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#1
01-03-2012, 12:04 AM
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#1 (almost) finished
Build #1 is pretty much finished. A few things left to do - polish the top, especially some spots I drop-filled around the bridge, lower the nut slots a hair, ream the bridge pin holes when the reamer gets here. That's pretty much it. It looks odd with the bridge pins sticking halfway out of the holes, but it plays like a monster. Loud. When I dig into it with a pick, it has a whole other gear that no guitar I've owned has. Same with the bass. If a want more, I just have to dig a little. It'll give me all I want and more. With the tapered braces, at least I think that's where it comes from, it's a little more toward the Goodall sound - overtones and sustain, but it has plenty of crunch when I want it. I like it a lot. Can't wait for it to open up. Can't stop playing it - i think that's a good sign. Thanks to several of you who provided really solid guidance and gave me some things to think about. It made a difference.
 
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#2
01-03-2012, 07:27 AM
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Nice job. Was it a kit? What woods did you use?
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#3
01-03-2012, 09:28 AM
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Sitka/Mahogany
It started life as a pretty standard deep body (4.5 in) 00-18 kit from John Hall at Blues Creek, then my habit of not leaving well enough alone took over. I converted the neck from a dovetail to a butt joint bolt-on, bought new, uncarved bracing to do my own, and replaced all the standard plastic binding and trim with curly maple. I also threw away the popsicle brace and used an a-frame instead. I asked John to give me some hog with a little figure, and he gave me a beautiful set. Never fails to get comments.
So I started out with a Martin, ended up with what would happen if a Martin had a love child with a modern fingerstyle guitar...except that I don't play fingersyle. Oh well - it's well beyond my expectations. Really a great guitar. About that neck joint - it inadvertently saved my bacon. I let the neck block slip somehow, so the top of the block moved about 1/8 in. It was not a rally big deal with the butt joint, but I fear I would have been toast with a dovetail. Look at the photo - the body hits the neck at about 1/8 in past the 12th fret. It's a good reminder never to let that happen again.
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#4
01-03-2012, 10:00 AM
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Definition of a Luthier; A Guitar Builder that can hide all of his mistakes.
John is a great help to the build community. What finish did you use? You said you did some fill on the top? What did you use? Just curious.
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#5
01-03-2012, 10:12 AM
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finish
More covering of mistakes. I used Arm-R-Seal Urethane topcoat (wipe-on) to start. It worked great on the back and sides, and gave the top a nice color. I couldn't get it smooth enough for my liking on the top, and it did NOT like the rosewood on the headsock, so I used ZAR oil modified poly applied with a foam brush for the last two coats on the top and headstock. I had it around for other projects and I'm confident in the stuff. It worked well. There were some small voids left over, and a few little oopsies from buffing the bridge, and I filled those with a little paintbrush and some ZAR. I used no filler on the back, sides, or neck. I like the way Mahogany looks and feels by itself. Au naturale....
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