AL PETTEWAY VIDEO UP!!! J. Kinnaird Graybeard Build: Lucky Strike x African Blackwood

[colins]

Originally Posted by Hanter

.....Time to also share a shot taken from the balcony of the Kinnaird house when I visited.



The almost 1 mile long and one-way path is what you need to endeavor in order to get to his abode. It sits right on top of a hill and his backyard is apparently home to foxes, coyotes, deer, I-can’t-remember-what-else and Bears! They turn up quite frequently John mentioned.

For the fingerboard, both of us agreed that it should be a darkish colored one. Thought about using African Blackwood as well but we took it a step further - so that medullary rays would continue being a feature on the facade of the guitar, and ended up with some perfectly quartersawn Ancient Fenland Black Oak.



Not able to capture fully the cross-grain silking and the jet-black color of this piece of wood, but was assured that it was very much so!

Nice driveway, and exceptionally nice piece of oak for the fretboard. That is going to look incredible.

[Jamiejoon]

Originally Posted by j. Kinnaird

Yellow wood is cladrastis kentuckea. (Poor spelling). Not the same as locust. Both very heavy wood. The wood of yellow wood is, as you might suspect, very bright yellow. (Hijacking Han’s thread I am)

Han's fault it is, for posting pretty forest pictures.

Bog oak fingerboard! This guitar will be amazingly beautiful.

[Hanter]

Seems pretty apt to post a milestone pic to have a strong memory of it on Memorial Day.

The box is closed!!!



Unfortunately no pics of top braces this time, I think John wants to keep his secrets close to his chest!

And since according to Jamie I’m bearing the brunt of posting nice scenery previously, I’ve decided to double down and post a rather cool pic of our man looking cool on his porch.



Door leads into his magic workshop. For those of you who prefer to look at woods instead of John, there’s some Lucky Strike, Ambonya Burl, Ancient Bog Oak on the stool, and even a maple block for my neck leaning on the rails.

We did have a hard time choosing fingerboards, and I thought it’d be nice to show the different characters of Ancient/ Fenland/ Black/ Bog Oak.





We all know I went for the Black one, mostly because I thought it’d match well with African Blackwood but the medullary rays are seriously on another level. Had me at hello! That said the two-toned variant looks amazing as well, and will impart a very classy yet unique look to the guitar it’s gonna be part of.

Happy Memorial Day folks!

[Guitars44me]

Happy Memorial Day evening to all!!!

Glad to see pics of progress, even though I know it is happening....

Still LOVING my three Remaining JKs.

Cheers Gang

Tune up often

Paul

[j. Kinnaird]

This is a first for me Han. Nobody has ever accused me of being cool before.
I may be inspired to go out and buy some sunglasses.

[TomB'sox]

Great choice on the fretboard. Not only does it look really great, the story behind it, what 3500-5000 years old if I recall?

[Hanter]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Great choice on the fretboard. Not only does it look really great, the story behind it, what 3500-5000 years old if I recall?

Apparently so, Tom!

I am a wood fanatic and the history, color, characteristics which give such storied woods such amazing qualities never cease to intrigue me.

In fact I go back so very often to listen and look at such stuff, courtesy of these two (English, who else?!) gentlemen:

[Hanter]

Apologies for the hiatus of late, work has been exceedingly annoying and worrisome, so the mood hasn’t been right. Things look like they are turning a corner though, and it had been a relaxing and eventful weekend, so I thought I’d share some updates.

We will be using the Crazy Quilted Maple for neck laminates along with some fine quartersawn Flamed Maple. Blackwood in between, so a total of 5 pieces. The first pic here does not show any Blackwood, while the others show the neck where the fingerboard will sit on post-joining.








Lovin the color match and the flames!

And then look who turned up. Some handmade Alessi’s from Italy, this set sports some Black Buffalo Horned Buttons.... frankly I can’t really tell them apart from Ebony, I was expecting a little more white striations but oh well, it does look classy and will give off an elegant, understated look.



Sitting on the LS top.



And of course John got to work on the bevels, I asked for not-so-large ones, as I wanted a fair balance of comfort yet nothing too obtrusive on tone.





If you haven’t noticed, John’s arm bevels are Ryan style on one side and Laskin style on the other. Personally I think it looks great.

[Jobe]

Originally Posted by j. Kinnaird

This is a first for me Han. Nobody has ever accused me of being cool before.
I may be inspired to go out and buy some sunglasses.

Oh no! Is John moving to Hollywood and buying a Rolls Royce? In all seriousness you are at the top of your game. And yes, you are cool just where you are. All the best in bringing this one home!

[Guitars44me]

As for the shades, they will keep the bugs out of your eyes when driving that rag top on the Blueridge Highway!

Salud

Paul

[j. Kinnaird]

Originally Posted by Jobe

Oh no! Is John moving to Hollywood and buying a Rolls Royce? In all seriousness you are at the top of your game. And yes, you are cool just where you are. All the best in bringing this one home!

Thanks Jobe. Pretty sure my game can still use refining but it’s coming.

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

As for the shades, they will keep the bugs out of your eyes when driving that rag top on the Blueridge Highway!

Salud

Paul

That is a cool image Paul, but there are no rags on that top. Hard top convertible. It looks like a Transformer when going to convertible mode.

[Guitars44me]

"That is a cool image Paul, but there are no rags on that top. Hard top convertible. It looks like a Transformer when going to convertible mode."

Even cooler, then!

This is going to be a SPECTACULAR AXE

Paul

[Hanter]

Some neck work to show. After the maple gets the heel angle cut, a mortise for the bolt tenon, and the tenon gets glued in with some JB Weld epoxy. 5,000 lbs/sq in should hold. Support for the fingerboard extension gets attached as well.








And the famous carbon fiber “D” tube gets prepared to go in. It is lighter but stronger than the wood it replaces. No truss rod.



And then more carbon fiber.





Ready for peghead and fretboard soon!

[Hanter]

A dark bog oak headplate with a greyish stripe was chosen (who knows how it will turn out under finish!).







And the shaping began.



Remember that crazy quilted maple? This one’s for the backstrap.



And the color match with the maple neck and quilted maple center strip is pretty on point.



Have a lovely Sunday folks.

[TomB'sox]

Those are some pretty amazing colors there, the back plate looks great with the neck inlay!