Beautiful work. And to date I’ve got two disks on the stack!

Such an dynamic but elegant looking guitar in the making. That rosette is hands down one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.

...just...WOW!

duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

Thanks Paul, It's a fun build and this Fiddleback Tree wood is very nice mahogany to work with. It's not just all looks!

Why yes you do! Maybe we'll get another little one in there if this uke building works out!

Thanks duff! Cocobolo and Blue Pau abalone are consistently a striking combo. One of my favorites.

Mark

I agree. That rosette is very tasty.

Thanks for commenting Growler!

Mark, what is the tube on that disk cutter? A vacuum?

Ugh.

I just finished my first acoustic build. I am so proud of it.

Then I look at what you are making...............

........so depressing.


You do great work. Your guitars are an inspiration.

Close but, the air is going the other way. It’s attached to a little air pump and helps blow sawdust out of the way so you can see and it doesn’t build up under the cutter.

Congratulations on finishing your first guitar! I still have my first guitar
Downstairs in the basement
On the rack of shame
If you’d like we could compare your guitar to that one it would likely not be so depressing! :)

Guitars are hard to make and all you ever see are the mistakes you made while building them. You just get better at seeing your mistakes as you get better.
That probably doesn’t sound encouraging. It is an addictive habit. I wish you all the best!
Mark

Does this mean we could see a thread of your very first guitar??
Im sure there would be huge interest in that post!!

I have a few pictures but, I have been making guitars much longer than I have been taking pictures of guitars :). I’ll admit I’m not real eager to take pictures of anything that’s down in the basement on my rack of shame!

Mark

How about we generate a single anonymous account for all of the master luthiers to use. Only the moderators would know who has access to the account name and password.
All of the the luthiers show photos of their first build, and the rest of the community tries to guess which guitar belongs to which luthier??!!
We could call it the AGF Hall of Shfame!!!:D:D

:) Sounds like a tough thing to sell Zandit75!

Haha, was worth a try!![emoji1787]

Braces and More
 

I've selected billets, split out the wood for braces, measured, sorted, profiled, and matched the brace blanks for the guitar. Here is a picture of the back with the bracing being glued up:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4818/...0d8538f0_c.jpg

On another note: For delivery next year I am building another "Tree" guitar. This is a custom order and we've been discussing which wood to use for the top. We started with Swiss Moon Spruce and have recently been discussing Redwood. Either wood can work great for making a wonderful sounding "tree" guitar. We're exploring the various looks of Redwoods to see if we can find a nice match and strong visual appeal but, too much figure in the Redwood could easily conflict with all the "tree" figure. So we're looking for the Goldielocks Redwood top.

I found a well quarter sawn Redwood board that is 2" thick and big enough to cut maybe 8 top sets from. It is has some curl and one side has some wonderful black grain lines. The other side is pretty clean but, still some curl. I'm thinking we'll get quite a variety of matched tops and I'm hopeful the perfect top is in there somewhere.

Here is one of the billets:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7927/...67154ef2_c.jpg

I think it kind of looks like Koa:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7858/...703a2a04_c.jpg

Super tight grain as well:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4830/...6494c4e3_c.jpg

The re-sawing went very well. The center slices are pretty moist so I'm stickering it all for a couple weeks before making any judgements:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4914/...ef5e11f0_b.jpg

Lots and lots of sticks in this stickering process!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4824/...18cd3dec_c.jpg

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Fiddleback Rosette and back
 

Here is a picture show the Fiddleback guitars rosette, logo, and back together:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7906/...cf8a93a5_c.jpg

That looks to be some really nice redwood, Mark.

And that rosette looks alive! The shell and coco are an amazing combination there...

Thanks Nemoman, I have high hopes. The original board felt pretty lightweight to begin with. Finding out it was still pretty wet means it will even be lighter when it reaches the proper moisture level.

I love the spalting on the logo, Mark!

A lovely build Mark, I so enjoyed the Woodsman model. You're photography portrays the project and your mastery so well.
Thank you from an aspiring luthier.

Thanks Erithon, that’s a spalted Maple piece. I got a nice block of it from a retiring luthier awhile back. You’ll see more of it in coming builds.

You’re welcome amohr. I enjoy the photography part of guitar building. Guitars make wonderful subjects, they hold so still (hopefully) :)
Thanks for commenting!
Mark

Bending and gluing
 

With the heavily figured sides of this Fiddle Tree Greta I am going with laminated sides for strength and a clean bend. I bought an upgrade to my oven thermometer for monitoring and controlling temps:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4890/...3c905baa_c.jpg

And then it gets laminated:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4909/...22cf683e_c.jpg

And the other side. I'm also gluing up the neck while I'm at it:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7908/...42932b59_c.jpg

Joining sides
 

Here is an update on the Fiddleback tree guitar I'm working on. The sides laminates are all set and I am joining them and setting up to close the body:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7806/...ff036f00_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7842/...8be9c1ac_c.jpg

Here the Spanish Cedar kerfing and the Spanish Cedar arm bevel support are being glued:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7873/...e9a919ef_c.jpg

Meanwhile, I am moving along on the neck. The center laminate on the neck is the same wood and layout as the back center graft:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7862/...d19b7c06_c.jpg

I have another guitar started up which I haven't been posting on. It's cedar on Koa. I'm proud of how the rosette came out so I thought I'd post a peek:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7926/...0862d4c3_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7913/...14fe1ccf_c.jpg

The rosette center is Amboyna Burl and the radial purfling is bacon figured African Padauk.

Mark! This is something special. The colors and the patterns in that burl are lovely, and the way you employed that same burl for the maker's brand is very creative. I think this is the best executed burl rosette I've ever seen.

Wow--another gorgeous rosette, Mark!

And the neck and the back of the fiddleback go together so well--very nice!

Count me in for what it is worth as another lover of that rosette. That is really special.

[QUOTE=Mark Hatcher;5936436]Happy New Year everyone! I'm starting this year out with a Greta grand auditorium. This is a custom build with some wonderful woods. The back and sides are Honduran Mahogany from the "Fiddleback Tree".


Wow! The fiddle doesn't get any better than that. This is gorgeous!

Thanks Nemoman, That Amboyna burl is beautiful and it also has a wonderful fragrance when sanded. A joy to work with.

Thanks Tom, I appreciate it!

Thanks! It is! It is also remarkable cooperative to work with too!

Thanks for the comments!
Mark

I think the view from the back of the completed guitar is going to look really nice!

Yes, A+ on that rosette!

What Erithon said!
 

My fave burl rosette ever. NICE stuff

Paul