New McKnight Gearhead version 2

[Drscott]

Well, I did it. I pulled the trigger on a custom build from Tim and Mary McKnight.

I played one of Tim’s guitars at Bob Singer’s house (he owned Your Perfect Guitar) and was blown away by it. Started looking for one and was able to find a beauty online. (Tim didn’t have anything for sale at the time.) It was a maple guitar (quilted, flamed, and bird’s eye) with Tim’s hollow backed design in his Mini-Mac body. Generally, this would have been much too small for my taste, but the hollow back was really a game changer! He put rosewood on the inside, so I got that tone and the added power of the hollow back. Wow! You can see this specific guitar on the Mc Knight website. Stunning.

I can’t say enough about how nice it has been to work with Mary and Tim. (She does the inlay design, helps with wood combinations, makes the pictures, etc.) and he builds the guitars. This could all have been done over the phone and online, but they encouraged us to visit their shop in Ohio. My wife and I were hosted by the McKnights for over 6 hours! They gave us a tour of the shop and explained the building process, and we spent a great deal of time with their extensive stash of woods. First, we were able to hear the difference between classes of wood (cedar. Spruce, etc,) with the “tap test. Then they positioned us so that we could hear but not see the woods (so the relative beauty of one or another would not influence us overly) and my wife and I both picked the same top wood!

The next part of the visit was an opportunity to play 8 or 9 different guitars that the McKnights have built. One in each body size/shape, and a couple of different wood combinations in a few of them. After all this, I was very surprised that I didn’t order the jumbo or dreadnought I thought I was going to get—but one of their SDG bodies with a hollow back!

They had a really unusual and beautiful small guitar called “the Gearhead). (You can also see this on their website.) We liked the design so well, that we asked if it could be slightly modified for my new build and they were happy to accommodate.

Mary has been documenting the entire build project and is great about sending us pictures as the guitar progresses. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

The Gearhead version 2, or “Gears Gone Wild”
Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle body, sides
Australian Black Acacia hollow back ( you can’t believe the sound of this wood!)
Western Red Cedar top with a rosette of Black Palm in the shape of a gear
Various colored woods to represent gears
Ebony fingerboard, bridge and side bindings
Bone saddle and bridge pins with Padauk dots
Gold frets and gold Gotoh tuners
Upper bout sound port in the shape of a gear

[Nemoman]

Congrats on your new commission--sounds like it will be a great one!

Currently the picture links aren't working for me...

[cigarfan]

Fantastic! Love Tim's Mini-Mac. Will be following along.

Can't open your pictures.

[Tim McKnight]

We will get this picture posting thing figured out ... Stay tuned folks!

[cigarfan]

Happy to report, the pictures in the first post are working for me now.

And wow! Awesome gear inlays.

[j. Kinnaird]

Wow Tim

That is sooo creative. I’m envious of your design.

John

[Tim McKnight]

Thanks John but Mary and Doc's wife get the credit for the design. I'm just the grunt who gets to execute it

[fitness1]

That's going to be quite a project - making the old man work pretty hard there!!

I think Tim's going to need a couple rounds of golf after this one's done!!!

[colins]

Originally Posted by Drscott

Well, I did it. I pulled the trigger on a custom build from Tim and Mary McKnight.

Welcome to the AGF, and what a great first post! It's great that you've made the decision to commission a custom guitar.

Being an Aussie I’ve eyed off many sets of Tiger Myrtle over the years (including visiting a wood dealer in Tasmania) and I have to say, that set you are using is as good as it gets. Beautiful wood!

Looking forward to more posts as the build progresses.

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by fitness1

That's going to be quite a project - making the old man work pretty hard there!!

I think Tim's going to need a couple rounds of golf after this one's done!!!

I totally agree Todd. We need to schedule a few rounds together as soon as the weather permits.

[Bill Kraus]

Very cool. I've got to check out what this hollow back is all about on the Mc-website.

[Drscott]

These strips will be used to make the top and back purflings:



Adding glue to each layer of the layup:







Clamping the stack of glued strips:





Through the magic of time elapse the stack is dry and now its edges are being planed:





The stack is being ripped into individual strips to use as top and back purflings:





Close up of the purfling edges which will show up on the guitar as: Ebony, Red, Maple, Red, Ebony

[Drscott]

Body side bindings will be of Ebony with a single red purfling line:





Glue is added to the edge of each Ebony binding to glue the single red purfling line to:







Red purfling line being clamped onto the binding edges:





Bindings with purflings sanded to final thickness:





Ready for bending:

[Drscott]

Bindings go into the bender after being spritzed with water:





6 Minutes later the bindings have been coaxed into their new shape. They will remain in the bender over night to set the shape:




Meanwhile the end wedge pocket is routed:





To accept its Ebony wedge:








The following day the bindings show off their new shape:

[Drscott]

Sealing the top prior to cutting the binding channels:





Cutting the top and back purflings to length:





Routing the binding and purfling channels:





Cutting the end wedge miter joints with a sharp hand chisel:





One last set of binding and purflings to go:





Now its time to take a much needed break while the glue dries over night: