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  #76  
Old 07-16-2019, 05:34 AM
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Deft Tungsman Deft Tungsman is offline
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Breathtaking !

The bridge is so elegant in its simplicity, and vice-versa.

And that Braz ????


[gasp]


I can't wait to see the finished product and hear your impressions on what promises to be a heavenly guitar.
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  #77  
Old 07-18-2019, 04:31 AM
jmagill jmagill is offline
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We're entering the home stretch now. The neck has been glued on…




...and so has the bridge.




Today, Tom will be stringing up the guitar… without frets. He writes:

It will be fretless for a bit. I like to get everything under tension to see exactly where the neck is going to be. Once that is done I can see what I need to do to the neck to get it perfect before I install the frets. When everything on the neck is correct I then install the frets by gluing them with epoxy. The reason why I do this is if I were to press in a tight slot or hammer in the frets funky things happen to the fretboard that I just spent tons of time making perfect. When I glue the frets in, the neck stays perfect. There are other advantages to gluing them in is they stay seated without lifting and if they ever need to be removed they come out very easily without chipping any of the fretboard by the fret slot.
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Guitars:'07 Circa OM, '09 Bashkin 00-12fret, '10 Circa 00 12-fret, '17 Buendia Jumbo, '17 Robbins R.1, '19 Doerr Legacy Select, '12 Collings 000-28H Koa. Pre-War guitars: '20 0-28, '22 00-28, '22 000-28. Mandolins: '09 Heiden Heritage F5, '08 Poe F5 , 1919 Gibson F-4, '80 Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin, '83 Monteleone GA (oval),'85 Sobell cittern.

Last edited by jmagill; 07-19-2019 at 01:23 PM.
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  #78  
Old 07-18-2019, 01:38 PM
jmagill jmagill is offline
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While the neck adjusts to the tension of the strings, Tom has been busy preparing the frets.

I had read in someone else's build thread where they had specified 'big' 55090 EVO frets (height .055”, width .090”) because they found the added height made bending notes and making barre chords easier and cleaner. I was intrigued because I've found, as I've gotten older, the articulation of my hands has changed slightly. Some fingers move in slightly different lines, or don't reach quite as far as they used to, or I have to change hand positions slightly to put my fingers where I want them, etc. Just part of aging, I guess.

Making clean barre chords has always required a bit more focus for me, so the poster's comment about bigger frets making barre chords easier got my attention. I know more than one professional guitarist who used open tunings more as they got older in order to minimize their use of barre chords, so I was convinced to give some slightly taller frets a try. This guitar will have Jescar's gold EVO 47095 fretwire (height .047”, width .095”). It’s just a bit higher & wider than what I’ve had installed in other guitars.

If a guitar gets a little too dry, perhaps in winter, when the heating system of a house makes humidity a bit harder to control, one can run a finger along the edge of the fretboard and feel the roughness of the fret ends. This is because when the humidity is low, the fretboard shrinks slightly, squeezing the frets up. Before we got a whole-house humidifier, and in spite of my best efforts at humidification, this was an annual occurrence for my guitars.

One of Tom’s nice touches is his use of hemispherical fret ends. With frets that have had this treatment, you’ll never have to worry about rough fret ends again. It takes a little more time to round off and polish the ends, but they’re the most comfortable frets I’ve ever used, and if you’ve ever played a guitar that has them, you may never want any other kind. Gluing in the frets with epoxy also helps inhibits any movement due to humidity changes.




Here are the pre-cut frets in their numbered holes, waiting for the neck to stabilize so they can be glued in.

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Guitars:'07 Circa OM, '09 Bashkin 00-12fret, '10 Circa 00 12-fret, '17 Buendia Jumbo, '17 Robbins R.1, '19 Doerr Legacy Select, '12 Collings 000-28H Koa. Pre-War guitars: '20 0-28, '22 00-28, '22 000-28. Mandolins: '09 Heiden Heritage F5, '08 Poe F5 , 1919 Gibson F-4, '80 Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin, '83 Monteleone GA (oval),'85 Sobell cittern.

Last edited by jmagill; 07-20-2019 at 07:34 AM.
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  #79  
Old 07-22-2019, 11:41 AM
jmagill jmagill is offline
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The guitar is finished.

Tom will leave it to settle in for a few days, then do the finishing up: installing the pickup and pick guard, final adjustments to the action, and replacing the gold tuner buttons in this pic with buttons made from more of this guitar's Braz. rosewood. Then he'll have some final pro photos made, after which it will be time to head south to deliver it to me at the Swannanoa Gathering's Guitar Week, where he will be showing his guitars as part of our Luthiers Exhibit.

He's bringing this guitar, two more for delivery to a client attending Guitar Week, and five others to make eight in all. I can't wait to play all of them.




Here's a closeup of the Braz. fretboard, showing the ebony dot fret markers and the hemispherical ends on the gleaming gold EVO frets. Looks pretty inviting to me...



Here's the bridge...




...and the rosette. From these last two photos the color match between the fretboard, bridge & rosette looks pretty darn good...

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Jim Magill
Director, The Swannanoa Gathering

Guitars:'07 Circa OM, '09 Bashkin 00-12fret, '10 Circa 00 12-fret, '17 Buendia Jumbo, '17 Robbins R.1, '19 Doerr Legacy Select, '12 Collings 000-28H Koa. Pre-War guitars: '20 0-28, '22 00-28, '22 000-28. Mandolins: '09 Heiden Heritage F5, '08 Poe F5 , 1919 Gibson F-4, '80 Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin, '83 Monteleone GA (oval),'85 Sobell cittern.

Last edited by jmagill; 07-24-2019 at 03:53 AM.
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  #80  
Old 07-22-2019, 12:56 PM
Burton LeGeyt Burton LeGeyt is offline
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It looks great! Love the French Polish
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  #81  
Old 07-22-2019, 05:05 PM
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So inviting, I almost found myself putting my ear up to the computer screen!

Can't wait to catch your review and reactions to your incoming masterpiece!!
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  #82  
Old 07-22-2019, 07:29 PM
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The level of detail is really quite insane. I am a big fan of Tom's appointments and design. Congrats on your upcoming guitar.
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  #83  
Old 07-23-2019, 03:53 AM
swiftz07 swiftz07 is offline
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What a beautiful build, congratulations! I feel your excitement!

I love your aesthetic choices, they v much resemble my own tastes in previous Doerr builds. The woods you and Tom picked out are gorgeous as well and they go well together in both grain and color. What a special guitar!

Tom is building me another Sterling Legacy after yours. And I am already thinking of ordering an MD from him after.

I hope you enjoy this special guitar for many years to come! Please share some pictures with us when Tom delivers this guitar to you in person.
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  #84  
Old 07-23-2019, 09:23 AM
Halcyon/Tinker Halcyon/Tinker is offline
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Very nice!
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  #85  
Old 07-23-2019, 02:06 PM
jmagill jmagill is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swiftz07 View Post
Please share some pictures with us when Tom delivers this guitar to you in person.
Once Tom sends me some of the pro photos he’s having made, I’ll post a few more here. Eventually, I will build a webpage for the guitar with lots more photos at the Instrument Reviews section at my website, and provide a link to my review of it here on the AGF.

My thanks to all of you who have been 'peeking over my shoulder' while this guitar was being built, and a special thanks to all those who commented.
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Director, The Swannanoa Gathering

Guitars:'07 Circa OM, '09 Bashkin 00-12fret, '10 Circa 00 12-fret, '17 Buendia Jumbo, '17 Robbins R.1, '19 Doerr Legacy Select, '12 Collings 000-28H Koa. Pre-War guitars: '20 0-28, '22 00-28, '22 000-28. Mandolins: '09 Heiden Heritage F5, '08 Poe F5 , 1919 Gibson F-4, '80 Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin, '83 Monteleone GA (oval),'85 Sobell cittern.
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  #86  
Old 07-24-2019, 03:37 AM
jmagill jmagill is offline
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Time to put on a little 'jewelry'.

Bill Wise of Charis Guitars lives near Tom, and in addition to crafting fine, hand-made guitars, Bill fashions beautiful wooden replacement buttons for Gotoh 510 tuners from a variety of exotic hardwoods. Visit his website to see samples.

Tom took some of the off-cuts from this guitar's Brazilian rosewood over to Bill's shop and here's what he made from them.




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Jim Magill
Director, The Swannanoa Gathering

Guitars:'07 Circa OM, '09 Bashkin 00-12fret, '10 Circa 00 12-fret, '17 Buendia Jumbo, '17 Robbins R.1, '19 Doerr Legacy Select, '12 Collings 000-28H Koa. Pre-War guitars: '20 0-28, '22 00-28, '22 000-28. Mandolins: '09 Heiden Heritage F5, '08 Poe F5 , 1919 Gibson F-4, '80 Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin, '83 Monteleone GA (oval),'85 Sobell cittern.

Last edited by jmagill; 07-24-2019 at 08:23 PM.
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  #87  
Old 07-25-2019, 06:51 AM
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Nice finishing touch with the buttons - I'm assuming this has been shipped to you already?
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  #88  
Old 07-25-2019, 11:13 AM
jmagill jmagill is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fitness1 View Post
Nice finishing touch with the buttons - I'm assuming this has been shipped to you already?
Even better: Tom's delivering it to me personally this weekend.
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Director, The Swannanoa Gathering

Guitars:'07 Circa OM, '09 Bashkin 00-12fret, '10 Circa 00 12-fret, '17 Buendia Jumbo, '17 Robbins R.1, '19 Doerr Legacy Select, '12 Collings 000-28H Koa. Pre-War guitars: '20 0-28, '22 00-28, '22 000-28. Mandolins: '09 Heiden Heritage F5, '08 Poe F5 , 1919 Gibson F-4, '80 Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin, '83 Monteleone GA (oval),'85 Sobell cittern.
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  #89  
Old 07-25-2019, 11:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmagill View Post
Even better: Tom's delivering it to me personally this weekend.
Oh - that's right!!! How cool is that!!
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  #90  
Old 07-25-2019, 01:57 PM
merlin666 merlin666 is offline
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Thanks for sharing, this is a stunning piece of art for sure. Now I'm a sucker for wooden pick guards, and with the brazilian plank used all over, using a sliver of that for a pick guard for me would be the crowning touch.
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