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#1
05-09-2016, 12:00 PM
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The most exciting moment in a luthiers life
A guitar is born with the first set of strings. This is my 50th acoustic guitar and I still get that excited jittery feeling like Frankenstein lifting his victim towards the thunderous lightening
 After 100 hours of work it's the moment of truth.Though after 50 I do get a sense of knowing it's not going to be a dude and, she sure is not! 
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#2
05-09-2016, 12:17 PM
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Congrats on your 50th. I can only imagine how great a feeling that is.
For me, it is the feeling I get every time I pick up my favorite custom built guitar after I haven't played it for a while and hear that tone. BTW, I like that neck cradle - what brand is that? Best, Jayne
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#3
05-09-2016, 01:24 PM
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That's a really fine guitar and a major accomplishment. Congratulations.
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#4
05-09-2016, 03:10 PM
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Congratulations on your milestone. John Greven once told me that the light bulb doesn't really come on until you have ~50 under your belt. I hope that holds true for you as well?
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#5
05-09-2016, 05:35 PM
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Glad she's not a dude.
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#7
05-09-2016, 06:49 PM
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I know what you mean! Once you've completed that first successful instrument, this work kind of gets in your blood. You want to make another, and another, and before you know it, you're designing the rest of your life around making guitars.
I'm about to start my #100, and I'm still as thrilled and stoked as I was in the very beginning. If you have the right sort of temperament and intellect for guitar making, it never gets old. Each successive one, you want to make better, more beautiful, and it really is soul-nourishing work. Another great thing about it is, you are adding a lot of goodness to other peoples' quality of life, when you hand them the guitar made just for them. You're bringing joy and creative potential to people. How many jobs can you say that about? And when you start assembling a collection of nice tonewoods, every time you handle them and look at them, the dream catcher starts swinging and rocking! It's fun to imagine the wonderful guitars you're going to make with them. Congratulations on your #50! Applause! Respect! And best of good fortune with your next fifty guitars! Cheers, Steve
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Edwinson
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#10
05-09-2016, 10:07 PM
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Congratulations, redr!
The moment they're brought up to pitch sure is a great time. I also like hearing them open up the first few hours, then the next few days. Once in a while I get to hear or play them years later when they're in to have damage repaired, a pickup and the like. Then they've really come into their own. The all-too-rare treat is to hear one of my own onstage or on a music CD. It's all good! Pat
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#11
05-09-2016, 10:44 PM
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Congrats on the milestone! Looks like a good one!
I can't say if stringing up is the most exciting part for me. For me it's the first hand-off to someone and the first reaction. Then I know it's done, when I see someone's mouth move like "Wow!" or "Hey!" Then when they look around and notice all the small details and complement or critique. For me the stringing part is an anxious moment, wondering if I braced just enough, wondering if the guitar will fold like a soft taco, wondering if the bridge will hold... I feel relief when all goes to plan but I can't say if it's excitement. Am I crazy? Or alone in this?
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#12
05-10-2016, 06:46 AM
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Thanks for the comments. The neck cradle is just one of those gun stock rests that target shooters use to balance the rifle or something like that. You can pick one up at a shooters supply place.
50 is a milestone and I think Mr. Greven is right in that it is a good metric. My tenth was also a milestone as it was that one that was good enough to actually put up for sale at a reasonable hobbyist price. It took me at least ten guitars for the fit and finish to be good enough. The first ten did at least sound good though and that is why I believe that any well constructed guitar that can be set up with good action is going to sound reasonable good. But it’s true that as you get towards that milestone of 50 you find that you have a better understanding of how and why and what you are doing to dial in a good tone. This was the first dreadnaught I’ve ever built so it was a sort of new adventure and I was a little bit more in the dark on this project but it came out well. Fit and finish has always been a struggle for me and always will be I think. I’ve gone through lacquer, water base and French polish and on this guitar I used an oil based varnish for the first time. I really like how it came out so I may stick with it for a while. The Edwinson you have summed it up in words perfectly, just absolutely perfectly spot on it doesn’t get any better than that explanation of why I, and probably the majority of us who make guitars, do what we do. And yes it is incredible how much a guitar changes within the first few hours and then over the next day or two. This one has already started to come together. I have sold a few locally so I do on occasion get a visit from one of them and it’s true that it’s really a treasured experience to hand one off to someone. What I like even better is when they tell you that they got rid of all their other guitars because they like yours the best: D
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#14
05-10-2016, 07:39 AM
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Congratulations on #50...
I like the simple and graceful use of the gradient, and graduated, semi-circle of circles at the twelfth fret. I also like the way that you bound the soundhole, and then tied it into the rosette design...and reiterated the use in your purfling. Is that Maple used here? How about a picture of the back, and another of the headstock? Joel Teel
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‘17 Two Hands Guitar Co. 000/Concert, Sitka/Brazilian Imbuia ‘17 Two Hands Guitar Co. 0000/Auditorium, Sitka/Indonesian RW ‘93 Taylor 712 (I spent 20 years trying to convince the owner to sell me this guitar) ‘95 Taylor Limited Edition GAWS (I traded my Gibson J-200 for this guitar in ‘95) TWO HANDS GUITARS
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#15
05-10-2016, 11:47 AM
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Yes sure I will try to remember to take a few more pics tonight. The purfled lines are made up of mahogany and birch. The little 'phase of the moon' inlay is such a simple little thing that I did once a very long time ago and for some reason people like it a lot so I kind of hung on to it especially for fretboards that are kept simple over all.
The binding and center rosette are lacewood, back, sides and neck is Honduran Mahogany. The back story on the mahogany is that it comes from the Gurian workshop and was cut in the 1970's before the tragic fire that destroyed his supply. I just so happened to find it on Craig's List being sold by the daughter of a retired luthier who took classes with Gurian. Neat stuff!
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