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  #61  
Old 06-26-2020, 01:03 PM
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Default Finger Rest

While the nitrocellulose lacquer outgasses and hardens before it is ready to buff, John made a Chuck Wayne style finger rest for my archtop. The finger rest is made from Gaboon Ebony bound in Birdseye Sugar Maple to match the body, fingerboard and headstock. John will install volume and tone pots on the underside and mount a floating custom Buscarino humbucker made for him by Kent Armstrong when it’s completed.

Hint: Take a look at the binding to see how he made this...

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Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 06-27-2020 at 05:26 AM.
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  #62  
Old 07-02-2020, 05:24 PM
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Egad its all one piece. Is the ebony inlayed into the maple?
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  #63  
Old 07-02-2020, 06:12 PM
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Originally Posted by j. Kinnaird View Post
Egad its all one piece. Is the ebony inlayed into the maple?
Yep, John CNC’d the finger rest out of a piece of Birdseye Sugar Maple and created a pocket to accept the purfled Gaboon Ebony insert. A bit of chiseling to clean up the small radii in the sharp corners of the inset, but no miters in Birdseye Sugar Maple (just the purfling within)...
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  #64  
Old 07-28-2020, 06:08 PM
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Check out the fiddleback Sycamore Maple back and Hard Maple neck now that it has some sunburst dye and is under nitro finish.

C58A541F-F387-4241-A092-0BC635B8ACFD.jpg
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Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 07-28-2020 at 06:42 PM.
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  #65  
Old 07-29-2020, 11:51 AM
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A friend of mine has that guitar's twin that John built for him about 5 years ago. It is maybe the prettiest guitar EVER!!!

Congratulations
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  #66  
Old 07-29-2020, 02:35 PM
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John has completed the assembly of my Monarch and took some time to photograph it yesterday. The guitar looks stunning...

Most of these shots were taken in a light diffuser box under 5000k fluorescent source. This photographic approach manages reflection and shows detail well, but color and depth of figure can be underrepresented. The one shot that shared yesterday was under direct strobe outside the diffuser box. This shot shows the depth of the figure well, but shifts the hue a bit to the dark side. The point is it is difficult to accurately capture a sunburst. John will hang on to the guitar for a while and while “dial it in” as it settles in and perhaps have his friend, ace guitarist/studio wizard Luis Diaz make a video with it. If he does, I will share it.

As a reminder (this thread started in January) this is 16” version of John’s “Monarch” model. The top is Carpathian Spruce, the back and sides are European Sycamore Maple and the neck is three-piece Hard Maple.

It has a 25” scale length, 1-3/4” nut width, 2-3/16” string spacing and Gotoh 510 tuners . The body has tapered depth rims from 3” to 3-1/2”, a Venetian cutaway and a sound port. It has a custom Kent Armstrong low wind floating humbucker with hidden tone and volume pots under the finger rest. The finish is nitrocellulose lacquer.

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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…

Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 07-29-2020 at 03:11 PM.
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  #67  
Old 07-29-2020, 02:43 PM
Rwpierce Rwpierce is offline
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Congratulation Bob, it's a beauty! Looking forward to hearing the video.
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  #68  
Old 07-29-2020, 03:12 PM
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Stunning!

I look forward to hearing you play it and to playing the single jazz chord I know on this beauty.
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  #69  
Old 07-29-2020, 04:56 PM
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That's beautiful, Bob--you'll be making sweet music on it soon.

Congratulations!
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  #70  
Old 07-29-2020, 05:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rwpierce View Post
Congratulation Bob, it's a beauty! Looking forward to hearing the video.
Thanks Rob...

Quote:
Originally Posted by jt1 View Post
Stunning!

I look forward to hearing you play it and to playing the single jazz chord I know on this beauty.
JT I always aim to please in that regard (I did spy you playing a few yourself last night on YouTube on the Buddy Holly tune)...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post
That's beautiful, Bob--you'll be making sweet music on it soon.
Congratulations!
Thanks, but it won’t unfortunately be in my hands until September due to the nexus of a few circumstances...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…

Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 07-30-2020 at 04:52 AM.
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  #71  
Old 07-29-2020, 11:21 PM
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Truly outstanding sick-a-more. Post a recording if you ever get a chance. Thanks for sharing all the photos. Tons of fun to watch it come to life.
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  #72  
Old 07-30-2020, 01:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7 View Post
Check out the fiddleback Sycamore Maple back and Hard Maple neck now that it has some sunburst dye and is under nitro finish.

Attachment 41641
Holy moly!! Under finish, that flame looks 3-dimensional! That's absolutely gorgeous wood!

Stunned. Drooling. Weak in the knees. I hope you're happy with yourself.
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  #73  
Old 07-30-2020, 05:47 AM
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Default A Few More

Here is a front view shot of the entire guitar so you can see the proportions. It is a 16" body. The string spacing was made a bit wider than a standard archtop (standard is 2-1/16" or 52.4 mm) at 2-3/16" or 58.7 mm. I find the wider string spacing easier when playing with a pick and my fingers.



A bit closer view shows the dark lines in the split bock inlays are Green Abalone and not the Ebony fretboard. You can also see the figure in the Birdseye Hard Maple binding throughout. The Carpathian Spruce top shows a bit of winter grain very much like it's US cousin Red Spruce does.



The subtle burst is designed to add contrast near the rims to set off the Birdseye Hard Maple binding and purflings and not obscure the beautiful fiddleback figure of the European Sycamore Maple.



Archtops typically have constant depth rims between 2-3/4' to 3-3/8" (69.9 - 85.7 mm). For this guitar John used tapered rims that start a 3" (76.2 mm) at the neck block and deepen at the end block to 3-1/2" (88.9 mm). He has found that this enhances the acoustic sound of a smaller 16" the archtop but retains comfort while playing.

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  #74  
Old 08-05-2020, 11:14 AM
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Wow - what an absolutely stunning instrument!!!
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  #75  
Old 08-22-2020, 01:18 PM
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John has had the completed Monarch for a few weeks now. He just happened to complete it coincident with the start of our summer vacation in Rhode Island. The conditions there by the ocean can be absolutely brutal on an instrument (temperature & humidity), so I told him to hang on to it until I return in late September. John told me that he lent the guitar to his friend/recording engineer/guitarist Luis Diaz to record a demo for his website. He thought he might have a video of Luis playing the guitar on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I will share it here when I get it...
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