Build: 2020 Ray Kraut 00, Swiss/Brazilian

[Cocobolo Kid]

Here is the Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. There will be a matching pinless bridge from the same piece of wood. The scale is 25.0 inches and Ray will be using EVO fretwire. This fingerboard is one of my favorite parts of the guitar:



Also, here is a photo of the handmade Reischl tuning machines that will be going on this guitar:



While I was at Ray's shop yesterday, he also made the veneer for the front of the peghead. He used a piece of the Brazilian rosewood used to make the fingerboard and bridge plus the blue and green dyed, spalted woods used on the rosette.

Here is Ray re-sawing the piece of Brazilian rosewood:



After cutting the re-sawed rosewood into three smaller pieces, Ray sands, fits and glues them together by hand:



After completing the peghead veneer, Ray sanded both sides to thickness using his Timesaver thickness sander:





To give you an idea of what the completed headstock will look like, here is one of my favorite 00's that Ray recently made:



That's all I have for now. Thanks again for following along with the build.

[TomB'sox]

This whole thing is pretty amazing from the woods, rosette, headstock etc etc.

Congrats!

[Carmel Cedar]

My goodness, this is coming together beautifully. I love the fretboard - I'm thinking it will 'speak' to the back and sides in a beautiful way. And the rosette continues to impress.

Can't wait to see it all together!

[Diamondave]

I’m in Tucson for the mineral show, I’ll be sure to visit Ray, I gotta check this out with my own eyes! Does drool sand off? Lol, I’ll be careful...

[colins]

Every image is a treat John, this is one nice guitar.

Originally Posted by Diamondave

I’m in Tucson for the mineral show, I’ll be sure to visit Ray, I gotta check this out with my own eyes! Does drool sand off? Lol, I’ll be careful...

May be one of the finest gems you see

[Cocobolo Kid]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

This whole thing is pretty amazing from the woods, rosette, headstock etc etc.

Congrats!

Thanks so much Tom. I feel very fortunate to have connected with Ray when he moved to Tucson, and that Ray is building such a special guitar for me. In 2018, I didn't even know that Ray had moved to Tucson. I was looking at one of his new guitars for sale on Dream Guitars, and noticed the label said "Tucson, Arizona".

Originally Posted by Carmel Cedar

My goodness, this is coming together beautifully. I love the fretboard - I'm thinking it will 'speak' to the back and sides in a beautiful way. And the rosette continues to impress.

Can't wait to see it all together!

Thanks again for the nice words Carmel Cedar. If you are the one who ended up with the green-themed 00 that Ray recently built (and whose headstock photo I used above), congrats also! I came very close to buying that guitar, but figured a custom build with Ray would be more fun. That guitar was the inspiration for this build.

Originally Posted by Diamondave

I’m in Tucson for the mineral show, I’ll be sure to visit Ray, I gotta check this out with my own eyes! Does drool sand off? Lol, I’ll be careful...

Thanks Dave! I really hope I can meet you while you are in Tucson. Ray speaks so highly of you. He said that he had a great time at the NAMM show with you earlier this month. As you probably already know, Ray is using the same piece of Brazilian rosewood for the fingerboard and bridge on your guitar as he is on mine. You are going to love how your guitar is coming along as well!

Originally Posted by colins

Every image is a treat John, this is one nice guitar.

May be one of the finest gems you see

Thanks again Colin!!! I really hope to see you again this year.

[Nemoman]

Everything you've got going here looks amazing thus far.

Looking forward to seeing this as it progresses!

[Cocobolo Kid]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Everything you've got going here looks amazing thus far.

Looking forward to seeing this as it progresses!

Thanks Nemoman! I am following your Baranik Meridian build thread as well.

Ray texted me this teaser photo last night, showing how the headstock looks now. Needless to say, I was delighted with how it is turning out. I will be at Ray's shop later today, so I should be able to post more photos tonight.

[Nemoman]

Wow--very cool how the dyed spalted wood is full-depth so that you see it from the side as well. Awesome detailing!

[CoolerKing]

very cool.


Apropos of nothing I know of a few luthiers that have picked up and moved cross country, Gage Halland being another, and a few others I'm forgetting. I can't imagine moving all that equipment. Last time I moved I basically nuked my attic, brought the guitars and the stereo, etc.

Congrats on the build

[Cocobolo Kid]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Wow--very cool how the dyed spalted wood is full-depth so that you see it from the side as well. Awesome detailing!

Thanks Nemoman. Ray does make an awesome headstock, not to mention the rest of the guitar!

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

very cool.

Apropos of nothing I know of a few luthiers that have picked up and moved cross country, Gage Halland being another, and a few others I'm forgetting. I can't imagine moving all that equipment. Last time I moved I basically nuked my attic, brought the guitars and the stereo, etc.

Congrats on the build

Thanks Matthew. In the past, Ray has had to move his shop over a half dozen times, mainly due the building being sold where he was renting shop space. Ray has collected some massive shop tools, many that weigh a couple tons. He has this huge lathe that used to be on a U.S. Navy air craft carrier (I think I am remembering correctly). He has some massive drill presses, sanders, band saws and a table saw, which are much more useful for guitar building. I took a lot of photos of Ray's shop, and plan to post those during the lull in this thread when my guitar is curing after the finish is applied.

I took more build photos at Ray's shop yesterday and should be posting those tonight.

[Cocobolo Kid]

I visited Ray at his shop yesterday for a few hours, and took some photos of the latest progress.

This photo shows the titanium truss rod that I ordered for this guitar. Ray builds such a light guitar body, and I wanted the neck to be as light as possible too (for balance when playing). The titanium truss rod feels noticeably lighter than a steel one - about half the weight. This photo also shows the top part of the dovetail joint that Ray uses to join the neck with the guitar body.



This is another shot of the peghead veneer that Ray designed for this guitar. The green and blue dyed, spalted woods match the rosette and end graft inlay.



Here is Ray gluing the fingerboard to the neck. Ray uses a certain type of fish glue for this. The fish glue is similar to hide glue, in that it can be heated up later to be easily removed. The fish glue, however, is easier to work with as it is applied at room temperature and does not dry/set nearly as fast. This photo also shows the newly inlaid maple purfling line around the perimeter of the fingerboard.



The next photo shows Ray clamping the glued fingerboard and neck.



I have been hanging out with Ray at his shop for about a year-and-a-half now, and he usually builds one or two guitars at a time. This next photo shows the rare batch of four he has going now, two modified dreadnaughts and two 00's. Mine is at the far end.



Ray should be shaping my guitar neck next and also completing the end graft inlay.

That's it for now. Thanks for following along.

[colins]

Love that headstock!

And having seen one image of the four guitars (and necks in the background) I'd be happy to see more if you took them.

[Cocobolo Kid]

Originally Posted by colins

Love that headstock!

And having seen one image of the four guitars (and necks in the background) I'd be happy to see more if you took them.

Colin,

The next time I am at Ray's, I will take photos of the other two headstocks and post them (the third one has no inlays). I hope to be there on Monday or Tuesday next week.

[Carmel Cedar]

Originally Posted by Cocobolo Kid

If you are the one who ended up with the green-themed 00 that Ray recently built (and whose headstock photo I used above), congrats also! I came very close to buying that guitar, but figured a custom build with Ray would be more fun. That guitar was the inspiration for this build.

John, regrettably the green-themed 00 is not mine, as it's a gorgeous guitar. I have one of Ray's two first 00's ever made (the bird's-eye maple one he brought to Woodstock in 2015 - being played in this video: https://vimeo.com/117604080). Tone is just divine! Cool to own the 'first' 00 he built.

Look forward to seeing your build's progress as you make yourself at home in Ray's shop. Awesome that you live there and can watch your guitar come to life!