Build Thread: Tahoe Guitars Mahogany/Carpathian 000-12

[invguy921]

Nice guitar. I have to say I've never seen so many pictures of a build process in my life. I'm pretty sure that with this thread, I could come close to building one myself! A very thorough play by play indeed! thanks!

[OddManOut]

Originally Posted by invguy921

Nice guitar. I have to say I've never seen so many pictures of a build process in my life. I'm pretty sure that with this thread, I could come close to building one myself! A very thorough play by play indeed! thanks!

Thank you. Yes, Larry has always been very open and generous about sharing his process.

While this one is fairly detailed, the two most complete build threads I have posted are the "Whistle Pig" 12-fret dread and the "Mad Dog" 00-14. You might take a gander at those.

Thanks for following this thread!

[OddManOut]

A bunch of pictures have come in from the Tahoe Guitars Media Dept.. Several posts follow.

Larry has glued up the neck and bridge, and has done the inlay for the 12th fret marker.

Larry chooses to use hot hide glue for the neck and bridge installation.

I chose white pearl for the the 12th fret inlay. In the past I went with paua to match Larry's standard paua rosette. The rosette on this guitar is simple herringbone, so I went with white pearl to match the head inlays. I chose a piece with some nice feathery figure.

[OddManOut]

The 12th fret inlay process continues...

[OddManOut]

Larry levels the fretboard and installs the frets. There is an interesting little tool Larry uses which removes the fret tang from the ends of each fret so the fret will sit atop the binding.

As always, I've chosen gold EVO fret wire for its durability.

[OddManOut]

The fret installation continues. Note the rather massive fret buck to support the top while the upper frets are being installed. The center plate sits inside the box under the fretboard extension.

[OddManOut]

The last batch of work pictures have come in. Several posts follow.

A number of things are being done. I will describe each process above the relevant set of pictures.


The Gotoh tuners are installed. Love those amber buttons.








Now the tops of the bridge pin holes are chamfered (angled).






Here's an important step...the bridge is slotted.






The pin holes are reamed to 5 degrees.




The nut has been slotted.

[OddManOut]

The saddle is shaped and notched.

The proper radius is penciled onto the saddle blank.





The saddle is sanded to radius.



The radius is checked.



The saddle is then shaped.

[OddManOut]

The saddle shaping continues.










Now the string alignment is established and the bridgeplate is slotted (unslotted pins). Note the red sharpie ink on the frets to aid in leveling.









And she's strung up! The frets were leveled later after everything was checked out.

[oliverkollar]

That is one fine looking guit-fiddle.

Congrats!

[OddManOut]

Originally Posted by oliverkollar

That is one fine looking guit-fiddle.

Congrats!

Thanks mucho!

The guitar is finished! It sounds great and promises to become even better sounding over the next days/weeks/months/years. It plays great, as well.

Many, many thanks to luthier Larry Nair for building another fine guitar, and for his continued patience and generosity. He is a top-notch guy with whom to work.

A few pics of the completed guitar follow. Thank YOU for following this thread.

[OddManOut]

Here is a video of the new guitar. The sound recorded through the camera's internal mic does not do it justice, but it gives some idea of the tone with less than two hours play time on the guitar.