Burton LeGeyt Renaissance Parlour

CoolerKing · #1 10-05-2016, 05:06 PM

Hey there kids,

we are finally starting this thread. I wanted to wait until after Santa Barbara so that I wouldn't be detracting Burton's attention too much. This project has been in its infancy for about 18 months. We initially started thinking about a Ditson style 3 parlour but since Burton was so excited about the Martin Renaissance shape I acquiesced. The specs are a little hard to describe but here goes. Also, full disclosure: All pictures of the original guitar are credited to the owner, Robert Corwin, and his excellent site, www.vintagemartin.com. All build photos are credited towards the builder, Burton LeGeyt.

12 fret concave upper bout parlour
Hide Glue Construction
Red Spruce over Koa
short scale
1 3/4 nut, 2 5/16 bridge
Hollow CF nonadjustible neck reinforcement with compression T fretting
Crazy cool tuner to be determined :0

Here's the inspration:

I was really inspired by Burton's incredible ability to take vintage inspiration and apply a very cool modern interpretation. A great example is a few of these shots from his most recent custom shop thread:

We elected to go with Koa and Red Spruce:

We're also going to try and use a few other vintage Martin inspirations, and Burton has something special in store for the tuners. As you saw in his thread he's really been experimenting in flushed tuners, so we may riff on that a little. Keep an eye on the thread and we'll update as things go on!

J.R. Rogers · #2 10-05-2016, 05:10 PM

Matthew, congrats! I played Burton's guitars this last weekend for the first time and was so impressed. Really love his aesthetic approach and his guitars were toneful and lively - even in a noisy environment I could tell that they were special.

JR

jt1 · #3 10-05-2016, 06:26 PM

Very cool.

I had possession of the original long enough to play it and X-Ray and CT-Scan it. An astonishing instrument.

CoolerKing · #4 10-05-2016, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.R. Rogers

Matthew, congrats! I played Burton's guitars this last weekend for the first time and was so impressed. Really love his aesthetic approach and his guitars were toneful and lively - even in a noisy environment I could tell that they were special.

JR

Thanks! Juston had a lot of nice things to say about his work too. Wait until you see his crazy engineered neck blocks!

CoolerKing · #5 10-05-2016, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jt1

Very cool.

I had possession of the original long enough to play it and X-Ray and CT-Scan it. An astonishing instrument.

Yes, Robert is a generous guy. Wish I had a chance to hang out with you guys last weekend. Memphis 2017?

The Koa in your Thomas/Lichty partly inspired the use of Koa in ours

Have fun at Desert Trip and tell the Stones I said hey!

justonwo · #6 10-05-2016, 07:54 PM

As we have discussed offline, this is going to be RAD. Burton is exceptionally talented. Koa and red spruce is a REALLY good choice.

JJI · #7 10-05-2016, 11:57 PM

This is wicked cool. I know you've been waiting for a smaller guitar...this one is going to be killer.

jt1 · #8 10-06-2016, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

Yes, Robert is a generous guy. Wish I had a chance to hang out with you guys last weekend. Memphis 2017?

The Koa in your Thomas/Lichty partly inspired the use of Koa in ours

Have fun at Desert Trip and tell the Stones I said hey!

Keep those pics coming!

I'm looking forward to my journey out west. Desert Trip this weekend, Fretboard Summit the next.

CoolerKing · #9 10-06-2016, 05:44 AM

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. Here's the style rosette we're going with, to be found on the Brz CLM he brought to SB:

Rodger Knox · #10 10-06-2016, 11:52 AM

I'll be following this with great interest, I've just started drawing plans based on photos of the original. It would be great to have the actual width of the upper bout, the waist, the lower bout, and the body length. None of the photos I've found are square from the front, so all these would have to be estimated based on the width in the photo and the estimated angle of the shot. I'd rather create the shape based on the actual measurements, but I don't have to have them. I'm not looking to do a copy or replica, just something close to that shape.

cigarfan · #11 10-06-2016, 03:28 PM

Ah, this is going to be cool. I'll be following. Thanks for sharing Matthew.

maurerfan · #12 10-06-2016, 03:55 PM

Very interesting!! Having also seen first-hand and played this guitar, I've harbored thoughts about this very same guitar for a custom build ... the recurve into the neck extension being the major draw for me. Great idea ... thanks for sharing!

CoolerKing · #13 10-06-2016, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodger Knox

I'll be following this with great interest, I've just started drawing plans based on photos of the original. It would be great to have the actual width of the upper bout, the waist, the lower bout, and the body length. None of the photos I've found are square from the front, so all these would have to be estimated based on the width in the photo and the estimated angle of the shot. I'd rather create the shape based on the actual measurements, but I don't have to have them. I'm not looking to do a copy or replica, just something close to that shape.

Robert and John Thomas (jt1) probably have measurements. Without putting words in his mouth John might be willing to share. Same with Burton. Worst case scenario is that when I have the guitar in hand I could whip out some values for you.

Burton LeGeyt · #14 10-06-2016, 04:15 PM

It is awesome that so many of you have had personal experience with this specific guitar- It truly is a thing of beauty.

Matthew's introduction got me a chance to visit with Robert and see it up close. I was amazed. The condition, the workmanship, and simply the age of the thing. There wasn't anything about it I didn't like and I cannot say that about too many guitars.

I have been wanting to build this for a long long time and I couldn't be more excited to finally be starting-

I did take some measurements when I visited but I have been working off of the plan Robert posted on his site too. It is on this page, almost halfway down.

http://www.vintagemartin.com/xbraces.html

I was able to print it out at scale and it seems very accurate based on the other printed dimensions. In either case, I am not attempting to build a 100% reproduction but rather a guitar heavily based on that one. We will be changing a few things but definitely keeping the vibe of that instrument.

We've been talking around this guitar for a long time! Great to finally hit the ground. I love seeing the excitement for it.

jt1 · #15 10-07-2016, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

Robert and John Thomas (jt1) probably have measurements. Without putting words in his mouth John might be willing to share. Same with Burton. Worst case scenario is that when I have the guitar in hand I could whip out some values for you.

I'm on the road right now and don't have access to my digital x-ray files. When I return in a week, I should be able to get you measurements to the ten thousandth of a millimeter.