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  #31  
Old 10-23-2019, 10:03 AM
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What amazing work Mike ... I just love your instruments!
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  #32  
Old 11-22-2019, 11:26 AM
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With snow on the ground for the past couple of weeks, winter is already settling into Montreal which means it's time to hunker down in the shop and get building! Lots of fun projects coming up over the next few months but the first order of business is to finish off the Black Limba guitar I had been building alongside the cocobolo sunburst.

I decided to again put a U-channel carbon reinforcement in this neck. Besides adding some structural and playability benefits, I also enjoy the spaceship/sci-fi vibe it adds to the neck!





When I first decided to make it standard to inlay my logo ("IH") on the twelfth fret, I quickly realized there was no way I wanted to re-make the logo every single time. Hence, the good ol' logo log!





Obviously a key element of any proper head veneer glue-up is color coordinated clamps...





The engineer in me love loves loves finding the simplest solutions possible. Here's what an old shopmate and I came up with as a pretty darn quick and foolproof way to trim off the excess after gluing on a fingerboard...





The strip of wood clamped to the table extends just a hair past the bandsaw blade making it impossible to cut into the fingerboard and leaving just a bit of mahogany left that's easily cleaned up with a flush cut router bit...





Thanks again for looking!
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  #33  
Old 11-24-2019, 09:36 AM
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One of the fun things about my workshop (besides spending most days goofing off and joking around with a bunch of guitar makers) is shutting things down for a night, clearing out the floor, and hosting shop concerts. Last month it was a Greek/Balkan/Gypsy night, in a couple of weeks it will be a noise and math rock show, and last Saturday some good friends of mine (The Red Chair Snappers) played some killer bluegrass followed up by the Charlie Millard Band from Michigan.





Back to the woodwork! While the neck on the Black Limba is nearing completion, it's time to for final sanding. Typically one of the last jobs I'll do on the body is a bevel the soundhole. It's a relatively subtle touch but I sure do love how it looks...





More little bevels at the end...





Final sanded and ready for finish!





And another flush truss rod cover -- I'm really enjoying how these are coming out!





Now it's off to the finishers for a month or two before I put it all together in the New Year!
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  #34  
Old 11-24-2019, 02:04 PM
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Wow, nice touches with the bevels, I like how that sound hole looks too and the little bevel on the headstock, split 50-50 across there is pretty cool looking!
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Last edited by TomB'sox; 11-26-2019 at 12:08 PM.
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  #35  
Old 11-26-2019, 11:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post
Wow, nice touches with the bevels, I like how that sound hole looks too and the little bevel on the headstock, split 50-50 across there is pretty cool looking!
Thanks! I love adding subtle little touches like that that reveal themselves only if you really start to look closely.
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Last edited by TomB'sox; 11-26-2019 at 12:08 PM.
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  #36  
Old 03-26-2020, 08:17 AM
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The building my shop is in has been locked down for the next three weeks so unfortunately I'm not going to be able to work for a while but if nothing else I thought I'd refresh some memories and post a quick teaser/update on the black limba guitar. Everything is ready for assembly so I'm really hoping that when April 13th rolls around we're allowed back to work so I can get this one finished! It was a bit of a panic trying to get the shop into hibernation mode and I just got this one back from the finishers on Monday but snapped a couple of pics and I'm very excited about how this one is looking!








Hope you're all managing as best you can and staying safe and healthy!
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  #37  
Old 03-26-2020, 01:54 PM
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Beautiful!!
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  #38  
Old 06-01-2021, 04:04 PM
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If anyone is interested, that 00 appears to be for sale at Guitar Gallery in TN. Listing includes 5 audio samples:

https://www.guitargal.com/collection...hill-00-guitar
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  #39  
Old 06-02-2021, 10:59 AM
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Quote:
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If anyone is interested, that 00 appears to be for sale at Guitar Gallery in TN. Listing includes 5 audio samples:

https://www.guitargal.com/collection...hill-00-guitar

Thanks for posting and giving everyone a heads up! It's such a great little guitar with some really beautiful wood -- I'd love to see it find a home so if anyone out there is on the fence, feel free to send a message and make me an offer!
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