#61
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Wow, that looks like a battery operated finish it glows so much. I can't even imagine taping off those lines like that O.o
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#62
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Yeah, taping off the rosette, purflings and bindings when spraying the dyes to create the sunburst is a precise, tedious but necessary task in order to allow those elements to visually “pop” once the nitro finish goes on. Photographing sunbursts is also notoriously difficult. They almost always look a bit different in person...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#63
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I’ve decided to go with a Hiscox Liteflite Artist Case for this guitar. It is a bit heavier, but is also more protective.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#64
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Also, found my AGF badge to make myself more identifiable... |
#65
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Looking just great, Bob. Beautiful burst!
Steve |
#66
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Thanks Steve! I will be curious to see it in person. As you well know, bursts are tough to photograph..
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#67
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A better reason for wearing the badge is that many builders and artists think I'm with Acoustic Guitar magazine! You can feel the deflation when I tell them I'm with the Acoustic Guitar Forum! But I got to have extended conversations with Kaki King, Kinloch Nelson, and quite a few builders who thought at first they were going to get a feature article! Then again, maybe I shouldn't have outed myself here... |
#68
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Pickguard
While the nitro is outgassing and drying (3-weeks now) in anticipation of buffing and gluing on the Ebony bridge in a few weeks John has designed a custom pickguard for the guitar. Guitars have different scale lengths, soundhole diameters, styles of rosettes and top purflings, so pickguard shapes need to be subtly adjusted and refined. John uses thin hardwood pickguards on his guitars. He will make mine from .030” Ebony sealed with thinned cyanoacrylate. The two Ebony components (bridge and pickguard) should contrast nicely against the Autumn burst. Having CAD/CAM CNC allows him to design alternatives and quickly make prototypes using scrap wood.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#69
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It looks like it will be another week until the guitar gets assembled and sees strings. John found a small area in the nitro on the top near the end block that had shrunk into the grain of the Carpathian spruce that required touching up with an airbrush. A delecate operation no doubt! The area will now need another week to dry before it can be buffed. In the mean time, John selected a lighter piece of riftsawn Ebony to make a belly bridge and also made a thin Ebony pickguard.
While it feels like forever at this point in a build, it is actually a good thing. 6-week dried nitro buffs out better...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#70
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Monday bump!
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Classical guitars, flat top steel string A few banjos and mandolins Accrued over 59 years of playing |
#71
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Today is 6-weeks since the final wet out of nitro was applied. One of the downsides of creating a very thin nitro finish, is that it is very easy for even an experienced luthier to sand or polish though it when finishing it. Last week John found another small area that needed drop filling (this time on the headstock). So hopefully by the end of this week he will be able to buff it out, assemble it and string it up. While this part of a build it can feel like watching a tea pot boil, it is a drop in the bucket overall project (I believe that I commissioned this instrument > 16 months ago). John is a perfectionist in terms of his fit and finish. After that, he will want to hang onto it for a week to perfect the set up before shipping it...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 02-19-2018 at 05:55 PM. |
#72
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A little birdy told me that a Rhapsody is being strung up today...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#73
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Buscarino Rhapsody: Photos
I am delighted to share some photos that John sent me after he strung up my Rhapsody today. I couldn’t be more pleased visually. More importantly, John told me:
“The guitar sounds really great..I am super happy with her as she exceeded my expectations. The ebony bridge, shorter scale, smaller soundhole all work really nice together..Really nice warm tone with killer sustain, sweet trebles and no wolf tones...” As a reminder for those of you who have not followed along all these months John’s Rhapsody is a 16” Carpathian Spruce flat top with a carved East Indian Rosewood back. John used a 25” scale, a 1-3/4” nut width with 2-3/16” string spacing. While being a larger body size, to promote a balanced timbre, it is not very deep being 3-1/2” at the neck block tapering to 4” at the end-block. Here it is front and back. At my request, John used one of his “Artisan” archtop headstock shape for my guitar. We tried to combine a jazz archtop aesthetic (sunburst, headstock with stylized torch inlay) with some elements traditional flat tops (like a style 40 purflings). The 20 year old carved EIR back looks beautiful and finishing mastery created an exquisite sunburst. John used contrasting Birdseye Sugar Maple for body binding, end graft, fingerboard binding and rosette rings instead of the traditional ivoroid used often in this aesthetic. The neck has a three-piece construction using Honduran Mahogany with Birdseye Sugar Maple. John uses custom Ebony buttons on the Gotoh 510 tuners. One of the unique features is the Ebony pickguard. John’s Birdseye Sugar Maple bindings, Green Abalone rosette and Style 40 top purflings contrast beautifully against the sunburst top. Lastly, here is the guitar in its Hiscox Artisan case. John has created a unique and beautiful custom instrument that I am delighted to add to my collection. He still needs to fine tune the set up over the next week before shipping it to me.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#74
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the others. But the "average" gives a clue. (A nice one) Anyway, it looks magnificent, and you should be over the moon! Now, you should post a iim7V7IM7 progression for us, playing this new baby. Steve |
#75
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A stunningly beautiful thing, Bob. Thanks for sharing it with us.
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John |