Official Luthiers Forum!

Here's a new one.
Engleman Spruce
Black Limba
Macassar Ebony and Maple trim
Bocote bridge, f.b. and headplate
A huge THANK YOU to my friend Ed Lysne for the headstock inlay.
It was loud at the guitar show yesterday so I don't know if Steve Courtright can give a good opinion of how it sounds.

yeah I see the problem. Someone stole your heel ! maybe that is why the fretboard doesn't touch the top. Too bad.


Great looking guitar !

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Happy to supply my thoughts, Steve. BTW, the show to which Steve refers was at a downtown Rockford, Illinois shop, "Just Goods" and organized by Jim Worland. John Ressler was there with a few of his stunning guitars and Gene Liberty, too, with his eclectic archtops and electrics with astonishing inlay work. I played one of John's guitars, a dread that knocked me out. There were electric bass builders (one showing a fretless 8 string), and a lot of dulcimers. There was one violin maker, who painted the backs of each of his lovely instruments with geometric patterns for some reason. Jim Worland had a stable full of his amazing, 50's-inspired electrics.

It was a fun day, except for the performance art/punk/thrash band that made it impossible to talk - never mind evaluating acoustic guitars - for a part of the afternoon. Bleh.

Steve's Engleman/Limba was close to an OM in size and shape with a bolt-on and adjustable neck as you can see from the pics. Despite the lack of a heel, the neck felt lovely all that way up past the money frets. The guitar sounded full and well-balanced, like a good OM, with nice clear highs and a rich mid-range. The sound was a little controlled, compared to a pre-war Martin OM that I played recently. However, I have never played an OM that had the pure volume of the Martin. With time, Steve's guitar will probably project better with a deeper bottom end. It played nicely over all of the frets with a comfortable width that worked for chords, lead work and finger-picking alike. I wish I could have played it in a quiet spot, but if he doesn't sell it soon, I will be happy to spend more time with it.

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

Cool! I really like the rosette.

I wish I had a chance to hear it. I will soon begin work on a new guitar (in my "Allegheny" shape, which is a 15 1/2 inch "small jumbo") with black limba back and sides (and matching neck), but I haven't decided on the top wood yet. I'm leaning toward some nice bearclaw sitka that I have, but may go with Lutz, Euro, or possibly Adirondack. This will be my first time building with limba. Everybody seems to agree that it's very similar to mahogany.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Nice guitar !
Nice workmanship!
I like the neck to body design(joint).
It will probably be the future design for all guitars.

Love the rose also -as Todd said.
How'd ya make it?
Mc

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Mike Collins

This is one great little guitar. You do a double take at first because there is no neck heel. You don't really know why it doesn't have one at first until Steve asks you how you like your action, pulls an allen wrench out of his pocket and within seconds, has adjusted it to your liking!

Steve is being coy about the adjustable neck, but it is very simple, very clever and works exceptionally well.

I like the end wedge design at both ends of the body.

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John Ressler

Beautiful work of art Steve!

Hey, is that.......? That Englemann looks familiar!

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Man, that's nice. Beautiful job. Very nice combination of woods that work well together.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks so much for the compliments everyone, it really does mean a lot.

#1: Use Black Limba! Works easily, sounds great!

#2: The rosette was a 36" x 3/4" piece of 3/16" macassar ebony with a .020" maple veneer glued on. Cut that to 6" pieces. Stack in a herringbone pattern (think brick work type of herringbone). Stick it all together with CA adhesive. Go to your friend's house 2 blocks from the shop to borrow his wife's nail polish remover to get your fingers un-glued. Shape it to size and cut the tiles. See Ken Franklins rosette tutorial for a real explaination.

#3: That's right Bill, you do recognize that top. It's actually the 2nd on this box. The first died a hideous death from impatience and mishap.

Lastly:

[quote=StevenWheeler wrote]Stick it all together with CA adhesive. Go to your friend's house 2 blocks from the shop to borrow his wife's nail polish remover to get your fingers un-glued. Shape it to size and cut the tiles.[/quote]


Steve,

Sorry to hear about the tragic loss of the first top. It was a beauty as I remember and rang like a bell with long sustain. Pretty cool looking neck joint. Is that your own design? ACE is always a great local source for me as well. Maybe if Steve Courtright has an opp to spend some time with it you can record him hittin' some licks!

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Nice work, Steven! Love the rosette. It can get a little sticky making them though.

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

Rosette props from Ken?? Now I know I must be getting somewhere with this guiter building!
Thanks Ken.

Yes Bill, that's my own design on the neck attachment. Much of it is borrowed from other designs. The old nothing new under the sun thing. Just a different approach. Next time I'll use steel bearing plates instead of brass. I don't feel the intonation adjustment is necessary but if I use that again I will look for a more attractive solution. It is amazing how much easier carving and fitting a neck becomes without that pesky heel in the way. As John pointed out, I placed an end graft where the heel used to be. I did that to reduce the visual shock of a missing part.

This is the second that I have sealed the interior of. This first is going on four years now and it is the most stable one that I've built when the seasons change.
This is the third guitar, and first acoustic, that I finished in catalyzed polyurethane. It is so nice not waiting a month to wet sand and polish. Low VOC's, super glossy, U.V. protection and the final film thickness is .004". I like it.

Steve

Steve,
What did you use for hardware on your neck joint? It looks like you were able to use over the counter parts. With the strings off, does the neck woble?
Steve Frady

Steve,

All that hardware is over the counter stuff. I don't mind anyone using the idea but there will be no hand holding for the execution. What you see here is the first try at this system and there is room for improvment, however it does work extremely well in it's current configuration.The joint has to fit snuggly, otherwise it would wobble side to side even under string tension. The fit of the joint is tight enough to hold the neck in position even without string tension.

There are other ways to make an adjustable neck. If you do a search on this forum, you'll find that Chris Paulik has an excellent write up on the system he uses and Dave Fifield and David Schramm also have posted info on their systems.

Steve

Hey Filippo,

Rick Micheletti never came to mind when doing the neck. The end graft, yeah, big influence there. Had to come up with a solution for a failed rout on guitar #1 and liked the look so I stuck with it.

Black Limba, bends easier and is more interesting to look at.

Steve