#136
|
||||
|
||||
As far as I know (and I don't know everything!) the only all-Myrtle steel-string guitars existent are from Breedlove. There are probably others.
I have had good luck with my previous (nine?) all-hardwood guitars, as their owners will attest, and spectacular results with my Myrtle back'n'side guitars. Thus it seem like barely any risk at all to combine the efforts into an all-Myrtle guitar and have a reasonable expectation of something truly special. Yesterday I put the first coat of varnish on CN#4, the guitar of the moment. Like my previous Myrtle work, I have treated this with my rendition of the Cremonese Violin maker's varnish secret, which seems well suited to Myrtle. |
#137
|
|||
|
|||
Looks mighty tasty, Bruce--looking forward to hearing the end result.
__________________
2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle) 2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW) 2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga) 2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco) 2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak) 2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk) 2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa) |
#138
|
||||
|
||||
Me too
Quote:
Yum Paul
__________________
3 John Kinnaird SS 12c CUSTOMS: Big Maple/Cedar Dread Jumbo Spanish Cedar/WRC Jumbo OLD Brazilian RW/WRC R.T 2 12c sinker RW/Claro 96 422ce bought new! 96 LKSM 12 552ce 12x12 J. Stepick Bari Weissy WRC/Walnut More |
#139
|
||||
|
||||
Gorgeous Bruce!
__________________
Life is like a box of chocolates .... |
#140
|
|||
|
|||
Okay, Bruce, you win: this is officially the most beautiful guitar ever built. If Apollo abandoned the lyre for the guitar (and who wouldn't?), this is the one he would want. But remind us again why this is called a couch noodler. Something about the body depth?
Stan
__________________
Hatcher Woodsman, Collings 0002H, Stella Grand Concert |
#141
|
|||
|
|||
There are many other extant all-myrtle steel-string guitars. Les Stansell, for example, has built some.
__________________
John |
#142
|
||||
|
||||
I spoke with Les last week and thought his were nylon strung, including Myrtle bridges. Perhaps I have made an assumption based on knowing him for years and never having seen a Steel String Stansell.
|
#143
|
||||
|
||||
A guitar player who fell for my work when visiting Dream Guitars last year called me today. He has taken up fiddle and noticed I have more than a few of them. He thought I might be a good judge of their tone and playability. I couldn't disagree. Here's what I'm sending him. It's a 1900 or so German made violin labeled as a Stradavari, as so many are, but this one is quite worthy. I believe the aging is all natural.
|
#144
|
||||
|
||||
My Father's Day went quite well. For many years I have been spending it at the Grass Valley Father's Day Bluegrass Festival, which did not happen this year, of course.
This year the family went up the coast looking for a beach that I stumbled upon 43 years ago, and we found it. Along the way we stopped into a little park near Fort Ross where I thought I had once seen a Bay Laurel tree of considerable girth. We found that too! Bay Laurel is said to be nearly synonymous with Myrtle. Here's some "beach" shots: |
#145
|
||||
|
||||
What a tree…
__________________
A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#146
|
||||
|
||||
Wow! I'll bet you could get 2 or 3 sets out of that tree!
__________________
Life is like a box of chocolates .... |
#147
|
|||
|
|||
What a plant
__________________
Multiple guitars including a 1979 Fender that needs a neck re-set |
#148
|
|||
|
|||
Nice photos, Bruce. I tend to like black & white that emphasizes shape, texture, tone, and I think those would be quite nice in B&W.
|
#149
|
||||
|
||||
I have spent the last 3+ weeks building a deck and a staircase on the back of my house to reach the attic. I call it the stairway to heaven, which is ironic as it is definitely the hottest place I own, being uninsulated as it is.
It is done, and I am about to complete the all Myrtle guitar I made last month, which is done with the varnish curing process. Then I am onto an FT-15.5, likely in Myrtle and Adirondack. There will be pictures. |
#150
|
||||
|
||||
It seems to me that guitars look about the same with their first coat of varnish as they do with their final buff. They don't in reality, but the camera is relatively limited, at least in my hands.
Here is the All-Myrtle Couch Noodler today, freshly buffed, and with the neck on the body. The binding and the fingerboard are Brazilian rosewood, by the way, and will be the bridge. Because the Myrtle neck is a bit heavier than mahogany would be, I am using carbon fiber in the neck as well as these BRW parts to keep the weight down to around 3.5 lb. |