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Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
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Author:  LarryH [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:57 am ]
Post subject:  Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
I took about 5 years off from building 3 mostly kit guitars and decided to take up the hobby again.

This guitar is my first adventure back into building after trying to locate and/or purchase all the needed tools again and building COUNTLESS jigs and a drum sander and a router table and circle cutter and a binding jig and molds and on and on and on as most of you understand.

This is a design I created on the computer and it most closely matches a single 'O' in dimensions (see below) and was mainly meant as a "get my feet wet again design study to see if I could make a wooden box make noise" exercise and it represents my first bent sides (complete with ripples and uneven everything) first neck carve (complete with original reversed angle on the neck joint), first head stock and pretty much everything built from scratch except the fret slotting done by LMI.

First off the whole building experience was so humbling I barely made it through all the screw ups and then the finishing absolutely whipped my you know what and I gave up a bit on the finishing knowing what to do next time and needing to see if this design was going to fly. So there are a LOT of pimples and the finish is truly atrocious but the pics might be kind in that regard.

I did take my time in the set up and it plays and sounds really nice. SUCH a great size and that part of the design was a complete success. The rest of the build was mostly chasing mistakes until it looked like a guitar. :D :D

And a THOUSAND thank yous for all the help from this forum, there is simply no way I would have completed this without all your kind and generous help.

The woods and vitals are:

Top: Port Orford Cedar
B/S: Black Walnut
Binding: Curly Mahogany
Neck: Black Walnut
Bridge: Walnut laminated with BRW
Bridge Plate: BRW
Short Scale 24.9"
Nut: 1 13/16
Upper Bout: 9 1/2"
Lower Bout: 13 1/2"
Waist: 7 7/8"
Body length: 19 1/4"

Oh yeah after all the humbling experiences building THEN you have to take pictures? I'm not sure which is more humbling and I have to admit I didn't put a lot of effort into the pics or even cleaning all the dust off the guitar but wanted to get something on the forum to share my experience.

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Author:  EddieLee [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Larry, That is beautiful. I look everything about it. Good job on the sound port. The headstock and rosette design is very nice.
Author:  Casey Cochran [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Beautiful. Congratulations on a great job!
Author:  Colin North [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 12:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
10/10!
Author:  Alex Kleon [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 12:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Great looking guitar, Larry, your attention to detail really shows! What brand of tuners did you use?

Alex
Author:  Quine [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 12:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Very Very pretty. Great looking rosette
Author:  mkellyvrod [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
I too like the rosette, and the binding job is outstanding. I'm liking mahogany more and more.
Author:  Beth Mayer [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
I love it! You did an amazing job. I was in the same boat on my recent build. It's all new, and just chasing mistakes, but it sure makes it worth while when the strings go on. Congratulations!
Author:  Doug Balzer [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Sweet Larry!
Author:  LarryH [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 5:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Alex Kleon wrote:
Great looking guitar, Larry, your attention to detail really shows! What brand of tuners did you use?

Alex


Thanks Alex - Those are Grovers from StewMac. I had a set of Gotoh's from LMI but the bore size was odd - like 6mm? so I used the Grovers which I've used before.
Author:  LarryH [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 5:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Quine wrote:
Very Very pretty. Great looking rosette


It's so funny after STRUGGLING with my toy Dremel tool and jigs and set-ups an trial and error and do-overs that the rosette came out looking like a real rosette. :D :D
Author:  Stephen Boone [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 5:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Very nice! Congratulations.
Author:  LarryH [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 5:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
mkellyvrod wrote:
I too like the rosette, and the binding job is outstanding. I'm liking mahogany more and more.


I saw the Black Walnut and figured hog binding somewhere on the web and really like the combo. I'd use it again and I think it would be spectacular with mahogany B/S.
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 7:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Mighty fine looking guitar! [clap] [clap] [clap]
Author:  Ken C [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Nice Larry!

Ken
Author:  Darryl Young [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Good looking guitar Larry!
Author:  DannyV [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Well done Larry. The butt wedge/binding mitres are cool. I don't think I've seen them done that way. Did you see it done somewhere? The only reason I ask is that it's pretty hard to do something that hasn't been done before. If you have succeeded in it that, you are most surely the man. :lol:

Cheers,
Danny
Author:  LarryH [ Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
DannyV wrote:
Well done Larry. The butt wedge/binding mitres are cool. I don't think I've seen them done that way. Did you see it done somewhere? The only reason I ask is that it's pretty hard to do something that hasn't been done before. If you have succeeded in it that, you are most surely the man. :lol:

Cheers,
Danny


Thanks for all the kind words - and all the help!!

I can't remember where that idea for the wedge miters came from but I had glued the bottom purfling to the binding and as I started to create that buut wedge it seemed like the only way it was really going to look good. And taken step by step it wasn't all that hard - did it on the next guitar (pictures soon) as well - thank god for CA [:Y:]
Author:  DennisK [ Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
You should screw up your finishing more often. Before I read that, I was admiring how nice this one looks, in the sense that I can actually see the wood and not just the surrounding scenery reflected like most guitars :mrgreen:

I too love the tail inlay, and haven't seen it done that way before, though now it seems the obvious way if all you have is binding strips, and no wider pieces of matching wood... very nice, like two framed sides meeting.

I can see some asymmetry in the body shape, but that doesn't hurt anything, and some of us build asymmetrical on purpose :)

Excellent work [:Y:] As always, I demand a sound clip.
Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Beautiful. I did a claro walnut guitar with curly
Mahogany bindings and it does look great. Nice work all around. Not sure how I missed this thread before today.
Author:  GRD [ Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Wow that's some spectacular work that sound port is awesome [:Y:]
Author:  Robbie_McD [ Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
Well done!
How does it sound?
Author:  LarryH [ Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
It's surprisingly nice Robbie. The smaller guitars, which I've grown to love, always impress me with how good sounding they can be. This one has a real sweet tone but actually hangs in there when strummed. The Port Orford Cedar was really nice to work with and was quite stiff so that must have something to do with it. I've been trying to get a sound clip together but I suck at both playing and recording. Maybe some day.
Author:  jfmckenna [ Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Number 4 Complete.. Well Almost
I really like how you did that end graft miter, never seen that before.
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