I'm heading up to Birmingham tomorrow to get things organized for the estate liquidation sale at my mother's house, and then getting the place cleaned and cleared out. The house will be going live for sale on August 12. Hopefully it will sell quickly, and give a good boost to my mother's financial security, now that she's comfortably settled in to her big apartment at the Brookdale retirement community.
Before I go, I wanted to freshen up this thread, starting with the Multiscale Baritone Performance SC that started this thread. This guitar is fully built now, and it's been sealed, pore-filled, and the first six coats of lacquer sprayed on. It's looking great, if I do say so. It also has the portents of being a dragon-slayer in the tone department. The German Spruce top is beautifully silky, and ALIVE. This is one of the most unique guitars I've made; it's only the second multiscale baritone, built on the platform of my fourth-generation Performance model. Here are some photos of the completed guitar, before the finish work. BTW, the bridge shown is a placeholder; I had not yet settled on the design for the bridge when I had the opportunity to shoot these photos. See the post above for a photo of that new hybrid
Appollo/Element multiscale bridge.
I continued the mosaic motif from the rosette, segmented back inlay, and end graft on the back of the neck and the heel. The neck is a laminated design, with the main wood being some beautifully figured curly Honduran mahogany. This will be the second guitar I've built for Tim with this very special mahogany. Wait till you see what happens to the figure under finish!
Another recurring decorative element on this guitar is the color Azul (Blue). All the purflings are bordered with blue-dyed veneer lines; it's also incorporated in the headstock laminates, under the fingerboard, and in the fret position and other neck elements of blue Azurite stone, bordered with my trademark copper rings.
The fingerboard, bridge, and front headstock plate are Madagascar Ebony, with an unusual black and charcoal grey figure. This Ebony also has some subtle but luxurious flame figure that will show up under finish. I'm taking advantage of this by applying a Tru-Oil gunstock oil varnish, which I'll rub into the fingerboard after the frets are dressed and polished.
The tuners are also placeholders; although we are using Gotoh 510 Mini tuners. We just haven't decided which finish, and what buttons to use. The ones in these photos are the Cosmo Black finish, fitted with Madagascar Rosewood buttons. (Can anyone answer the question: Are they supposed to be called "knobs" or "buttons"? I like "buttons" because that sounds less knobby.)
