Itzkin workshop 2022

[Itzkinguitars]

Making rosettes:

[Steve Kinnaird]

Brian, those rosettes are fantastic. Many thanks for the closeups of your clean work.

Steve

[vpolineni]

Originally Posted by Itzkinguitars

Starting to look like a guitar

Now that it's August, the countdown has begun. Can't wait to see the woods under french polish Brian!

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Brian, those rosettes are fantastic. Many thanks for the closeups of your clean work.

Steve

You might recognize those cuban mahogany veneer lines Steve . Looking forward to showing the crossover to yourself and everyone at BIG!

[Carpinteria]

Both the woods and the workmanship are stellar. Very nice! Dave

[Itzkinguitars]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Brian, those rosettes are fantastic. Many thanks for the closeups of your clean work.

Steve

Thanks Steve, that means a lot!

I’ve made the bridge for Vasu’s guitar. The design is inspired by Vicente Arias, the great 19th/early 20th century maker from Madrid. Vasu and I felt this Arias inspired design worked well for the crossover as it has an almost belly bridge like aesthetic despite the design pre-dating Martin’s belly bridge by 50 years. While trying to locate and glue the bridge an unwanted intruder entered the shop so I need to evict her before the clamps go on.

[Itzkinguitars]

Bridge is on, fretboard radiused. Tomorrow frets and neck carving.

[MThomson]

Beautiful stuff. Such clean work as well. Congrats on a job well done.

[Itzkinguitars]

Bracing soundboards with the latest interpretation of my bracing system

[Itzkinguitars]

another soundboard, this one with a Romanillos/Torres inspired bracing system destined for Siccas guitars

[MThomson]

Lovely stuff. Wondering what sort of tonal differences you expect from the different bracing patterns?

[Brownheron]

Heads up that Brian is one of the next-gen luthiers featured in the Nov/Dec edition of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Congrats Brian!

Five next-generation guitar makers—Olivia Elia, Brian Itzkin, Oliver Marchant, Eve Meister, and Max Spohn—share stories of their personal journeys and their visions of the craft of lutherie.

[vpolineni]

So both Brian and I are clearly horrible at posting, but I wanted to share the completed crossover guitar that he built for me! This has been in the works for some time, so we celebrated by him delivering the guitar in person and saw an amazing performance by Pepe Romero. It was fitting to receive an amazing classical guitar after attending this concert. Without further adieu, here are some pics!

Let's start with the brazilian rosewood back. The french polish is so exquisite, the shellac gives a warm glow to the wood:


Speaking of french polish, Brian's skills really show off the silking on this moon spruce top:


Beautiful design of this venetian cutaway. I know Brian went through multiple versions to get this just right. Speaking of, those miters aren't too shabby either!


I've mentioned this in an earlier post, but this rosette is stunning to see in person:


As are these tuners from Kris Barnett! I swear, they are the smoothest open gear tuners I've ever used. Blindfolded, I would have said they are 510s.


Brian's choice of kingwood for the binding and end wedge complimented the brazilian rosewood perfectly. He rounded over the binding for a super comfortable playing experince.



My favorite part - Brian had a spanish cedar neck blank with incredible chatoyance. I've spent as much time playing the guitar as I have moving the neck back and forth in the light, haha. I'll try to capture it as best as I can in a pic:


Okay, so how does it sound? I'm not a classical player but it has that idyllic sound to me. It has very authoritative bass with great trebles, exhibiting depth/color to the note with sustain. Since this is a crossover, he altered the neck shape to make it more steel string friendly and made the action impossibly low. It practically plays itself but does not buzz at all.

The best news is the guitar will only sound better from here - we are starting from a wonderful baseline. I couldn't be more thrilled and want to thank Brian for the blood, sweat, and at time tears that were put into this build!!!

[dcn]

Such beautiful, graceful work.

And... couldn't help notice the dog is also wood-colored

[Carpinteria]

Thank you for all these photos. It’s a beautiful guitar from every angle! Dave

[MThomson]

Congratulations on an incredible guitar and what sounds like an even better experience.