Yamaha Junkies First build thread. Wanna watch?

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by jarfly

Congratulations YJ!!! So cool it's finally finished. I started my build towards the end of February and I just installed the tuners. Just need to shape the nut and saddle and I'll be playing my first build too!!!


BTW, you're an amazing photographer!

jarfly that is a beautiful guitar! I've been watching your develop over at DIY! I am excited for you.
Thanks on the photo complement. I've been a full time photographer for 25 years. I don't remember what it is to work .
I always have a standing offer; pay shipping both ways or drop by and I'll photo folks guitars because I love seeing new and different. The summer is a little slow for my biz. If any of you rich folks with huge or unique collections want a personal coffee table book of your collection. For a reasonable price I can be had mmmmmmm a month of living in Stings boat house, photographing guitars around the estate...... I'm back.
McJam this weekend! I am offering freebee photo's to all attending. Might be nice to have detailed photo's of that McKnight you just bought. For wall art or insurance. Mary just mentioned a few cancellations she has room for a couple folks.

[strummercat]

YJ, I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you and congratulations on your build. We all laughed and cried along the way. You made all of us feel like we were part of your adventure. I guess the big question is " how does she sound/play"?

Bob

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by strummercat

YJ, I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you and congratulations on your build. We all laughed and cried along the way. You made all of us feel like we were part of your adventure. I guess the big question is " how does she sound/play"?

Bob

I love the tone and playability. A very "woody" bass. Trebles are warm not bright. I saw your post the other day and I asked some McJamfest folks that tried her out to comment. They either did not note my request or they don't hear the same guitar I do and they figure saying nothing is best lol.

[Neil K Walk]

I thought it wasn't finished yet. Aren't you still polishing it?

[cafeguy]

Enjoyed playing your guitar YJ. I also enjoyed watching the build as you progressed. Takes a lot to post mistakes and all for all to see. I know I wouldn't have noted most of them if you hadn't pointed them out. Your perseverance paid off in the end, a very nice guitar to add to your collection and an unmached story to boot. I only got to play it for a few moments but what I heard was rich and full bodied. Thanks for answering my questions on the inlay work. When does build number 2 start?

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by cafeguy

Enjoyed playing your guitar YJ. I also enjoyed watching the build as you progressed. Takes a lot to post mistakes and all for all to see. I know I wouldn't have noted most of them if you hadn't pointed them out. Your perseverance paid off in the end, a very nice guitar to add to your collection and an unmached story to boot. I only got to play it for a few moments but what I heard was rich and full bodied. Thanks for answering my questions on the inlay work. When does build number 2 start?

Today See the post...

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by kwakatak

I thought it wasn't finished yet. Aren't you still polishing it?

You can always add to French Polish! I have to wait to finish the finish. I am taking the guitar to John Hall's Luthier gig on the 17th to get roasted. Then I will finish it! No word on the district for work so I figured I would start screwing around with #2

[Kurt]

Okay, I'll bite. I didn't get to play John's guitar much, but I had ample time to listen to it. Like Bruce noted, given the litany of "oops!" this and "I've gotta go back and fix" that, ya woulda thunk there wouldn't be much tone in the finished guitar.

You'd be wrong.

I'd agree with the "woody" assessment John mentioned, and I think that "full body" Bruce notes is in the lows. What surprised me most, though, was how clean and articulate the guitar sounded, especially in the trebles and mids. Given all I had read on this post, and even given John's in-person disclaimers at the McJam, I simply didn't have high expectations. But put against a couple of other luthier-assisted builds in a professional shop, I thought John's guitar certainly held its own, if it didn't exceed the other two in tone. Cosmetics? Nope. Gotta give it to the other two on that count (though I know John's still working on finishing up this baby). But if you heard this guitar in a blind test, I don't believe you'd be able to readily pick it out against guitars made by established companies, perhaps even some small shops and solo builders, I'd hazard to say. And if you saw this guitar and heard what it's been through (elephants, anyone?!), you'd be amazed by the sound. And that's what we're all after, ultimately, tone -- am I right?

What I'm excited about is YJ going on to another guitar. If we truly do learn from our mistakes (gracious, if we even can confess to them!), then listening to John talk about what he's gained in the process assures me that the second guitar will undoubtedly be better than the first -- and I'd bet significantly so. And if that's the case, then this next build will truly be something special. My hat is off to John and others who are willing to work off their tails to produce a musical instrument; I simply don't have it in me, and I admire their willingness to try, to try again, and to produce something that deserves the title "guitar" in every sense of the word.

[Kitchen Guitars]

Man Kurt! Thanks. I think that review is my dustcover if we ever make a book!

[Neil K Walk]

Wow, great review Kurt! R U a writer or somethin'?

He's spot on though. Let me add my not-so-eloquent observations into the mix...

Firstly, "oopsies" notwithstanding YJ put a LOT of effort into this and if anything got in his way it was his busy schedule. He put the effort in where it counted though, and that was with the bracing. I'd gone to visit his workshop/photo studio a few times and saw the guitar in various stages of completion, including a few times where he seemed to be moving backward. One day I came by and he had the body all closed up and he gave the top a rap in the middle of the lower bout and dayum if the thing didn't sound like a bass drum!

He bent Tim McKnight's ear on many an occasion and I know that that was his inspiration to build such a lightly-built guitar. I give Tim credit for urging YJ to stick with it even after the mix up between the top and back. The neck joint that YJ ended up could be viewed as some as a comedy of errors but look closer and you'll see that it's actually a thing of beauty. The intonation is right on the money.

I played it briefly in the living room on Saturday night and I gotta say it's pleasing to the ear. It's got the bass of a Martin with the trebles of a Taylor. I'm hoping to make it over to YJ's place soon so that we can record it for posterity. You all might be pleasantly surprised!

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by kwakatak

Wow, great review Kurt! R U a writer or somethin'?

I is! I is!

Originally Posted by kwakatak

It's got the bass of a Martin with the trebles of a Taylor.

Now, this is what I call spot-on. You just summarized in a single sentence what I wish I could've said in my paragraphs of rambling. This is it in a nutshell, Neil -- nicely put. I'll be interested in hearing those recordings (uh, can you play that song from the loft jam a few more times for me, please?!? )

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by Kurt

I is! I is!

Careful now, or for your next shoot YJ's gonna make you wear coveralls. Morral inspires his "rustic" side. He takes pics of barns and picket fences and whatnot!

Originally Posted by Kurt

Now, this is what I call spot-on. You just summarized in a single sentence what I wish I could've said in my paragraphs of rambling. This is it in a nutshell, Neil -- nicely put. I'll be interested in hearing those recordings (uh, can you play that song from the loft jam a few more times for me, please?!? )

Really? The whole Martin/Taylor thing is usually just a shorthand for saying that its bassy enough not to be considered "muddy" and articulate enough not to be considered "tinny." Larrivées are reputed to fall in the middle of that spectrum as well but the G and B strings are voiced somewhat louder than other makes IME. The Kitchen Model 1 however is sort of voiced so that the high E cuts through and the lower 3 strings ring true, but the G and B (in true bluegrass fashion) are voiced slightly quieter.

I'm going by memory here though so don't quote me on that. I hope to get a little more playtime on it without nutting up with the dreaded red light disease.

[Mary]

And I have the neat picture to prove it, Neil.

Kurt's picture with Camry and his guitar is a pretty nice shot, too. Morral has such busy streets. We can stand in the middle of the main road by the park and not a car in sight.

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by Mary

And I have the neat picture to prove it, Neil.

Kurt's picture with Camry and his guitar is a pretty nice shot, too. Morral has such busy streets. We can stand in the middle of the main road by the park and not a car in sight.

actually it was like playing tennis in the street. Dodge Ram trucks kept going by. In the background of the shots is a guy walking his dog and a kid on a big wheel, I pitted them behind Kurt and Bruce so you could not see them.

[Mary]

Aw, sorry. There's always someone who wants attention.

Annual McJam pictures add so much fun.