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#1
04-06-2016, 12:03 PM
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English Brown Oak Parlor for TAMCO, UK
The last parlor we built for Trevor at TAMCO was so much fun, it was an easy choice to build another. Only, I suppose we should call it a "Parlour" model when it makes it across the pond.
You might recall the discussion about color (colour?) that the last parlor sparked. Dye it? Stain it? Fume it? Leave it natural? Trevor opted for natural, and I'm glad we went that way. I thought the result was surprisingly handsome. Discussing this next instrument, the box was ticked for "dark". And a darker finish is undeniably handsome:  That ^ is a Stickley piece, no doubt endeavoring to recreate the color of English Brown Oak. Beautifully simple lines, but notice the lovely honey gold of the finish. (I bet Jazz Bob has the exact name of this shade.) Consider this:  This piece ^ from the shop of Robert Thompson, the "Mouse Man of Kilburn". Best I know, he used English Oak exclusively. Not certain about the finishing method, but the colour is perfect. Did (does) he achieve it this way:  This shot taken outside his shop--entire logs, sliced and open to the North Yorkshire weather. My wife and I have stood here, admiring--even envying--his stock of future timber. Ok, I stood there while she went on in to the gift shop. I find it all inspiring, enough to jump on some English Brown Oak guitar sets when they became available. And as I mentioned, Trevor asked for a dark version this time, SO...  Easy decision. This set has a quartered fleck not readily seen in this photo, as well as a large birds-eye type mottling. And the colour--perfect. Much more to come, but this will get us started. Hope you enjoy the process! Steve 
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#2
04-06-2016, 01:00 PM
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That is a gorgeous piece of wood.
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#3
04-06-2016, 01:54 PM
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Really nice piece - my parents have a bunch of old oak furniture in their house and I always liked the look of it. I don't know if I've ever seen oak used on a guitar before, what are your expectations for it as a back/sides tonewood?
__________________
Acoustics: Larrivee OM-40R Electrics: Danocaster Doublecut, K-Line Truxton, Heritage H-535
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#4
04-06-2016, 02:21 PM
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That is a beautiful set Steve, you better be careful, keep this up and you are going to be known as the Oak man of East Texas or something....you are becoming the Oak King down there!!!! This is going to be beautiful...
Tom
__________________
PS. I love guitars!
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#6
04-06-2016, 04:19 PM
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Quote:
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#7
04-06-2016, 04:29 PM
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Thanks for the kind words, gents.
Quote:
My peers may roll their eyes at such a statement, but it really does make a fine guitar. The fact that this set is "exotic" is just icing on the cake. Steve
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#8
04-06-2016, 08:51 PM
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Another word about inspiration. The work of the Larson brothers, and the guitars that Stahl built are fine examples of more with less. Sometime more with more, obviously, but I love their purfling designs that use simple wood marquetry.
And designing our own pattern proved to be rewarding. For Trevor's last guitar we came up with this:  For this next parlour we wanted something to compliment the golden brown color of the oak. Sketching and experimenting gave us this as a sample pattern:  Woods used are Holly, Bloodwood, dyed black and gold veneers. Construction in a bit, stay tuned.
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#9
04-06-2016, 09:22 PM
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A couple of steps are omitted by the time of this photo. You can see the shape has been cut out of the back panel, and also the back has been routed to accept the center inlay. What is happening here is gluing in the b/w/b strips that sandwich a Teflon spacer:
 And here the glue has dried, clamps removed:  Next step is to pull the Teflon out, and work in the marquetry tiles. Sample piece on hand to keep the sequence correct:  It might appear tedium to some--I find it relaxing. This was nearly therapeutic. Thanks for watching, Steve
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#10
04-07-2016, 06:16 AM
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This is going to look just great, the colors are all coming together so well. I really like the marquetry strip and the colors you chose.
Are the pores in the English Oak as large as those of the White Oak you used before?
__________________
PS. I love guitars!
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#12
04-07-2016, 08:54 AM
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Steve,
NICE - This may play in to what we discussed. Chris
__________________
The Electrics check The Acoustics Tom Doerr - Trinity. Flamed Maple under Swiss Tom Doerr - M/D. Braz under Red
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#13
04-07-2016, 09:28 AM
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This build looks as though it's going to be of a spectacular level once again Steve. As a Lancastrian born and bred it galls me to look at all that Oak being seasoned in Yorkshire (Our arch enemies LOL). It will be nice to see some of our home grown woods being used by one of the Worlds top luthiers
Iain
__________________
Faith Neptune high gloss. Washburn TW-28-SN Washburn mg 701 deluxe Tokai love rock (83 Japan) Tokai bass "A dreamer easy in the chair that really fits him"
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#14
04-07-2016, 09:42 AM
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Love to see oak used in more guitars these days. I'm looking forward to seeing this one come together in such able hands!
Pat
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#15
04-07-2016, 04:20 PM
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Quote:
Here is a thread on the Collings forum which has a pic of the Breedlove guitar tonewoods chart in the second post: http://collingsforum.com/eve/forums/...85/m/939100063 Where would Oak fall on that?
__________________
An old Gibson and a couple of old Martins; a couple of homebrew Tele's
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