Wilborn Nautilus BRW/Sitka NGD, it is here!!!!!!!

TomB'sox · #1 10-12-2023, 07:52 PM

About 2 years ago, Ben and I worked out this guitar and now the time has come. I have since retired making the disposable income quite a bit more scarce than it once may have been, so sadly this is likely to be my last custom build.

Ben and I wanted to make this guitar as special as possible since we have worked on a number of guitars in the past as well. I chose some pretty funky wood for this guitar which is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but that really doesn't matter, Ben and I love this wood. Yes it is flat sawn, but it is solid and beautiful in all it's asymmetric glory, certainly many would have steered clear of this set, but not me and since Ben purchased it originally, he saw something he liked as well. He thinks it was likely more symmetric at one point, but when it was sanded down, being flat sawn, it lost that pretty quickly.

nautilus 6.jpg

The top is a very nice set of Sitka with a lot of silking. Ben used a sister set recently and loved how that came out so we went with this one.

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The two together:

nautilus 4.jpg

TomB'sox · #2 10-12-2023, 08:03 PM

Ben uses laminated sides, 3 layers in his case. For this guitar he is using EIR for the inner layer which matches the BRW pretty well, Madrone for the inside layer as it is strong, lightweight and glues well and will have the grain running perpendicular to the inner and outer layers to form a strong bias ply.

First the madrone is resawn...please take note of the roll off table being mounted to the garage door lol.

nautilus 1.jpg

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Here are all the layers set to be laminated from bottom to top, BRW, madrone, EIR repeat in reverse order for the next 3.

nautilus 3.jpg

Please take note of the sapwood on the back and then on one of the sides. Ben has laid that out so the two areas of sapwood would meet in the cutaway area and should look pretty cool if it all works out.

Guitars44me · #3 10-12-2023, 09:17 PM

Your last? Now that you have built one with Kinnaird West yourself, I expect you will have to do it again, eventually….

I am liking the mix-matched woods. Haha

As you know Ben tends to work at top speed, so I expect this will move along quick, and you will be playing it soon.

Go, Ben, Go

Enjoy the ride

Paul

Dogma · #4 10-12-2023, 10:41 PM

I think it's cool! That back set is going to look really great under finish - I can imagine a lot of depth with all those different tonal hues. Good choice on top too. Fun to watch it come to life.

Nemoman · #5 10-13-2023, 08:53 AM

These woods are too cool for words, Tom--I'm sure Ben will create something special with these!

Aspiring · #6 10-13-2023, 09:11 AM

Congrats Tom that looks very cool! Bens comma series and workmanship are spectacular.

I think what you meant to say is this will be the last custom build ...

Until the next one ...

TomB'sox · #7 10-13-2023, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

Your last? Now that you have built one with Kinnaird West yourself, I expect you will have to do it again, eventually….

I am liking the mix-matched woods. Haha

As you know Ben tends to work at top speed, so I expect this will move along quick, and you will be playing it soon.

Go, Ben, Go

Enjoy the ride

Paul

He is fast, that is for sure. I want this one to last so I am trying to figure out how to slow him down!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogma

I think it's cool! That back set is going to look really great under finish - I can imagine a lot of depth with all those different tonal hues. Good choice on top too. Fun to watch it come to life.

Thank you, we have some ideas on a different finish for this one also. You will have to follow along to see it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman

These woods are too cool for words, Tom--I'm sure Ben will create something special with these!

Thanks buddy. I am 100% convinced Ben will do great with these. I think they are cool too, but the flat sawn police will not haha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aspiring

Congrats Tom that looks very cool! Bens comma series and workmanship are spectacular.

I think what you meant to say is this will be the last custom build ...

Until the next one ...

I wish that were the case, but I am not sure of that.

So Ben used a cutoff for the headstock veneer. It is not symmetrical either LOL so natually, that is what we are going with haha!

nautilus 8.jpg

nautilus 7.jpg

GeoffStGermaine · #8 10-13-2023, 02:22 PM

Very cool! I look forward to seeing this come together. Ben's guitars are magic and who care's if it book matches well - the wood looks great and undoubtedly Ben is going to conjure an amazing sound out of it!

Jeff Mc · #9 10-13-2023, 03:01 PM

Pretty neat Tom. I like the non book matched look.

On another note, my soon to be new guitar is in Woodstock this weekend. I should get it maybe late next week if it doesn’t experience any guitar show disaster.

islandguitar · #10 10-13-2023, 03:34 PM

Many congrats, Tom! This should be a stellar instrument, built with all of Ben's talent and know-how.
Really looking forward to following your journey with this build!

s2y · #11 10-13-2023, 09:42 PM

That'll look and sound great when it's done. I don't think there's any doubt at this point!

cigarfan · #12 10-14-2023, 09:50 AM

Have to say, that is a crazy looking set of b/s wood. I'm sure that beautiful Sitka top will save the day tone wise. I blew my coffee on my computer monitor when I read it may be your last custom. Yikes! Say it ain't so.

No seriously, I feel your pain. And the economy isn't helping any. Here's to hoping things get better.

TomB'sox · #13 10-14-2023, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffStGermaine

Very cool! I look forward to seeing this come together. Ben's guitars are magic and who care's if it book matches well - the wood looks great and undoubtedly Ben is going to conjure an amazing sound out of it!

Thank you, I feel exactly the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Mc

Pretty neat Tom. I like the non book matched look.

On another note, my soon to be new guitar is in Woodstock this weekend. I should get it maybe late next week if it doesn’t experience any guitar show disaster.

Yes, it was very nice of you to let that guitar visit NY before going to its permanent home. I hear it is getting a fantastic response up there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Many congrats, Tom! This should be a stellar instrument, built with all of Ben's talent and know-how.
Really looking forward to following your journey with this build!

Thank you, glad to have you following!

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2y

That'll look and sound great when it's done. I don't think there's any doubt at this point!

I have no doubt either, more excitement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cigarfan

Have to say, that is a crazy looking set of b/s wood. I'm sure that beautiful Sitka top will save the day tone wise. I blew my coffee on my computer monitor when I read it may be your last custom. Yikes! Say it ain't so.

No seriously, I feel your pain. And the economy isn't helping any. Here's to hoping things get better.

Ha, I think I sense some trepidation with the BRW LOL! You may be right, but you know me, I don't like to follow the norms!

TomB'sox · #14 10-14-2023, 04:42 PM

As mentioned earlier by Paul, Ben works fast. Here are some photos of the side lamination process. Everything laid out on the table, the three layers, roller, epoxy, the jig, and a scale which I think is probably to accurately mix the epoxy. Ben uses a vacuum system for this as you can see and then finally the edge photo shows the three layers of the lamination.

nautilus 9.jpg

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TomB'sox · #15 10-14-2023, 04:50 PM

We are planning to depart from Ben's normal finish process. Because of this he is making a careful test board with some rosewood and spruce. Here it is with a coat of the epoxy grain filler applied just to make sure things come out as we hope on the guitar.

nautilus 13.jpg

The multi scale neck requires the headstock to be on a different plane from the neck shaft and is dictated by the angle of the nut. Quick work with a sharp block plane achieves the desired angle.

nautilus 14.jpg

Neck blank with Blanchard truss rod installed, and veneer sandwich ready to glue on. You can see the filler wood over the truss rod which keeps it from coming loose or having any buzz or rattle in the finished guitar.

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Bridge blank after machining, ready for the hand work step.

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