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One of the nice things about being an amateur builder is that if you feel yourself jones’n for a new guitar, you can just grab a wood set and build one. This one is my no. 3.

Koa back and sides
Carpathian top (a really nice stiff top from Uncle Bob at RC Tonewoods)
Mad Rosewood bindings
Mac Ebony fretboard and bridge
Top is French Polished
Back and sides have a Behlen’s varnish finish

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

I know just how you feel!!!!

This is one sweet build.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

Awesome guitar Doug!

Was this your first time using Behlen's Rock Hard Table Varnish? How did it go? Sure looks awsome on that nice Koa!

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Wow Doug, that sure turned out nice. The Behlen's really brought out the figure in that Koa.

Steve

Nice work, Doug. Very clean throughout. How does the sound compare with your other builds?

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Absolutely georgeous!
I love the body shape you have chosen - an inspiration for when I get to building a steel string - have a few nylon strings to get out of my system first....

That can get pricey!

The guitar looks great. Very cool rosette, and I really like how the binding looks with the koa.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Thanks for the comments guys.

Darryl – This is the second guitar I’ve finished with Behlen’s varnish. I thinned the varnish using Alan Carruth’s recommendation at first (70% varnish, 25% mineral spirits, 5% acetone and a drop of kerosene) but had leveling issues as noted in another post. I ended up increasing the mineral spirit percentage to 30 or 40% and applied to finish to the guitar body clamped to my bench vise in a vertical position using a temp neck stick. That way I could start at the top and pull a really thin coat while watching for drips and sags. I also gave up on using the recommended badger hair brushes. No matter how carefully I cleaned the brush, even using a brush spinner and suspending the brush in thinner between coats, I couldn’t avoid the “sand” from the dried varnish in the brush. With a really thin mixture that levels easily, I found I could use the cheap foam brushes and throw them away after each use. Don’t think you could use the foam brushes with a more viscous mixture.

Ken – I’ve built one other SJ and it has a cedar top. This one seems to have more volume with a quicker attack compared to the cedar top which sounds more woody to me which I think is consistent with how cedar tops are commonly described. Both have pretty good sustain though. The carp tops seems to produce more note separation to my ear. Could be the influence of the sound port though and it’s only been strung up for a couple days now. Haven’t had a chance yet to play around with the sound port plugged and open to accurately hear the difference.

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

Doug: Really gorgeous, even Karen was making noises akin to approval. Koa is definitely on my short list. Hope to hear it soon.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck