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Old 06-14-2018, 11:22 AM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Default Jameslee Guitars - 2018

I am a longtime consumer, fan, and student of the Custom Shop. There are some fantastic guitarmakers and members here, and I would like to start this thread with a big thank you to everyone for their willingness to share and contribute. I will continue to be an avid consumer of information on this forum, but my goal with this thread is to begin contributing.

A condensed background. I was raised in a small rural town in northwest Missouri. My mother spurred my passion for music, woodworking, art, and crafts. She was and remains a renaissance woman. A fantastic musician, singer, painter, artist, woodworker, designer and all around great person. Growing up, we were always making or restoring something. Music was also an integral part of life.

I've been learning/playing the guitar since age 13. I was lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist in various bands throughout high school and college. At some point during undergrad, it dawned on me I should have a backup plan in case the rock star thing didn't pan out. One thing led to another, and I eventually graduated law school with honors and secured a prestigious job clerking with a federal district court judge in the Western District of Missouri. Unfortunately, long haired rocker and judicial law clerk don't mix well, so I decided to direct my musical and creative juices in a new direction.

I began to soak up all information I could find about guitarmaking. To that point, I think my lutherie experience was limited to building a lap dulcimer in high school. Like many builders here, my initial goal wasn't to become a long-term maker. Rather, I was a poor law school grad with a mountain of debt who knew he couldn't afford a nice solid wood guitar from a big factory (coupled with a long time frustration of going to big box music stores and being disappointed with the sound of the "high end" new guitars hanging from the high pegs on the wall). My initial thought process was probably similar to many builders here: raw wood is cheaper than a finished guitar; I have a few tools and know how to use a table saw, band saw, chisel and handplane; I can read and follow directions/instructions/plans; thus I can build myself a nice guitar for less money than buying something similar. Maybe the statement in bold above is true for someone, but that someone wasn't me. That first, supposedly one-off project, turned into the most expensive hobby/passion/time suck/masochistic endeavor ever (alright, law school wins the most masochistic endeavor category, but lutherie is a close second).

I essentially conducted a year of guitarmaking self-study while scraping up enough free cash to buy the requisite wood and minimal tooling. In early 2011, I began building my first guitar, primarily using Natelson & Cumpiano's excellent book, Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology. That guitar took about five months' worth of long nights to complete. I made lots of mistakes (e.g., I inadvertently learned that the position of the lower tone bars don't make as much difference in final tone as you might expect . . . a word to new builders: be mindful that bracing plans are often printed as a reverse image and, regardless of where they seem to appear on the plan, lower tone bars for traditional x-braced guitars abut the treble-side x-brace leg). I also learned the hard way that being a generally good woodworker does not translate into being a generally good guitar finisher. Fine guitar finishing is a new category of beast, one that I have struggled mightily to tame. That first guitar sounded fantastic. It easily exceeded my expectations in that regard. Finish and fit, on the other hand, left plenty to be desired. So, of course, I had to build another, better one. And then another, and another, and so on and so forth. It's a never ending, maddening march towards an unachievable perfection. But a very fun and rewarding march nonetheless.

Wow, that was a long introduction. For what it's worth, I promise more pictures and fewer words in future posts.

Onward to the present. After the two-year judicial clerkship, I continued to build guitars in my spare time. But, with the addition of our first son and a new job in Big Law, spare time was limited. Still, I managed to knock out a couple guitars a year, each one slowly improving on the last in one way or another.

This spring, it dawned on me that I wasn't happy continuing down the Big Law path. So I quit. What a glorious, and simultaneously scary, feeling. Since, I've been traveling with the family (we are hitting the Greek islands next month - super excited about that one), renovating the home shop, knocking off tasks from a "honey do" list that has been accumulating action items for the past 7 years, tending to the kids, building guitars, and planing my next legal venture (not necessarily in that order). At least while I have time, I thought I would document my guitarmaking endeavors here. That's it for now. Stay tuned for more.

Regards,

J. Aaron Craig
Jameslee Guitars (because I know some may be wondering where this name came from, here's a brief explanation . . . it is an amalgamation of my first name (James) and my wife's middle name (Lee) - at some point in time, we thought "Jameslee" sounded cool and agreed it would be the name of our first business . . . I also think it sounds better than "Craig Guitars" and a stylized "J" looks better on a headstock . . . so there you have it).

If you have Instagram, you can also follow me @jameslee.guitars.

You can also check out my website at http://www.jamesleeguitars.com There are some sound clips of a few guitars in the listening room that were recorded by a country music guitarist/singer/songwriter and friend, Phil Vandel http://www.philvandel.com/, as well as additional photos in the gallery.
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Old 06-14-2018, 11:52 AM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Default Jameslee Guitars - 2018

A few photos from prior builds.

Here are some shots of a 12-string small jumbo, Lutz spruce and pommele sapele guitar built for a singer/songwriter in northwest Missouri.









Here are a few of a 12th fret, OO, Redwood and East Indian Rosewood.







One more guitar, but I only have one “artsy” shot currently on hand due to a hard drive failure.



And I have recently build a few ukes. Here are some of the latest. All Koa, concert size.











Regards,

J. Aaron Craig
Jameslee Guitars
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Old 06-14-2018, 12:35 PM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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In process photos.

I’m currently working on a couple of guitars. One is a 12th fret OO, Sinker Redwood and Osage Orange for a service member currently stationed in Italy. The other is also a 12th fret OO, but with Lutz spruce and figured Tasmanian Blackwood. If you haven’t guessed, I really like the 12th fret OO shape and sound. The body is curvy in all the right places, and the centralized bridge location leads to a very pleasing sound/tone.


This set of Osage Orange came from a tree a buddy and I cut off his family farm a few years ago. Until I started building guitars, I knew this tree only as a “hedge” tree. Farm owners of old used to plant them as natural fences in hedgerows. They have long, thick, and razor sharp needles that help keep cows (and would be lumberjacks in their place). Growing up, it was considered a nuisance species and used primarily as corner posts for barbed wire fencing. But if you can get past the color, it makes a superb tonewood. The sets I have from this log were riddled with insect holes, as seen in this photo. But they ring like a bell when tapped. I am not exaggerating when I say it sounds better than a number of Brazilian Rosewood sets I have on hand. Inspired by some beautiful Osage Orange Guitars seen on this forum by the likes of Mr. McKnight and others, this will be my first build with the wood.





And the Sinker Redwood top:





Jointing the top plates for a gap-free joint:


Done.


Rosette building:










Done.




Regards,

J. Aaron Craig
Jameslee Guitars
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Old 06-14-2018, 12:44 PM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Continued.

How did that get in there? Woodworking detour (I love fly fishing and seem to never have enough nets).


Back on point. Top and back on the Lutz and Taz Blackwood build:


And a simple rosette for that one:




A shot of my excellent apprentice:


Thicknessing the top plates:




Regards,

J. Aaron Craig
Jameslee Guitars
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Old 06-14-2018, 03:09 PM
DanR DanR is offline
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Beautiful wood working!
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Old 06-14-2018, 03:11 PM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Thanks, Dan!
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Old 06-14-2018, 04:29 PM
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Tim McKnight Tim McKnight is offline
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Looking good James and welcome to the forum, as a sponsor. I would caution you to pay particular attention to the dark brown streaks in the Osage back. In my experience, Osage has a propensity to crack along those dark lines. I usually will flex it, both directions cross grain just to test it but be careful as it may split. It’s better to find out now than to sink several months of your life into it just to be disappointed down the road.

BTW, Mr. McKnight was my dad, shucks, I’m just Tim...
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Last edited by Tim McKnight; 06-14-2018 at 04:39 PM.
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Old 06-14-2018, 05:22 PM
printer2 printer2 is online now
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I think the back looks very appealing and am waiting to see the sides. Maybe put a cleat or two along the stripe. I have some Kahaya that has similar stripes, I'd heed what Mr McKnight as to say.
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Old 06-14-2018, 05:27 PM
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Welcome, indeed. That 12-string is giving me palpitations, not to mention the redwood top on the 00.
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Old 06-14-2018, 05:33 PM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Default Jameslee Guitars - 2018

Thanks, Tim! I know exactly what you’re talking about as far as dark lines and cracking go in Osage Orange. Everything within the pattern is stable. The narrower brown lines outside the pattern at the very top are suspect (no cracks in this set, but flitch cuts prior had definite cracks in those lines), but shouldn’t pose a problem. I’ve flexed and shaken the crap out of (that’s a highly technical process for those non-luthiers out there) this set while getting it down to thickness with no ill effects. And I love the slight color variation. Much more interesting than straight canary yellow. Anecdotally, a sister set with similar coloration was sold to another luthier and used to make a lovely harp guitar without issue.

That said, I lost roughly 95% of this log to insects and instability/cracks/rot. I think I ended up with four usable sets. It was a labor of love and a really big tree. [emoji31] As I’m sure you know, finding sufficiently large, straight grained, and defect free North American Osage Orange is difficult. If you can find sets of the stuff for sale, it’s mostly rift and flatsawn stuff. Most large trees I have cut, even if they look good from the outside, have large defects smack dab in the middle of the tree, often radiating into the heartwood. Disappointing, but what do you do? On the plus side, I have a garage full of more Osage Orange bow staves than I can possibly use in my lifetime. [emoji16] I have dibs on a couple more OO trees that are much larger. I’m hoping to get to them this fall and have my fingers crossed they are worth the hassle. If so and you’re interested, I’m happy to share. I love your Osage Orange builds.
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Old 06-14-2018, 05:40 PM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eatswodo View Post
Welcome, indeed. That 12-string is giving me palpitations, not to mention the redwood top on the 00.


That Sinker Redwood is rather spectacular. I rarely get nervous anymore routing rosettes, but I’ll admit this set gave me pause.
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Old 06-14-2018, 05:54 PM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by printer2 View Post




I think the back looks very appealing and am waiting to see the sides. Maybe put a cleat or two along the stripe. I have some Kahaya that has similar stripes, I'd heed what Mr McKnight as to say.

Tim is indeed a sage mentor. I will likely use some bias tape wetted with hot hide glue in between the back braces to add a bit of insurance against cracking.
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Old 06-14-2018, 07:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ACraig View Post
Tim is indeed a sage mentor. I will likely use some bias tape wetted with hot hide glue in between the back braces to add a bit of insurance against cracking.
I forgot to add, love your work. I have some Black Locust that I am building with and your Osage Orange reminds me of it in that they are not brown and both probably would appeal to someone that can appreciate something a little different.
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Old 06-14-2018, 07:10 PM
ACraig ACraig is offline
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Thanks! I’ve heard Black Locus can make a very nice sounding guitar. I have never felled one, but I did climb a large one once to free a model airplane that crash landed midway up the tree. Long story short, not a good tree for climbing.



Not sure which one looked worse when all was said and done, me or the plane.
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Old 06-14-2018, 07:24 PM
jojobean39 jojobean39 is offline
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Nice looking builds. Very cool work.

I thought your fishing net was the beginning of a racquetball racquet. I didn’t want to be the one to tell you how heavy that thing was about to be. :-)
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