My first Luthierbuild from Daniel Ott Guitars

[FannedFret]

Hi together,

I would like to share my new and first Luthier Build Order from a young German Luthier from Germany.

To use the words from Tony Polecastro, my Guitar journey brought me to some wonderful guitars, which are gone allready. The Guitarsenal I owe know and to the one I am thinking of now, hopefully will put together all my thoughts about, what a guitar should be for my Idea of sound living in my head.

I wrote about my custom build Maestro Guitars which are so wonderful in every way, but- I did not know what I know now and many Specs, like String spacing, nut Width, Set Up and tiny little important changes took me a lot of ways to my Luthier to make them feel perfect. Write out of the box, I never had a guitar, which perfectly fits at the first place. Maybe my Taylor Custom GO build to order had that Taylorsetup, which is at least at the most of them, very pleasing.

So long story short, I decided to find a luthier, who’s philosophy and design and sound Ideas came as close as possible to my Idea of what my guitar should be like.

A modern steel string guitar in an Om style, 12 fret, Florentine cutaway, Mini bevel, Soundport and of course Fanned Fret( my third)and affordable in comparison to many others.

Daniel builds Guitars which are so flawlessly handcrafted, with a great resonance and what I really like, a deep volume which is full in the depth without sacrificing the tonal balance. To my ear a very important sound feature.

Daniel Ott,

https://www.danielottguitars.com/,

( check it out, it is written in english) is inspired from great modern Luthiers like Tom Sands and Casimi guitars and combines Ideas with his personal style, an exiting way which I really like and the features on my guitar a exclusively new designed.

Being a Sculptor the most time of my life and a singer songwriter I understand deep from my heart the importance of great idols to develop your own skills. To grow.


In my case it was Michelangelo, with no chance to come even close to the genius, did he create David in the age of 30 years and Moses as he was around 40.

That said, I think Daniel is right to reach to the “sky” which keeps yourself grounded and modest and clear in sight of what you are or might be capable of.

It will be the combination of black liimba back and sides to a redwood top.

Here you see the drawing designs of my Model M, 12 fret, with the headstock, brigde an a light Multiscale Design.









The build starts now and I will show you the way from the start on, if you like.

Have fun.

Best wishes,

Karsten

[FannedFret]

Just try to get the pictures in, from my acoustic guitar app, any ideas? Beginner mistake, cause I don’t have Photobucket anymore [emoji849]

[FannedFret]

Link is above[emoji4]

[colins]

Looking forward to more posts, Karsten. You may find more help with posting images here.

[FannedFret]

Thank you, Colins, I will check it out;-))

[Deliberate1]

Best of luck with your build. It is an exciting process.
I checked out Daniel's site and listened to the two videos. He makes a handsome guitar with a lovely voice. And they are very competitively priced in today's market.
I am expecting delivery in November of an OM, with a very similar configuration as yours (sans fan fret), from Max Spohn, who builds in Bavaria.
I will look forward to seeing images of your build's progress, and hope that you enjoy the process.
You may wish to become a Charter Member. For a very modest price (a tad more than the cost of a set of D'Addario XS strings) you will be able to easily attach images to your posts. And also support this musical community.

David

[FannedFret]

Thank you David, for your words and the interest in visiting Daniels Website.
He told me that he met Max at the Guitar Summit in Manheim, which was in September in Germany.
The appreciate each others work, a nice think among luthiers of nearly the same age.
I am looking forward to your Posts.
I will definitely think about being a member.
On Saturday we decided the final sets for the Redwood Top and the Black Limba Back and Sides:-)

[FannedFret]

Hello Together,

news an informations to my new Daniel Ott Build Model M.
We decided to choose those sets for the build.
A beautifully bookmatched, structured and figured set of black limba and this wonderful redwood soundboard, with an even tight grain and a slight touch of a bearclaw figure.







Also I sent Daniel some beautiful indgredients nut, bone blanks and brigde pins made out of fossilized mammouth ivory ( that is a deep nerdy pleasure for me and all of my guitars, 4 with the new build plus a backpacker, cause they won’t leave me, do have this luxury fit in) and charis ebenoy buttons for gotoh 510.





The Idea of this build is to get a middle sized guitar ( my maestro custom builds are 12&6 string wenge/ swiss moon spruce tonewood combination and my beloved 000 15 sm) which has all my favourite features, the advantages in warmth, depth, playability and voice a 12 fret guitar can have and a very certain image and sound which combines my ideas.
A sound with a depth and warmth around the register, very responsive, balanced with slightly muted overtones in comparison to my wenge/moon spruce guitars, full, with a clear bass response, those mids I like and expect from black limba, and warm and clear trebles.
Well, shouldn’t every guitar sound like that? :-)
Daniel suggested this combination after long talking and listening to the songs I wrote and played, recordings etc., the playing as far as I am at this point, how i play on my favourite maestro and so on.
There were other ideas of a supporting tonewood combination to find the(nother) One, but we found this one is the best way to go.

I hope you enjoy,
Karsten

[FannedFret]

Hello together,
the build is progressing and it is definitely a complete different cup of tea, being part of this kind of process as it was with my other „ normal“ Custom Builds i have.
That was really exiting but no comparison.
It’s a bit like growing together in a very special way.
Daniel builds structured sides with a core of cedar, black limba and a inner veneer of black coulored mable.

This is a very stiff structure further in the build combined with a signature x Bracing and lattice braced tone bars for the top and the way he builds the back bracings.



Next week Daniel will build the other side, the florentine cutaway and get them together so that the rimset is ready for further steps to go.
I am so exited looking forward to the progress.
So special knowing that you definitely create your own guitar hopefully in sound and design.

[FannedFret]

I got some new pictures from my Model M Daniel is building I like to share.
The rimset ist in progress and the cutaway is fixed to the side.

Cause auf the structured sides, Daniel can glue the cutaway and the side together in the way you can see.


The inner black maple veneer is an elegant, very aesthetical pleasing design.
It looks clean and straight. A wonderful effect this kind of build includes.
Even if we don’t look to often in the inside of a guitar.
with a soundport you certainly will.


The guitars I have are flawlessly build inside as far as I can judge as a non professional in guitarbuilding concerns.
I like that very much.

[colins]

Great to see progress. And that black limba looks superb! It is amazing wood.

[FannedFret]

Some news, Pics and Information to my Daniel Ott Guitar.

Daniel build the brigde as a Model and redesigned his bracing system, so that it optimises the multiscale and 12 fret design of this Model M.
A very complex system and I should mention, that this is the first multiscale fanned fret Daniel is building, according to the new design of brigde and headstock. Soundport and positioning ist new as well.
That is risky and so exiting for both of us and I am sure many guitars and years later he will build it with all the experience in a different way - but - I didn’t want to wait that long and I am trustfully sure that he will build it, as this point of his high craftmanship, the best it ever can be

Also an Idea, what the No-sette ( inspired by Tom Sands) will look like in Copper and Black.

The Progress is so nice to see.
The blackstrap ist fixed and the black stripes are made of ebano rocklite which fits perfectly well to the whole minimalistic design.

The black stripes support the all around stiffness of the back and provides fine cracks.

It looks so clean and straight, I really like to see, how open Daniel is sharing his building thoughts, struggles and solutions, what I find very fresh and confident.


Now the exiting progress of shaping and forming the Voice of this guitar starts and Daniel hopefully thinks to close the box at around christmas.
I already ask him, if he ever build a Model S the same way:-))

[FannedFret]

My first luthierbuild guitar from Daniel Ott is making progress and it took a lot of planning, thinking, designing and work to get clear with all these specials involved.

The Bracing of the back is completed and still can be fine tuned if needed.

Here you can see the Bracing pattern and how it is scalloped till now.

Another perspective.
If you scroll down on Daniels Homepage
https://www.danielottguitars.com/
You find a shortclip where Daniel explains his thoughts to the Bracing he has chosen.
Very natural sympathetic and clear, with a nice view to see how thin the Bracing actually is.
Another wonderful Detail which I like to share is the finished No-sette inspired by Tom Sands but in a very personal „ ottisch way“ as he did in designing the oval of the soundport.
It will be spectacular wenn finished an the contrast of the cooper will nicely give that very special moment in the complete build.
We reduced, Daniel reduced the Design a bit, as it felt better to him and I totally agree. The plan was another little cooperline before the black element begins.
Sorry for missing the right words and terms for it. Poor diecription anyway:-)
I really do love it. So minimalistic, elegant, understated.

Some more impressions.

So nice and tight is the look of the grains.

The Soundport will sit there, with this special oval.

The drawings to this Soundport.

I am really exited to see more and can tell, that is really something very very special to experience.

[FannedFret]

Another Step in the building process where the construction of the bracing is in focus.
A combination of an x bracing with a lattice bracing.
Daniel sent me pictures in the order of the building progress.
The x bracing is glued and fixed.

The braces needed for the lattice bracing

The lattice bracing in its position.

Both components come together.

The difference between traditionell construction and Hozens, from Maestro Guitars, andvanced hybrid bracing as an example for the modern build acoustic guitars is obvious.

There are a lot of different systems in bracing guitars and in each of it the luthier creates his own voice. For sure is here one key for this very personal sound.
I am looking forward to see the final Picture when the voicing is done.

[FannedFret]

A lot has happened and so there are a lot of impressions i`like to share.
First the Soundport was built after Daniel, cause it is his first, made a jig for it.

The Soundport ist worked in.

We decided to make the soundport bindings with black maple veneer glued together to a certain thickness, so that it continues the idea of a clear design similar to the Rosette.

The back is ready for gluing, when time comes(very quickly I assume)

A detail of the flawless handcraft.

The back has a very thin layer of shellack.

Another perspective.

The Soundboard is fitted in.

Daniel will glue the soundport on today and then he will begin the voicing after preparing the braces to a certain standard he defines for himself.
I am looking forward to see the final result of the look.
It is planned to close the box this week and to get the ebony binding done.
The binding will be even clear without any other material or colour as Black Limba, Redwood and Ebony(of cause a tiny bit of black maple)
It is an amazing feeling to see the progress in detail of your own, very, very special guitar.