Build Thread: Traugott BK Cutaway (Brazilian/German) - Page 3

dcoventry · #31 05-09-2011, 04:49 PM

Brett et al.,

I have a very early Traugott built in 1988. It's the fourth one he made by himself, and has the only known example of his inlay work. It's cool as hell.

What's interesting is that his guitars have been great since the begginning. The one I have has all his nascent ideas, just not perfected. I love that guitar and have enjoyed it tremendously for 22 years....it looks it, too!

MikeD · #32 05-09-2011, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcoventry

Brett et al.,

I have a very early Traugott built in 1988. It's the fourth one he made by himself, and has the only known example of his inlay work. It's cool as hell.

What's interesting is that his guitars have been great since the begginning. The one I have has all his nascent ideas, just not perfected. I love that guitar and have enjoyed it tremendously for 22 years....it looks it, too!

I've played a few of Jeff's earlier guitars from the early 90's... great guitars and exactly as you describe.

dcoventry · #33 05-09-2011, 11:14 PM

MikeD,

BTW, my guitar has played that song in the bottom of your quote area many, many times.

....we can share what we got of yours, 'cause we done shared all of mine....

bdm0509 · #34 05-11-2011, 08:33 AM

Hi all-

Jeff and I have had lots of discussions, but most of that has been around the fretboard and some custom inlay we'll be doing. As I mentioned, Jeff is working on my guitar in an "as he goes" fashion, so I never know what's going to happen when. It makes for a fun time, checking email, that's for sure. And because we're getting some work done on the fretboard, he's actually already cut the board:

It's amazing that, with the fan fret, a normal fairly boring black (ebony) fretboard can become such an object of fascination and inspection. How intriguing are those slanted frets? And the ebony itself is wonderful quality, with some nice streaking that's subtle apparent even in this picture.

I'll follow this up shortly with the interesting, one-of-a-kind work that Larry Robinson is doing in the board.

-B

bdm0509 · #35 05-28-2011, 12:18 PM

One of my fascinations is with language. Over the last year, I've learned both Koine Greek (the language in which the New Testament of the Bible is written) as well as Hebrew. There's something quite intriguing to me about the nuances of language; the "same thing" said in another language brings all sorts of new connotation and intrigue. In the same way, something that you've read a thousand times becomes new and different when read for the first time in a different language.

Given that fascination, and my desire for my instruments to each be unique--not just from each other, but from the "standard" to which each builder builds--language is one of my go-to ideas for doing something one-off. Little touches, without getting into tons of inlay and over-stated-ness (not a word, but I'm rolling with it), make an instrument distinctively "mine."

For the Traugott, I had seen a picture on his site of some inlay in gold that I loved:

That particular guitar has Konji script, but the idea was very cool to me. It also maintains an elegance to me that most inlays, in my opinion, simply don't.

So I settled on a bit of Hebrew that I found both personally meaningful, and also congruent with the making of music on guitar. It's is a small portion of Psalm 51:8 in English (Psalm 51:10 in the Hebrew Bible), and is generally translated something like "let the bones that [you] have broken rejoice." Seems particularly fitting to me, and certainly I rejoice well on the guitar.

For those into this sort of thing, note that this is a particularly old script, and as is typical of this period, doesn't include vowel points.

I sent that to Jeff, who worked up a quote with Larry Robinson. We went sailing forward, and Jeff just today sent me pics of the inlay (on paper) to verify positioning. We agreed on a few tweaks, and the fretboard is now off to Larry. Here's what in rough form will soon be gorgeous:

And here's a slightly closer view:

Enjoy.

jonathanvaljean · #36 05-28-2011, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdm0509

One of my fascinations is with language.

Fellow linguist here (and linguaphile)... So, it is not surprising that I absolutely love what you are doing with the fretboard! It is a great idea, and it is doubtless that Larry Robinson's execution thereof will be flawless.

Koine Greek and Hebrew in one year? Wowsers!

bdm0509 · #37 06-13-2011, 04:08 PM

Larry Robinson has, once again, taken paper and turned it into something else entirely. The fretboard is back in Jeff's hands, and pictures are in mine.

What a lovely day. Pictures from Jeff, and all of it is getting so interesting.

Enjoy. Jeff is a fine, fine craftsmen.

Billy Boy · #38 04-18-2012, 10:19 PM

Did I miss the rest of this story? Just wondered how this build turned out...

El Conquistador · #39 04-18-2012, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy Boy

Did I miss the rest of this story? Just wondered how this build turned out...

I would also like to know what the final on this project is.

Steve

steveh · #40 04-27-2012, 11:49 AM

To the top!

What happened?

cheers,
Steve

usb_chord · #41 04-27-2012, 12:17 PM

http://www.luthierscollection.com/images.php?id=green3

It looks like the Greenfield is on consignment there. Really hope all is well.

bdm0509 · #42 03-12-2015, 08:45 AM

This is happening...

Much more to come. Wild 48 hours, wild week, wild month.

Anyone who thinks playing guitar is boring is out of their minds.

billgennaro · #43 03-12-2015, 09:19 AM

Well, after many recent discussions with you I see you have opted for a Traugott BK. In my view, as good an instrument as you could've chosen. Should make a nice compliment to your Kraut (if that is still a reality). Congratulations on your decision.

Is Jeff going to resume building this guitar, or will he be starting on a new one for you? What's the story?

cogito · #44 03-12-2015, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdm0509

This is happening...

Much more to come. Wild 48 hours, wild week, wild month.

Anyone who thinks playing guitar is boring is out of their minds.

The rapid vicissitudes of your custom build decisions is becoming dizzying. From what I've gathered, in the course of a couple of weeks you've gone from Brondel to Walker to Traugott, while also dropping a Greenfield build. It's certainly not boring, though how much it actually has to do with "playing guitar" is another matter. I look forward to hearing and seeing more.

bdm0509 · #45 03-12-2015, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cogito

The rapid vicissitudes of your custom build decisions is becoming dizzying. From what I've gathered, in the course of a couple of weeks you've gone from Brondel to Walker to Traugott, while also dropping a Greenfield build. It's certainly not boring, though how much it actually has to do with "playing guitar" is another matter. I look forward to hearing and seeing more.

Hey man... Understandable if you're paying attention to my sig, although that's only a reflection of my typos lately. I'm still on Kim Walker and Mike Greenfield's list in the next 2 years, I just accidentally deleted those lines adding the Traugott.

The only build I actually "started" and stopped was the Brondel... more soon when I'm not on my phone (and prone to make the errors that confused you earlier!).

-Brett