Morgan Kelsey's builds - Page 4

BEJ · #46 10-30-2020, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morgankelsey

Thanks, Bruce, let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

Thanks, do you use a longer truss rod with the fret board extension, I have some 16" ones that seem too long for a regular neck but might be ok with the extension.

Bruce,

morgankelsey · #47 10-30-2020, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEJ

Thanks, do you use a longer truss rod with the fret board extension, I have some 16" ones that seem too long for a regular neck but might be ok with the extension.

Bruce,

Bruce, I don't, it wouldn't do much once you are at the heel. I park the butt end between the nut and first fret, and the actionable part ends where the heel starts. The access hole is through the sound hole, though I've also done it the other way around with access at the headstock.

amohr · #48 11-08-2020, 06:38 AM

The Pale Moon Ebony looks delicious, and I keep going back to look at that Sapele neck. Clean, and thoughtful craftsmanship.

invguy921 · #49 11-12-2020, 07:18 AM

Really cool guitars and stunning wood choices. I'd be all over any of them. Great work, thanks for sharing!!

morgankelsey · #50 11-12-2020, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amohr

The Pale Moon Ebony looks delicious, and I keep going back to look at that Sapele neck. Clean, and thoughtful craftsmanship.

Thanks, amohr, I'm really happy with that neck!

morgankelsey · #51 11-12-2020, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by invguy921

Really cool guitars and stunning wood choices. I'd be all over any of them. Great work, thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for the compliment, Woody! The Sapele guitar with the inlays is going to be looking for a home sometime in January, PM me if you are interested.

morgankelsey · #52 12-11-2020, 07:58 PM

I'm a little behind on updates, it's been one of those months that sort of vanished. I've also been distracted by some repair work which I'm now turning away as it keeps me from the projects I want to be doing.

I posted this rosette without purfling last time, here it is with the purfling in and brought down to level:

I've also been playing around with some marquetry for this build. This was just a test piece, but may end up on the headstock, I also may end up re-doing it:

And finally, being the holiday season, I started in on a present for the missus. I had a scrap piece (heh) of The Tree lying around, and decided to build her a jewelry box. She doesn't come on here, so this is safe to post here ;-)

morgankelsey · #53 12-21-2020, 05:52 PM

Happy holidays, folks! I tried learning this on guitar, but I just can't get the voicings to sound as good as piano, so here ya go:

TomB'sox · #54 12-21-2020, 06:03 PM

Thank you for that, you are a very talented young man!!!

Nemoman · #55 12-21-2020, 06:11 PM

Beautiful--thanks, Morgan. Happy Holidays to you!

morgankelsey · #56 12-21-2020, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Thank you for that, you are a very talented young man!!!

Thanks, Tom, more like old and persistent at this point though

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Beautiful--thanks, Morgan. Happy Holidays to you!

Thanks, Nemoman!

CoolerKing · #57 12-24-2020, 09:53 AM

I saw that bass on Facebook, so WOW! I'm not a bass player but you are officially on my radar.

morgankelsey · #58 12-24-2020, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

I saw that bass on Facebook, so WOW! I'm not a bass player but you are officially on my radar.

Thanks Matthew, that bass is a pretty small niche, but I think it will make someone happy.

morgankelsey · #59 12-01-2021, 06:50 PM

I'm way behind on updates, but it's been a crazy year. For starters, my wife and I bought a house in Western MA, and between getting my old house ready for sale, moving to the new one and doing a bunch of work on it, the year just slipped right by.

A big upside is I have a much better shop!

And I got a few new toys, including this boss of a drum sander. I've been using one I built myself for the last few years so this is a huge upgrade.

It's been a ton of work getting us here, but this is what I wake up to now

While my shop was in complete disarray I did some smaller scale stuff, including some kumiko patterns like this one

I was looking at it one day and thought it might look cool as a rosette. This is how that went:

I planed it flat and filled it with some resin which unfortunately killed the 3d effect, but I still like how it came out.

I have a smaller patterned version in the works right now which I will post as it takes shape.

Lastly, I have an upcoming commission for a percussive fingerstyle player, and got the possibly crazy idea of installing tongue drums into the side of a guitar. I put together a prototype which he is currently trying out. It came out really well, but I forgot to take more pics before it went to live with him for a couple of weeks. Here are some of the build pics though...

I started with laminated sides to support the drums:

Here the drums on the treble side are being glued in, I experimented with making these a few ways. The ones in this picture are padauk though you can't see them that well:

Cutting the drums out was pretty challenging, this is one way to do it:

More soon!

BEJ · #60 12-02-2021, 12:55 AM

Glad to see you are back at it. Looks like you are coming up with another WOW how did he come up with that idea.

Looks like the new shop is going to be a good one. Did the same thing a few years ago. Funny how you lay everything out on paper/models and get the thing done, and then after using it for awhile you find out things didn't work out so well and you do some reworking.

Had to do the same with some of the guitar making tools/jigs I made, some have been redone 2-3 times. Always getting better as I learn more or ?get better at it.

Hope for some pics after shop is done.

Bruce,