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  #16  
Old 12-17-2018, 02:34 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmd612 View Post
I have a Sacha guitar from John; I'd never even heard of the wood before talking to him, but I ordered it based on his description and am thrilled with how it turned out. I hope you (and the OP) are as pleased!
I’ve never played a Sacha B&S but it sounds intriguing. Which model did you get? Would love to see some pics!
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  #17  
Old 12-17-2018, 02:38 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Originally Posted by brijas99 View Post
Hey Allentown, what a small world. Great story. I ran across your thread and couldn't believe your story. It is so similar to my experience.
We are in the same John Walker class of May 2019.
I've been playing for about 15 years now, and like you, I had not heard of John Walker or his guitars. But I do love the Gibson sound. I was also toying with the idea of having a custom guitar built.
Then one day I stumbled across a listing on the forum a few months ago and saw this John Walker Ruby River Elite. His version of the Gibson J185. The woods looked awesome.
Some things are just meant to be, because it had been listed on the forum for a few months. I did a little research and knew this guitar was right for me. I love it. Still playing it every chance I get. Still a great honeymoon. I knew then that John was the right person to do a custom build for me.
I contacted John because I wanted to have another Ruby River built with an Adi top and Walnut back/sides. John is awesome to talk to, and a very patient person too, I might add.
After a month or so of discussions, I decided to have the Lochsa model built with the Adi top and Sacha back/sides. The woods he has are fantastic. I am so glad to hear that you were so impressed with the Lochsa, you decided to have him build an OM for you. Thanks for sharing your Lochsa photos !
Anyway, Congratulations on your John Walker build. Looking forward to seeing the progress photos of your OM
Awesome to hear your story and to know our builds will be progressing side by side If you don’t start a different build thread, please post your pictures here and we can try to make this a class of May 2019 thread!
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  #18  
Old 01-04-2019, 09:29 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Top and back getting glued. (Mine is # 182) Hard to tell from the lighting, but the back almost seems to have a hint of a purple hue. Will be fun to see how it looks sanded and finished.



Dry mock up of the center ring of the rosette. Simple but elegant. Just what I was looking for.

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  #19  
Old 01-04-2019, 09:33 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Imgur links are failing me.... will give another try for the top and back. Thanks for getting the rosette pics up and for the tip cmd612!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_4105.jpg (37.5 KB, 226 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_4106.jpg (36.6 KB, 222 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_4107.jpg (48.0 KB, 226 views)

Last edited by Allentown; 01-05-2019 at 05:11 PM. Reason: Many efforts to get pics attached....
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  #20  
Old 01-05-2019, 10:33 AM
Jeff Mc Jeff Mc is offline
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Here are a couple of shots of my Lochsa.
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  #21  
Old 01-05-2019, 12:12 PM
cmd612 cmd612 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Allentown View Post
Imgur links are failing me.....
Try just one image at a time.

That rosette is very nice - "simple but elegant" is right:



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  #22  
Old 01-05-2019, 03:29 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Stunning! Love that burst on your lochsa Jeff.
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  #23  
Old 01-14-2019, 11:38 AM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Well, the build process hit its first wrinkle. John sent me a photo of the top, which is sanded to the thickness he uses for assembly.

https://imgur.com/a/w2QlPO1

John alerted me to an anomaly in the wood grain, just below the rosette. It’s a little hard to see unless you zoom in, but the grain waivers and blurs right next to the top seem. You could sort of see this in the photo of the raw top, but we thought it would sand out. It almost did. John told me he always wants things to be perfect so he would start over if I wanted.

I was really torn about that decision. Part of me thought the flaw was so minor and cosmetic and would be under the strings anyways that I could overlook it. The other part of me was worried I would be staring at the top after I got the guitar and regretting it. In the back of my mind was also the fact that I loved the rest of the top and the rosette was perfect. And I disliked the idea of wasted effort and materials.

I decided I needed to sleep on it before I made a decision. The next morning, before I could respond to John, he let me know that it was bothering him enough that he just went ahead and started a new top with similar color and grain. He still had enough Brazilian rosewood from the back and sides to do another rosette. Class Act! It really says a lot about John as a luthier that he would make the call on his own that something just isn’t good enough for him, especially at that stage of the build and the minor nature of the issue. The new top looks amazing and now just keeping my fingers crossed that this is the one!

https://imgur.com/a/EZG9dpz
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  #24  
Old 01-15-2019, 11:33 AM
Bluemonk Bluemonk is offline
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Hmmm, that looks like a bit of bearclaw to me, and doesn't strike me as a flaw at all. And I can be quite hung up on aesthetics.
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  #25  
Old 01-15-2019, 01:06 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Definitely didn’t strike me as bear claw, particularly right at the center seam. But I can appreciate your perspective.
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  #26  
Old 01-15-2019, 09:42 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
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It looks to be a knot shadow, I probably would have also started a new top. I would not toss it as it is just a visual defect and I am ok with wood with character.
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  #27  
Old 01-25-2019, 10:07 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Box is sealed and binding channels are routed!

https://imgur.com/gallery/Ib92FAQ

https://imgur.com/a/AumT5ig

https://imgur.com/a/AkijlON

I didn’t get a picture of the bracing but John described as follows:

Red Spruce, scalloped X, with Jersey barriers! I just call them that, the braces along either side of the sound hole look like the barriers on the highway. Rift sawn, hard maple, bridge plate. The X is notched and capped. The X and shoulder brace ends are tucked into the kerfing. All glued with hot hide glue. A traditional OM has a 3 7/8” sound hole but I made this one 4”. Brace placement is pretty traditional.
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  #28  
Old 03-26-2019, 10:08 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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Moving on to lacquer tomorrow.







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  #29  
Old 03-26-2019, 10:15 PM
Allentown Allentown is offline
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https://imgur.com/a/Tf84fIo
https://imgur.com/a/dh3qBWD
https://imgur.com/a/ZrBgho5
https://imgur.com/a/wph4tzS
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  #30  
Old 03-27-2019, 09:32 AM
oliverkollar oliverkollar is offline
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Looking good!

That headstock inlay is awesome.

John is a great guy. When we visited him in May of 2017, he was planning his summer floats out. He also just finished up his spring batch, and there were some amazing guitars at the shop to play that day!

Can't wait to see the guitar after finish.
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