Super Jumbo, Larson style

[Haans]

I'm getting a little closer to the green/white purfling that I hope to use on my next 6 or 12 string GC. The "red" is pink ivory.



Opinions?

[Joe Sustaire]

That is some pretty stuff Haans! What is the green?

Joe

[Chazmo]

Hans, it's funny how similar that binding in the 12-string above is to your mock-up from the previous page until you look carefully at it... It looks to me that you've put pink in every other block on the 12-string rather than every third block (mock-up), right? It also looks to me like your mock-up is using constant-size green blocks rather than variable-size ones (thinner ones in the pink blocks) on the 12-string. So, my take is that the mock up would have less pink influence overall.

I wonder if it was your intent, but both bindings strike me as a bit native American-influenced -- as in jewelry from the southwest. I think they look great, by the way; very bold.

The Larson bindings from John's harp guitar are interesting because the pieces are all slanted/canted at an angle, as in half a chevron/herringbone. The green and pink inserts in their bindings are very subtle and a little confusing to my eye. I kind of like the subtlety, and I think the fact that they're all wood is cool (unless I'm wrong about that), but your design(s) are more appealing to me, especially with an aged/toned top. On something very light, like Engelmann, I might be more inclined to a darker, more subtle binding.

[Haans]

Joe, the green is dyed veneer I got from Herzog veneer. The small blocks are 1 layer with black on either side, and the large block is 3 lams with black.
Chaz, I've gone through a lot of variations so far...here are a few. Never though about similarities to SW American Indian jewelry, was always thinking about that Maurer...trying to get that look. That is a thought for other future purfs.



The samples that had 2-3 green separated by 2 single greens were not different enough, and you can see that some of the red was dyed veneer, which I don't care for as much as PI. I tried varying the holly size too and didn't care for that either. In the end (so far) I like the even holly with a 1,3,1,3 layout of the green/PI. Also went with b/w/b/w/b purfling instead of just b/w/b. Looks more old timey.
Slanting the purfling is easy as all you have to do is cut it at an angle instead of 90 degrees.
I think the Larson's purf probably was brighter when the instrument was new, but now is faded.
Part of the look is the far away look of the photo of the Maurer I posted, and I think I have captured that pretty well. That's why I favored the 90 degree instead of slant.



Takes weeks of staring at this stuff and making small changes. We'll see...

[Chazmo]

Boy, I'll bet it does, Hans. I never would've imagined how much thought and work goes into the purfling design, but looking at all your samples it's obvious why it does.

For the record, I agree with you that the ones with the pink/red added do have more pizazz. Oh, and by the way, they all look great on top of your stained oak (?) desk!

[Haans]

Chaz, it can be as little or as much as you want to put into it. I feel it's distinguishing mark on my instruments so most times I devote a lot of time to shapes of boxes, purfling, and other details of trim unless I'm trying to make a close copy. Some folks are satisfied to just slap some herringbone on and call it a day. For me, there's a lot of use of the 'ole dial calipers to get it just so...a few thousands can make or break it as you can readily see. It takes staring at a few tries before you get the idea of proportion.
Sanded the first build coats on the Prairie State with 600 grit...

[Short Balding G]

Hans; Wow totally cool guitar! It is coming along magnificantly.

I was reminded of the pretty oak Stella that Neil Harpe has for sale on his webste;



More options to consider; The above guitar is an oak GC with a tailpiece. Different purlfing than your small box. This is a split herribone. I think that the purlfing is gorgeous. Substiuting the green for the red offers yet another alternative more in the color vane you have been posting about. I have seen a black, yellow combo that was stunning, but can not find the pic.

I still find this pic (below) you posted to be of my all time fav. I have kept it in saved on my computer.


I have a hard time not seeing Larson purfling and old Stella purlfing as being ubiquitous on these modern creations. The idea of taking and combining the best seems to be timely.

At the sanding phase, you are moving rapidly sir. Are thinking about using the more trad Prairie State pickguard or a fancy inlayed cloud pattern?

Hans I was reading the thread over at Mandolin Cafe and it made me wonder if the same purlfings were put on guitars as well the mandolins? Did they share these time intensive creations?

Intrigued and thinking of your creations, Eric -

[Haans]

Hey, Eric...
Guess you will have to add this one then! Made up a new block yesterday and here we have a slice cut off and that cut into crossgrain slices. Those are fit between b/w/b/w/b purfling for the center stripe on one of my triple parlor builds...
That's a lovely old Stella Neil has up for sale. I might just make one of the triple build parlors with a tailpiece.



The Prairie State will have a standard pickguard. Tomorrow I'll get the second set of build coats finished and will sand that with 800 grit in a couple of days.
I really don't know if they used that mandolin purfling on guitars, but it works pretty well for me!

[Haans]

Won't be long now...

[Haans]

Here's the finished "unit"...

[Haans]

The rest of them...

[Edbuff]

What a terrific guitar. Is that double pickguard? When do the sound clips come out?

[Andromeda]

Just beautiful. Congratulations on your build!!!

How does it sound?

[Chazmo]

Super jumbo looks super-duper, Hans! Thanks for sharing the final pix. That is sooooooo cool!

[jt1]

Absolutely fantastic-looking, Hans! Thanks for sharing it with us.