinating, and get this guitar done.
I named this guitar "Cinnamon Girl" for obvious reasons. Here's how she looked on her birthday, September 28, 2013:

theEdwinson · #2 11-10-2013, 09:14 PM

Cinnamon Girl has a very interesting sound. This is a 00-sized guitar, so there's that distinctive small-box vibe, but it's fairly loud, especially for the small size, and it has a lot of sustain. It's also very balanced from low to mid to high, with maybe a little extra in the midrange. Optimized for lively fingerstyle playing, the voice has a great dynamic range, especially if you play with nails or fingerpicks. The guitar is very lightly constructed, and even with double sides, it almost floats away if you don't hold onto it...

The other woods are: Pau Ferro fingerboard, front and back headstock plates, and bindings. The top, fingerboard, and front headstock purflings are Brazilian Canary wood. The neck shaft is American Cherry. The rosette is Pau Ferro, Canary, and dyed veneer lines. The bridge is an Element-style, Brazilian Rosewood. The saddle is 3/16" wide fully intonated bone.

The fret position inlays are copper-encircled black MOP. The width @ nut is 1 3/4; width @ neck/ body joint is 2 3/16", and the string spread @ saddle is 2 1/4". The frets are EVO gold, my favorite fret wire. The neck is a slim, fast C-carve. This is a very comfortable guitar to hold and play.

I'll return shortly to show you the other guitar. Thanks for looking!

Larry Pattis · #3 11-10-2013, 09:18 PM

Excellent.

ukejon · #4 11-10-2013, 09:21 PM

Wow, these are fantastic looking guitars.

nacluth · #5 11-10-2013, 09:32 PM

As usual, nice looking stuff!

Jim.S · #6 11-10-2013, 10:07 PM

Nice work Steve. I like the rosette with that figured back because, even though "quilt" is the usual description I would like to re-name it Ocean Figured.

Jim

Bluedog Guitars · #7 11-10-2013, 10:38 PM

Gorgeous work Steve, and great to see another Zephyr in your quiver. This will definitely be one for "chasing the moonlight".

Paul

theEdwinson · #8 11-10-2013, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim.S

Nice work Steve. I like the rosette with that figured back because, even though "quilt" is the usual description I would like to re-name it Ocean Figured.

Jim

I'll second that, Jim. It does look a lot more like ocean waves. If it were a quilt, it would be a mighty lumpy one.

theEdwinson · #9 11-10-2013, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluedog Guitars

Gorgeous work Steve, and great to see another Zephyr in your quiver. This will definitely be one for "chasing the moonlight".

Paul

Paul! It's been way too long since we've talked. I'll rectify that in the next little while.
I'm glad to hear you guys are really mixing up the Vancouver guitar scene with your many fine instruments. Bluedog is a destination point now, it's where guitars go to arrive!... I sure wish I could come out for a visit. Be well.
Hi to Jenn!
Steve

doodahdoug · #10 11-11-2013, 05:50 AM

Beautiful work Steve, as usual. Looking forward to seeing your other new guitar as well.

KevinLPederson · #11 11-11-2013, 06:30 AM

Steve - yes very great work. And it was nice to talk to you in Healdsburg. I really like the quilted sapele, almost looks like the 'tree' stuff. Has that same hue to it. Beautiful stuff. I also like the 'bear claw' cedar. Looking forward to seeing more.

Kevin.

theEdwinson · #12 11-11-2013, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ukejon

Wow, these are fantastic looking guitars.

Hey, thanks for the kind words, Ukejon. And thanks for the link to your YouTube posts. I really like the way you play-- very emotionally evocative, great sense of melody and phrasing. The 70's Sigma brings back memories too. I had one like it for a little while, and it was quite a sweet guitar.

theEdwinson · #13 11-11-2013, 12:25 PM

...And now for the other guitar I mentioned. This one was also kept off the radar screen. This is my 80th guitar, a second-generation EP Performance Florentine model. I was supposed to be working on my new website last month, and believe me, I tried to stick to it. But I wound up spending the majority of my time in the shop, building this guitar. I just couldn't tear myself away from it.

I finished spraying the final top coats of lacquer last Wednesday, and the first round of wet-sanding is done. Now, I'm letting the finish harden up for a couple weeks, before the rest of the sanding, buffing, polishing, final assembly, and setup. Should be done around Thanksgiving. Here are some photos of the guitar, before the lacquer process:

This is a very comfortable shape. I'd like to point out one of my design features here. The body depth is the same at the neck joint and the bottom of the lower bout-- in this case, 4" deep-- and it tapers wider in the waist area. The waist is 4 5/16" deep. Two main reasons for this: I believe it's not necessary to have a deep lower bout to get a lot of volume and bass response out of a guitar. Tapering a tad thinner toward the lower bout, IMO, helps the forward projection of sound waves, rather than creating muffled, or boomy-sounding standing waves inside the box. And second, a shallower lower bout is much easier on the right arm and shoulder. Couple that with a beveled armrest, and you have a very ergonomic guitar shape.

The EP is my largest guitar model-- basically a SJ or GA size, 16 3/16" wide in the lower bout. But it really doesn't feel like a big guitar when you're playing it.

The back and sides are Red Gum. I like working with alternative tonewoods, and this wood was a pleasure to use. It is about as hard and dense as Honduran Mahogany, but with much tighter pores. It has a surprisingly lively and sustaining tap tone, also much like Mahogany. I think the figure is quite pretty too-- similar to landscape- or cloud-figure Black Limba, but with warm, tan, pink, brown, and reddish hues.
The sides are doubled, with quarter-sawn Ipe inner sides.

theEdwinson · #14 11-11-2013, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinLPederson

Steve - yes very great work. And it was nice to talk to you in Healdsburg. I really like the quilted sapele, almost looks like the 'tree' stuff. Has that same hue to it. Beautiful stuff. I also like the 'bear claw' cedar. Looking forward to seeing more.

Kevin.

Hey, Kevin,
As you know, I was completely blown away when I saw your guitars up close at the Healdsburg in August. You have set the Art and Craftsmanship bars way too high for me to ever reach.
A couple of days ago, I was visiting the Dream Guitars website, and saw one of those amazing instruments there. I watched the video of Al Petteway playing it, and sure enough, it sounds as good as it looks. May I refer other AGFers to this link?
http://www.dreamguitars.com/detail/3...ied_sj_113313/
All RESPECT to you, sir!
Steve

Deft Tungsman · #15 11-11-2013, 12:47 PM

Beautiful guitars!! That red gum swirls like the storms of Jupiter!! Otherworldly, indeed.