Shane Briggs Commission

[colins]

Man, that is a nice set of blackwood !

[Kitbuqa]

Hey Colin, did you get a chance to go to the guitar makers festival?

[Kitbuqa]

Here are pics of the back inlay being worked on.

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

[colins]

Originally Posted by Kitbuqa

Hey Colin, did you get a chance to go to the guitar makers festival?

I did. I had to work all weekend to meet a really annoying Monday deadline, but the good news is I got to the festival for half an hour and picked up my new guitar by Laurie Williams in......Tassie Blackwood! I have been admiring it all week , which is why I am enjoying seeing your blackwood guitar come together. It is such a stunning wood; I think we are both really lucky.

Wish I had more time at the festival as it would have been nice to see Shane's stuff, and Jim Cargill was there too - his guitars are great.

Cheers
Col

[Kitbuqa]

1) Tidying up the sound port and the sides

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr


2) Installing the centre back braces

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

3) Installing the lateral back braces

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

4) The back cleaned up and attached

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

5) It's a box!

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

6) Binding options

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

[mikealpine]

Originally Posted by colins

Man, that is a nice set of blackwood !

It's absolutely gorgeous!

[Kitbuqa]

1) Putting the bindings on

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

2) Wrapping it all up

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

3) Really love this shape!

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

4) Purfling

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

5) Prettiest butt you've ever seen

Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr

[David Wren]

Absolutely exquisite Shane!

[Kitbuqa]

A nice simple ebony end-graft so as to not detract too much from the figured blackwood. Some of you will notice the pronounced arch on the top and the back - not too dissimilar to Stefan Sobell's. In fact, Sobell is one Shane's influences.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

Scheme for headstock - Ebony with pin striping.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

Figured Blackwood in the sunlight - hasn't been french polished with shellac yet

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[colins]

Looking really nice! And Tassy blackwood looks even better in real life (almost three dimensional) so you are getting a phenomenal guitar.

What is the wood for the purfling?

Col

[Kitbuqa]

Thanks mate! Even Shane says the same thing!

There's a nice metallic sheen embedded in its appearance!

Wood for purfling is a combination of ebony, blackwood, white and black veneer - kind of like a pin striping detail.

[Kitbuqa]

Here's the exciting part (second last exciting part)!

The neck.

Shane uses a bolt on neck into the body (which was my preference as well) as well as running two carbon rods down the length of the neck.

Here he is routing another part of the neck that connects to the body.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

Routed out.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

Fitting the block in.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

Ruminating on the future.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

Next part is clamping down the head plate onto the headstock

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

Here's what it looks like!

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

And a backstrap too!

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Kitbuqa]

Here's the guitar enjoying some vitamin D in wine growing country.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

And quick look at the Blackwood neck. It took Shane awhile to find the right piece, apparently, Blackwood is not as stable as the well seasoned Mahogany he has. I would've been happy switching to the Mahogany, but he found the right piece - stability-wise - and not just aesthetics wise.

[IMG]Untitled by Imperialsilk, on Flickr[/IMG]

[swiftz07]

Thanks for sharing this build it really looks amazing! Perhaps the best set of aussie Blackwood I've seen, and an equally stunning neck to boot

[Kitbuqa]

Thanks Swiftz!

This will be my first non-rosewood commission ever so I'm looking forward to a different sound. From your siggy, it looks like you got some killer guitars too!

I've played Sitka and Engelmann spruce tops, Im keen to hear what its 'flavour' is.