Morgan Kelsey's builds

[morgankelsey]

Hi all, happy to join the forum and show everyone what I've been working on. I've got some current builds I will be sharing but in the meantime here are some pics of some recent creations:

First up is an OM size guitar, this one features some beautiful Koa I sourced from a local woodworker, who has an amazing stash. The top is sitka spruce, with a Honduran mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard.

[morgankelsey]

A lot of luthiers have mixed feelings about posting audio or video clips of their instruments, because it is impossible to capture what a guitar actually sounds like even with pro equipment. Everyone knows a live acoustic instrument is always a huge improvement over any recording, regardless of recording quality or the playback equipment.

On the other hand, sometimes something is better than nothing.

This short clip was recorded in my living room, using a single AKG 214 and an old Audio Technica ATM33R. These went into an Apogee Duet, which was connected directly to an iPhone 6 I keep around for recording things. There has been no processing done besides putting it in iMovie and uploading to YouTube. No, EQ, compression, nothing except for whatever YouTube may do to it. The guitar was only about a month old when recorded. I am using a thumbpick only.

Tattoo aficionados might appreciate the butterfly painting by Spider Webb behind me.

[TomB'sox]

Welcome to the forum, that Koa is outstanding. I fixed the video for you and enjoyed listening to it. Everything sounds great, the set-up and the guitar as well as your playing!

[BlackKeys36]

Stunning guitar and beautiful demo of it. I particularly love the clean look of the guitar. The choice of the liight-colored rosette (maple?) on a light sitka top on a lighter colored Koa with a clean headstock and chrome 510's is something i wouldn't have come up with myself but love the application of it. Well done!

[Nemoman]

Welcome to the forum, Morgan!

Beautiful guitar you've created with some outstanding Koa--thanks for sharing it!

[morgankelsey]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Welcome to the forum, that Koa is outstanding. I fixed the video for you and enjoyed listening to it. Everything sounds great, the set-up and the guitar as well as your playing!

Thanks for fixing that, TomB'sox, I see how it works now. That is true old-growth Koa, and I love the golden color of it!

Originally Posted by BlackKeys36

Stunning guitar and beautiful demo of it. I particularly love the clean look of the guitar. The choice of the liight-colored rosette (maple?) on a light sitka top on a lighter colored Koa with a clean headstock and chrome 510's is something i wouldn't have come up with myself but love the application of it. Well done!

Thanks, BlackKeys, the appointments are quilted maple, glad you like it.

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Welcome to the forum, Morgan!

Beautiful guitar you've created with some outstanding Koa--thanks for sharing it!

Thanks, Nemoman!

[morgankelsey]

Here is another project I completed recently, this one is a fretless acoustic bass, based on the Tinozza design by RM Mottola. The goal of this design is to replicate the sound of an upright bass as much as possible. Part of that is achieved by using upright bass strings (1/4 size strings), and it has a unique string anchoring system to accomodate them.

There are two additional blocks within the instrument on either side of the tail block that the strings lodge into. Here are what those blocks look like, the strings feed in through the back of the bass and the ball ends lodge about halfway up the blocks.



The strings angle in to the bridge in an unusual way, and this is where RM Mottola's innovation deserves applause. On a typical upright bass, the strings are held at the tailpiece, and angle up over the saddle at a 15 degree angle. What Mottola has done is basically lay the strings on their side - they still cross the saddle at 15 degrees but come at it sideways, freaking cool!

In my build, I took the soundhole off the top and incorporated a side sound port. This puts the initial output right in the player's face, which bass players love. "Will someone please turn me down?" is something no bass player has said, ever. As bass frequencies are omni directional, this doesn't impact the sound radiating off the instrument once it is out in the room.

As a large instrument (6" deep), the arm bevel is a must and makes it very playable.

The overall specs are:

• 4 string fretless, 34″ scale
• Macassar Ebony fingerboard, 7 1/4″ radius
• 14th fret body join
• 6″ deep body, 18″ lower bout
• Solid Bearclaw Sitka spruce top
• Claro Walnut back and sides
• Walnut binding
• 9-piece removable Maple neck
• Dual action truss rod
• Neck strengthened with two carbon fiber rods
• Macassar Ebony arm bevel
• Side sound port
• Black Tusq bone and saddle
• Mother of Pearl and Abalone headstock inlay, Satyr playing Tambourine from a drawing by John Berain
• Gotoh tuners
• D’Addario Helicore 1/4 orchestral bass strings
• K&K pure bass pickup with volume control
• French polish finish

This headstock inlay is a character from a Jean Berain drawing, I handcut it from mother of pearl and abalone.



The macassar ebony backstrap here reminds me of Groot:









Here is a sound sample, this is recorded acoustically only, without the pickup. The mics are plugged direct to an apogee and into an iphone. No post processing at all. Go easy on me, I'm not really a bass player!

[Guitars44me]

Beautiful instruments! Way to go.

And WELCOME to the AGF. I find the Custom Shop a real Candy Store!!!

BTW, you might want to incorporate a Manzer Wedge if you do another of these cool basses! They sure make a big body more cuddly.

Cheers

Paul

[morgankelsey]

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

Beautiful instruments! Way to go.

And WELCOME to the AGF. I find the Custom Shop a real Candy Store!!!

BTW, you might want to incorporate a Manzer Wedge if you do another of these cool basses! They sure make a big body more cuddly.

Cheers

Paul

Thanks, Paul, I may do that! The arm bevel definitely makes a huge difference - this is the second bass I've built in this style and this one is much more comfortable for me than the first. The first was for an extremely large human (6'5"), and it looks like a dreadnought on him.

[morgankelsey]

I've got a couple of builds underway currently. I'm going to try to get one of them caught up to present day over the next few posts.

Here's the obligatory stack-'o'-wood we are starting with:



That's a pale moon ebony back and sides, a master grade sitka top, Honduran mahogany neck blank, and an ebony fretboard.

Here is the back joined, there is just a single fine black piece of purfling running down the center:



The top gets brought down to target thickness next, and a simple rosette goes in. This is macassar ebony, I like how the tighter grain compliments the wider grain of the pale moon ebony. The body is going to get an arm bevel down the road, and we will use macassar there as well.



Look at the rays on that top, that is some perfectly quartered sitka!

[morgankelsey]

Next I bent the sides and assembled the ribs:



The top got it's bracing. I initially leave them pretty high



Then I attached the top to the sides and voiced it, bringing the braces down in the process



Before the back goes on is the best time to install the pickup if the guitar is going to have one. The request for this one was a K&K mini with volume control

[morgankelsey]

The back has been braced, and is ready to go on. I adjust the height of the center of the third brace after it is attached to bring it to a complimentary pitch with the top.



And on it goes! I call this the birdhouse stage, because we could stop right now and have a very nice birdhouse.





Next up is the binding, here is part of the channel cut:



I really enjoy the binding stage, I am using ebano bindings on this guitar with a b/w/b purfling.



After the binding I do the end graft. Here is my ultra high tech jig for routing the pocket. It works well because I can swap out the template being used, and there is enough play in it that I can get it exactly where I want it before bolting it down.



The pocket is cut and here is the endgraft in place, nice and simple for this build:



Arm bevel coming up next!

[Nemoman]

Looking good--awesome woods!

[morgankelsey]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Looking good--awesome woods!

Thanks, Nemoman!

Here is how I do the arm bevel. First I cut a shallow outline of where it will be and clear away the wood:



Next I frame it with the same purfling used on the rest of the body:



Next I add some blocks to the ends, and then shape the bevel. I mostly use my knife and leprechaun-sized spokeshave for this part:



I shape an appropriate veneer on the bending iron, and carefully epoxy it in place. For this one I'm using macassar ebony, from the same board that I made the rosette. I like how the tight grain of the macassar contrasts with the wider bands of the pale moon ebony.



The next day I unwrap the present!



The overhang gets carefully cut back and the original purfling is revealed





This brings us up to date on this guitar, I will continue to post progress....

[morgankelsey]

Time to get the neck on!

I employ a bolt-on/bolt-off neck joint. This is comprised of a mortise and tenon, along with a fretboard extension. The neck is attached to the body with no glue, making future adjustment easier. The fretboard extension provides a solid mass beneath the fretboard, and also creates a large surface to surface contact area between the body and neck.

It starts with a mortise:



The tenon is cut on the neck blank, the neck angle is set and fitted to the body.





The next part is a major brown pants operation, the fretboard extension is is cut out of the head block:



The fretboard extension is then carefully fitted and glued to the neck with hot hide glue. Sorry I didn't get a pic of this part but you can see it in the upcoming pics.

Holes are carefully drilled for the sockets in the tenon and fretboard extension. Here it is ready for assembly:





Here is the view from inside of everything bolted together.



And from the outside:



The fretboard is bound and ready, I managed to squeeze out 22 frets on the treble side.



This all was a couple of days' work, but today ended with a nice walk with the missus, and a beautiful sunset!