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My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
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Author:  Rob Flindall [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:45 pm ]
Post subject:  My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Well I'm a very happy camper! My second scratch built guitar is in the books. Technically it's the first scratch build, but trying to get a scratch free finish was giving me nothing but fits, so I set it aside for a while. About 2 weeks ago I had a eureka moment when I purchased medium grit Menzerna polishing compound and lo-and-behold the scratches disappeared. Sometimes you can't see the answer when it's staring you directly in the face lol. After polishing it up, I set to work finally putting it all together and she's now finished.

So here are the specs : it's a dreadnought sporting wenge sides and back, I've pulled the wenge up front into the bridge, fingerboard and headstock veneer. I've made a curly maple neck on it and tied it in with the curly maple bindings and fingerboard binding. I tackled my first sound port, making a leaf motif and brought that to the front with a leaf in the fretboard. I really like the overall aesthetics to the guitar. And better yet, and purely by shear luck, the combination of wenge with an Englemann spruce soundboard is out of this world. This guitar just booms. I took it into the local guitar store where I'll be selling it and the guys working in there loved the guitar. I'm looking forward to putting it on display.

Below are some pics and some links to some soundbites of a friend of mine playing the guitar. He's playing it when it's less than 24 hrs old. I can't figure out how to put audio clips on my post so the links will have to suffice I guess.

http://flindallguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Wenge_006.mp3
http://flindallguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Wenge_007.mp3
http://flindallguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Wenge_009.mp3
http://flindallguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Wenge_010.mp3

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I have some more pics to post, but I haven't edited them all for posting yet. Once I have some more done I'll post them as well.

I hope you guys all approve! :)
Author:  klooker [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
That is super (insert naughty curse word here) nice!

Kevin Looker
Author:  Alex Kleon [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Great work, Rob! If you are going to Guitar Day at Exotic Woods, you should bring it with you to show around. Last year, Fred Tellier brought his knockout bubinga guitar. Several sets of bubinga were sold because it was there and Fred answering peoples questions. Well done!

Alex
Author:  Chris Pile [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
My goodness.
That is super nice.
Author:  sdsollod [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Beautiful. Great job!
Author:  James Orr [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Congratulations! The finish looks great.
Author:  meddlingfool [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Sweet!
Author:  George L [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Well done, Rob!
Author:  Robbie_McD [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Nicely done indeed, and nice photographs as well.
Would like a closer look at the interesting looking back binding and headstock logo
Author:  Tom West [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Only your second guitar........................... wow7-eyes Your making me feel so inferior....! CONGRATS, man that that is a super job for number 2 or number 100. Very well done.
Tom
Author:  NWflyonly [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 8:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Nicely done!
Author:  Rob Flindall [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Thanks for all the great comments guys! Here are a few more photos I've edited up for my site :

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Author:  Robbie_McD [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 10:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Those are great pix!
I find building guitars...hard.
I find photographing guitars...just as hard
You, by all accounts, have both nailed...
Well Done!
Now what about that headstock logo?
Author:  DannyV [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 11:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Well done and a great wood combo! Wenge is very pretty wood. The sets I have ring like a bell. How did you handle the pour filling?

Cheers and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving,
Danny
Author:  Chris Pile [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 11:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Whoever the owner is... a lucky fellow indeed.
Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Sat Oct 12, 2013 11:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
She real purty! Well done!
Author:  cphanna [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 12:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Beautiful instrument. I think a lot of very experienced builders would be quite happy to get results like this. I guaranty you I would be very proud if I had built such a nice instrument.

Patrick
Author:  nyazzip [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 12:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
meh. spotty finish, wide glue joints, sloppy geometry....better luck next build

....just kidding! thing looks amazing, time to upgrade your classification from "amateur" to "pro"! [clap]
Author:  Kamusur [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 5:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Gee you must be kidding, surely, that's beyond insanely well done. [clap]

Steve
Author:  Ruby50 [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 7:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Very very very nice. Can you describe:

1) your finish
2) your photography technique

Ed Minch
Author:  Randolph [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 9:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Super job!! [clap] Great finish. Beautifully appointed!, [:Y:] [:Y:] [:Y:]
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 10:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Absolutely beautiful!
Author:  Rob Flindall [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 10:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Thanks for all the great comments guys, I really appreciate it. :D

Robbie_McD - Ok, ok, ok! Lol, below I've included a pic of my headstock logo. I haven't ventured into inlaying MOP yet, so this is a silkscreened logo in gold. I silkscreened onto the sealer coat and then covered in 9 layers of nitro afterwards. Silkscreening was pretty slick and allows for quite a bit of detail work, although my logo is pretty straightforward.

DannyV - On this guitar and my first scratch build I tried Zpoxy for the first time. I won't use anything else after using Zpoxy - it's fantastic. Although on the wenge it took a couple extra coats to fill those craters.

nyazzip - on my next build, a sapele dreadnought, I'll work harder on those glue joints and finish..... :lol: I'll keep my status at amateur for quite some time though.

Ruby50 - I use Behlen's Nitro instrument lacquer - great stuff. Wet sanded to 2000 grit, then buffed with medium and fine Menzerna compound. As for the photography, I have a Nikon D3200. It's a pretty nice camera which really helped. I photographed the guitar on a neutral background, in this case black. I found this PDF on the internet which was really helpful http://www.nichebooks.com/guitarpix.pdf. I'll be quite truthful, photography guitars is a real pain in the butt! After taking the pics I used Lightroom and Photoshop to edit the photos. Photoshop is great because you can use it to remove all those pesky dust specks you missed.

Image
Author:  Rob Flindall [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 11:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Just cause I know you guys like looking at pictures, here's a few more I've got edited.

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Author:  Shaw [ Sun Oct 13, 2013 11:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My 2nd scratch built guitar is in the books!
Great job! I love how the maple neck looks in contrast to the Wenge....Mike
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