McKnight Guitars - Artisan Guitar Show 2019

[Tim McKnight]

Ideas and inspiration can begin in the most unusual situations or places. Some of you may be old enough to remember standing in line at this simple machine, way back in grade school?
















However, some may have fond memories, waiting in single file, while students tried their best to sharpen their pencil to a nice sharp point, without breaking the tip off. If you are like me, you might remember the sweet smell of the pencil's wood, wafting through the breeze, as the open widow's airflow circulated the pungent aroma around the classroom. It wasn't until much later in life that I learned that wooden pencils are made from Cedar trees. A few specific kinds of Cedar were commonly used and one unique species is commonly known as Golden Pencil Cedar. Its lighter in color than the more popular Western Red Cedar and Eastern Aromatic Cedar. Pencil Cedar has a golden hue, which is visibly distinguishable from the other two common varieties of Cedar.

I happened upon a few billets of this wood a couple decades back so I re-sawed a few tops from it. The tap tone is nothing short of impressive so I decided to use it for a guitar top.











Since the inspiration from this design came from the simple #2 pencil Mary wanted to use a hexagon shaped sound hole. She also wanted me to cut thin slices from the end of the pencil and inlay the pencil's cross section slices into the rosette's background of end grain Red Palm wood.











For the back and sides she chose a contrasting colored wood of Torrefied Black Locust. In its natural color Black Locust is a VERY light honey color. I was quite shocked when I received this wood back from my Torrefaction processor and saw that it was nearly black in color.
















Mary also wanted the neck to be shaded so it wasn't such an abrupt contrast to the Torrefied Black Locust.














Finally she asked that three pencil slices to be inlayed into the back's center seam strip:















The shading on the back of the neck carries all the way up to the peg head:
















For those of you attending the up coming Artisan Guitar Show, please stop by our table and take this guitar for a test drive and give us your feedback on these unusual choices of wood.

[fitness1]

That's pretty cool Tim - maybe a removable "eraser head" for the top of the headstock??


You two never cease to amaze me!


And yes, I can still smell the aroma! And, I carry a piece of pencil lead in my lower left leg from being stabbed in 6th grade.

[Steve Kinnaird]

So cool, Tim! Did the torrified Locust give you trouble when it came time to bend it? The color is remarkable, but what I've read about the torrefaction process is that it makes the wood more brittle. Did you find that to be the case? Any difficulties?

Steve

[jaymarsch]

I was waiting for you to mention the feature where you can pull out the strap button at the bottom, put in a pencil and get it sharpened! I guess that will be a custom option for songwriters. :-)

Nicely done.

Best,
Jayne

[Joel Teel]

Hey Tim and Mary...
This is a really neat and creatively-themed guitar. I wanted you to see that our shop, though filled with wonderful new-fangled power equipment...still has some “old-school” charm...

IMG_2609.jpg

Thanks for the peak at this “sharp” guitar.....but if you decide to “erase” my post later, I wouldn’t blame you.

Gotta run...second bell just rang and I already have two tardies.

Joel

[Mary]

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

I was waiting for you to mention the feature where you can pull out the strap button at the bottom, put in a pencil and get it sharpened! I guess that will be a custom option for songwriters. :-)

Nicely done.

Best,
Jayne

Jayne,
A pencil sharpener in the end wedge might be worth considering. Duel duty! I still sub for a school system. I KNOW too many kids who bring their own sharpeners. Some of them would be happy to take this to the classroom, but can you imagine the distraction during test time? Grrrrrrrrrr ...

[Mary]

Originally Posted by Joel Teel

Hey Tim and Mary...
This is a really neat and creatively-themed guitar. I wanted you to see that our shop, though filled with wonderful new-fangled power equipment...still has some “old-school” charm...

... Gotta run...second bell just rang and I already have two tardies.

Joel

AHA - I thought that was you sitting in the corner during detention!

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by fitness1

That's pretty cool Tim - maybe a removable "eraser head" for the top of the headstock??


You two never cease to amaze me!


And yes, I can still smell the aroma! And, I carry a piece of pencil lead in my lower left leg from being stabbed in 6th grade.

Ouch! What a painful memory.

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

So cool, Tim! Did the torrified Locust give you trouble when it came time to bend it? The color is remarkable, but what I've read about the torrefaction process is that it makes the wood more brittle. Did you find that to be the case? Any difficulties?

Steve

Thanks Steve. No the Black Locust wood bent like butter. I too had read somewhere that torrefied wood can be brittle but it’s not been my case so far. It’s actually noticeably less hard to sand or machine after torrefaction. I had several sets of lighter color wood processed in hopes of them turning darker. White Oak sets turned very dark too while Movingui, Shag Bark Hickory and Osage Orange remained virtually unchanged in color value. The maple sets turned a beautiful golden honey color.

[The Growler]

Very creative! Well done.

[tkoehler1]

I love the color of the Golden Pencil Cedar top. Very nice!

[mcduffnw]

Hi Mary and Tim...

I still remember the fun of meeting you two at the last...sigh, sniff...Healdsburg Festival, and sharing that wonderful Sunday Morning Worship with you and a few other good folks. Such fond memories!

This is a really fine looking guitar, with a great idea for a theme...nice work you two.

Ya know...you could always name it Ole' #2...seems apropos enough eh?

All The Best
duff

Oh and Mr. Greven waves from his work bench and says Hi you guys!!!

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

Ideas and inspiration can begin in the most unusual situations or places. Some of you may be old enough to remember standing in line at this simple machine, way back in grade school?

However, some may have fond memories, waiting in single file, while students tried their best to sharpen their pencil to a nice sharp point, without breaking the tip off. If you are like me, you might remember the sweet smell of the pencil's wood, wafting through the breeze, as the open widow's airflow circulated the pungent aroma around the classroom. It wasn't until much later in life that I learned that wooden pencils are made from Cedar trees. A few specific kinds of Cedar were commonly used and one unique species is commonly known as Golden Pencil Cedar. Its lighter in color than the more popular Western Red Cedar and Eastern Aromatic Cedar. Pencil Cedar has a golden hue, which is visibly distinguishable from the other two common varieties of Cedar.

I happened upon a few billets of this wood a couple decades back so I re-sawed a few tops from it. The tap tone is nothing short of impressive so I decided to use it for a guitar top.

Since the inspiration from this design came from the simple #2 pencil Mary wanted to use a hexagon shaped sound hole. She also wanted me to cut thin slices from the end of the pencil and inlay the pencil's cross section slices into the rosette's background of end grain Red Palm wood.


For the back and sides she chose a contrasting colored wood of Torrefied Black Locust. In its natural color Black Locust is a VERY light honey color. I was quite shocked when I received this wood back from my Torrefaction processor and saw that it was nearly black in color

Mary also wanted the neck to be shaded so it wasn't such an abrupt contrast to the Torrefied Black Locust.


Finally she asked that three pencil slices to be inlayed into the back's center seam strip:


The shading on the back of the neck carries all the way up to the peg head:


For those of you attending the up coming Artisan Guitar Show, please stop by our table and take this guitar for a test drive and give us your feedback on these unusual choices of wood.

See you on Saturday. It's decided.

[Guitars44me]

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

I was waiting for you to mention the feature where you can pull out the strap button at the bottom, put in a pencil and get it sharpened! I guess that will be a custom option for songwriters. :-)

Nicely done.

Best,
Jayne

I like this idea, but on second thought, it would add weight... haha

Cool stuff

Paul

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by The Growler

Very creative! Well done.

Thanks Growler. Mary certainly gets the nod for her creative part.

Originally Posted by tkoehler1

I love the color of the Golden Pencil Cedar top. Very nice!

It’s certainly quite unique and a slight deviation from the norm.

Originally Posted by mcduffnw

Hi Mary and Tim...

I still remember the fun of meeting you two at the last...sigh, sniff...Healdsburg Festival, and sharing that wonderful Sunday Morning Worship with you and a few other good folks. Such fond memories!

This is a really fine looking guitar, with a great idea for a theme...nice work you two.

Ya know...you could always name it Ole' #2...seems apropos enough eh?

All The Best
duff

Oh and Mr. Greven waves from his work bench and says Hi you guys!!!

Hey Mc Duff, thanks for the kind words and it’s great to hear from you! Ole #2, I love it! Please give John my best and let him know I finally started the new project a couple days ago. Hope to share the results with him in a month or so...