SOUND CLIP ADDED!!! Ben Wilborn is at it again, Honduran Rosewood/Sitka
 

I met Ben at Woodstock this year, Sunday afternoon, late in the day, grabbed an Indian Rosewood Elliebelle model, gave her a 5 minute go, left some green stuff with Ben, and took her home. She is wonderful and I hope she has grown as found of me as I have of her. I told a buddy how good she was and son of a gun, he got one built for himself haha (aka Woody). Now that Ben has whipped out Mike's BRW/Redwood beauty (hanging in the finish cabinet right now), Ben is starting on my custom. Why you may ask, well hard to say, but it is kinda like potato chips, you just can't eat one. Ben's guitars makes you want another one, so what the heck, we only live once, so AWAY we go.

This is going to be another Elliebelle because I love the size. This one will have a cutaway which the first does not. It will have Honduran Rosewood back and sides. This particular piece of wood, Ben has had in his shop for 10 years waiting for somebody to pull the trigger. He said it is one of if not the best sounding wood in his shop. I don't know why it wasn't used before, but maybe I am the first one to believe him hahaha. I think it will be very pretty under finish, but does not have that wow factor in the raw. Maybe that is why it has sat??? Who knows, it is mine now.

The top is going to be Sitka which was cut over 40 years ago and has been drying and maturing for that long. Ben is crazy about this Sitka. We were originally going to use sinker Redwood, but due to aesthetics and how much Ben loves this Sitka, we are going with it. In a somewhat interesting twist, Ben has some really stiff redwood bracing material that we will be using, again not your normal bracing material, but neither Ben or I could really be considered normal. More on that later.

So I will be posting some pics of the build soon and at the rate of Mike's build, should be posting pics of a finished guitar I would say, next Tuesday at the latest hahaha!

PS. Visit Ben's facebook page if you want (Wilborn guitars) and watch some of his videos he does of his finished guitars. He is a funny guy and a heck of a guitar player (fiddle too I have been told)! I am fairly certain he teamed up with JR on an album and also have seen pics of him playing fiddle for Willie and Waylon at some point in the past. I have been fighting my Bromance for the guy, but he is hard to resist hahahahaha!!!!

I hope you enjoy the build!

Honduran Rosewood back and sides:

Attachment 4356


Close up:


Attachment 4357

This is going to be a fun one to watch, Tom!

Love the red-orange coloring in the Honduran--pretty stuff.

Are you sure he can't finish it by Monday if he works through the weekend?!!

:D :D :D

LOL, thanks Nemoman, you may be right, I'll ask him. Why wait until Tuesday when it could be done Monday!!!!

Sitka top
 

So here is that 40 plus year old junk, apparently Ben did not have any fresh stuff so I had to settle:

Attachment 4358

Nice lookin’ stuff Tom n’ Ben...:up:

The Story Of My Dad's Sitka
 

When I was a wee lad, I would hang around in the basement where my dad had his woodshop. He allowed me to lurk around, and sweep. After some time, I earned the right to sand. Progress! Eventually, I was permitted to glue and saw the various little offcuts of wood and make little lumpy wooden things. However, in the corner was a stack of guitar wood, maybe 30 sitka spruce tops my Dad had picked up at Macbeath in Berkeley. I was NOT allowed to mess with the SITKA.
The stack had an aura (and spiderwebs) around it. It was slated for the guitars that he was going to start making, soon. However, the decades passed, and it was me that ended up a luthier, and he pretty much gave up woodworking. So it was that he kindly offered me the Holy Stack Of Sitka. This wood is very, very good stuff. It is dry as can be, of course, and it has taken on some color from oxidizing. There are a couple of different discernible trees. The guitar I'm making for Tom comes from the "hard" tree. The growth rings are fairly wide, but very even. It has beautiful silking and is perfectly quartered. Under finish, it's like looking into the depths of a beautiful, uh, wooden pool. It has a great, clear, single note tap tone, and it is STIFF! Anyway, it is great wood, and I've known
it all my life, so God forbid I do it any dishonor by not making a great guitar out of it! Here we go......

Oh boy, Tom... I just love living vicariously! :evilgrin:

Thanks, I am pretty excited about this one for sure.

Thanks Kerbie. I am really hoping this one to be special special and I am pretty sure it will with what Ben has told me on and off the record about the tap tones of the top and back as well as these redwood braces! Keep watching and see what happens!

Thanks for that great story Ben. I guess I am going to have to keep this one for 40 years myself then!

Tom:

As the recent recipient of an Ellie Belle made out of Dad’s Sitka and good old Honduran Mahogany, I can confirm that that it’s a wonderful top wood. That guitar really, really impresses me and has left some much more expensive guitars gathering dust. I don’t know whether it’s a honeymoon period, but I’m completely smitten! So much so that, like you, I’m in talks with Ben on Ellie Belle #2.

Ben is a really gifted builder and a great guy - I completely understand why you’re going back to the well!

Congrats and I’ll look forward to watching it unfold!

STOP TALKING ABOUT YOUR SECOND GUITARS FROM BEN!

I've been successful in resisting the temptation to go back for seconds and you guys aren't helping.

Tom...

You may see this set as unspectacular, but I think that it's beautiful. Some woods scream "Wow" from far away, and others request that you get a little bit closer before they show you their "Wow"
I'll be watching this one along with all of the other interested spectators.

Joel

You're building quite a stable there Tom! That Honduras rosewood is nothing short of spectacular, getting harder and harder to find beautiful straight grain stuff nowadays.

Love it Tom!! You FINALLY followed MY lead HA!! :roll:

I personally love that wood. There is something to be said for the "earthy, organic" simplicity and beauty of simple wood grain. I will be tuned into this build for sure. Anxious to see the gorgeous guitar that pops out next Tuesday!! :up:

Over the years, others and I have bragged about builders that most of us have come to know and love here on this forum. And yet, Ben has flown a bit under the AGF radar. So...for those who want to know just a bit more about Ben, here's a little video that tells a but more about him and his story.

A short 5 minutes but quite interesting and will help others better understand this "Bromance" Tom talks about...I guess i plead guilty as well ;)