Build Thread: Circle Strings Parlor Guitar

[jim1960]

I first learned about Adam Buchwald from an article in Fretboard Journal. I was intrigued, found his site, watched the video there, and really fell in love with the sound of his cedar-topped parlor guitar. His prices being within reach, I put my name on the list sometime late last year. The work has recently begun.

Here are the specs:
Top: Western Red Cedar
B/S: Shedua
Neck: Honduran Mahogany
Fretboard: Ebony
Bindings: Maple
Rosette: Maple and Purflex (Petros Guitars)
Backstrip: Purflex
Pickup: LR Baggs Anthem
Tuners: Waverly

[jim1960]

[marty bradbury]

Beautiful guitar!! Big fan of parlors myself.

[Olli Dangendorf]

Lovely. I have a parlor with the same combo. Good match or a parlor.

[jim1960]

Thanks Marty and Olli. I'm really excited about this one. It's probably not good practice to fall in love with a guitar just from a video, but if you go to the 2:46 mark of this video, perhaps you'll hear what I hear. The way that guitar rings speaks to me. I'm also drawn in by the fact that he's playing with a pretty light touch and yet that guitar doesn't sound like it's being lightly played.

My request to Adam for this build was to duplicate that tone and I told him his job was to say "no" to any request that might alter the sound. The only changes I've made have been aesthetic.

[stptak]

Just met with Adam again today as I picked up two guitars he had set up for me. I was able to play two of the guitars he was getting ready for a show. One was a parlor and the other a dread. The craftsmanship on both was stunning and they played like butter. The parlor was voiced perfectly and the sustain went on forever. I suspect you will immediately fall in love with your commissioned parlor. You made a wise choice in going with Adam. I am in the process of pricing out a 000 in sinker redwood and cocobolo with him. Getting on his wait list very soon. Please post some pictures of your new guitar when she arrives.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by stptak

Just met with Adam again today as I picked up two guitars he had set up for me. I was able to play two of the guitars he was getting ready for a show. One was a parlor and the other a dread. The craftsmanship on both was stunning and they played like butter. The parlor was voiced perfectly and the sustain went on forever. I suspect you will immediately fall in love with your commissioned parlor. You made a wise choice in going with Adam. I am in the process of pricing out a 000 in sinker redwood and cocobolo with him. Getting on his wait list very soon. Please post some pictures of your new guitar when she arrives.

You might have seen pieces of mine somewhere in the shop. I noticed Adam now says his wait list is 12-18 months. It was only 6-8 when I got on last October. His business is really taking off.

The redwood/cocobolo guitar sounds like a nice combination. Some redwood sets can be really gorgeous. I have a redwood topped bouzouki that I had made by Paddy Burgin in New Zealand. It's stunning...

[OddManOut]

I love the look of ovangkol. Should be a sweet guitar!

[jim1960]

Installing the curly maple binding.

Stptak, Adam mentioned that someone was in the shop this week and that this thread came up in conversation. I'm assuming that was you.

Adam and I had an interesting conversation about his business after I told him that I had noticed his wait time had increased from 6-8 months when I ordered, to 12-18 months today. I remarked that I'm glad I found him while I could still afford him, and I told him about my Jeff Bamburg guitar. I ordered my Bamburg in 2009. It's a wonderful guitar with plenty of bells and whistles (macassar ebony b/s, carpathian spruce double-top, 5-piece neck, arm bevel, finger bevel, abalone dog & bone inlay on the fretboard and two rings in the rosette, dog paw sound port, pickup) and cost me just under $6000. Today, Jeff's base price is $7000 and with all the extras I got, the same guitar would probably cost me upwards of $10k. That's more than I can spend on a guitar. I mentioned to Adam that he might have to increase his base price to keep his waiting list manageable. His reply, and this impressed me, was that he really wants to avoid that because he doesn't want to get so high priced that his guitars become out of the reach of the working musician.

[jim1960]

[jim1960]

The binding is in. On to the scraping.

[stptak]

Jim - love the pictures of the build. Thanks for posting them - she's looking great! Again, congratulations- should be a fantastic guitar!
Scott

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by stptak

Jim - love the pictures of the build. Thanks for posting them - she's looking great! Again, congratulations- should be a fantastic guitar!
Scott

It's exciting but it's about to slow down for a week or so as Adam is off to a show somewhere.

[jim1960]

Adam has returned from the guitar show and work on my parlor has resumed. The box is now scraped...

[jim1960]

Today we decided on the layout of the fret markers. After looking at different possible layouts, I liked this best because the layout creates a nice symmetry with the individual Celtic knot marker.