Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share my latest guitar with you. Im so so happy with how this one came out in both looks and sound. It has the most amazing and responsive tone I've ever heard in a guitar and I can't wait to continue honing it. This was my 25th guitar and i feel like Ive finally found the sound I've been searching for! Now that I've found it, I know what to shoot for.

Some of you may recognize the Lion inlay from my post a few months back out the "Ethical Dilemma" i was having in making it. The client that I made the guitar for fell in love with a lion inlay that had been previously from a well known luthier and we were unable to make contact with the family to get permission to use the original artwork. With that door closed, I was forced to dig deep and come up with my own lion inlay from the ground up. I had to draw out the lion and create the cutout pattern on my own. I also has the lion face a different direction as to be sure as to not have anything copy the original design. I couldn't be any happier with how the inlay came out. The client is happy and I've also gained a lot of confidence in my ability to create inlays from scratch on my own.

This guitar is one of my "Da Vinci" designs and features African Blackwood B&S, Bearclaw Spruce top, Maple binding with abalone trim, arm & rib bevels, a slotted headstock, & an ebony bridge and tailpiece.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

a few more!

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Wow !!! That is one gorgeous guitar

I would like to see a closeup of the Lion and the arm rest bevel, but from what I can see they came out great.

And, can you put your finger on why this one has the 'Tone'?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Chris, that is simply stunning! Very well done!

Sound clip coming???

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I see you posted a lion closeup. Great work!!!

I am interested in a closeup of the arm rest also because I am planning to incorporate one soon on my next build. I'll be using flamed koa. I was wondering about the way the flame of the veneer transitions into the binding flame of the top. From what I can see yours doesn't show a transition but I am probably wrong about that.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Also, how did you get the black lines separating the pieces of the lion inlay? Black epoxy? Ebony dust and CA?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Bravo!!!

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

Reallllly nice, Chris!

Dear Lord! What a showpiece! I think I can safely say that you have ARRIVED as a luthier.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Very nice guitar! Amazing craftsmanship!

I said it on the last one and I'm going to say it for this one... Wow! Thanks for sharing.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Wow, stellar!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Wow, nicely done.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Really beautiful. A couple of questions:

Is the back and sides wood stained at all or is that the natural consistency of color?

How do you hold the tailpiece on?

Thanks for posting

Ed

I've visited this thread three times in the last 12 hours drooling over this guitar. Really a beautiful piece of art that I'm sure sounds amazing. Question about the end wedge, is that one piece and bent? I love that design how it climbs over the back.


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Stunning!

INCREDIBLE WORK!!

keep doing it !
Mike

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Mike Collins

Wow folks, thanks so much for the kind words and encouragement. To answer a few questions:

bcombs510: the end graft is made from two pieces that I cut at a 45 degree angle to bend over the bottom and back of the guitar.

Ruby50: yes that is just a clear coat over the natural African Blackwood. It's a super dark and consistent colored wood. It's slightly more brown in direct sunlight. The tailpiece is bade from two pieces of Ebony that I dovetail together and then I drill a small hole in the part that touches the end graft. I then ream the hole with a violin tuning peg reamer and friction fit the violin tuning peg into it. Then I cut it flush as to make it almost invisible from the bottom. I then slightly under size the reaming of the hole on the bottom of the guita and once the strings are tensioned, the tailpiece locks into place.

Joe Beaver: the black lines in the inlay are done using the Stewmac black superglue. I also use Ebony dust when needed. You can also see the transition from veneer to solid maple on my Bever ls if you look very closely. With maple it's super important to get a good color match on the veneer to the binding. Otherwise it's super obvious. With darker woods like Koa and Ebony, it's pretty easy to get an invisible joint.

As for tone, it's just the most responsive and loud guitar I've ever heard. TONS of bass but without drowning out the super creamy mids and shimmering highs. It's just "gritty" and you feel like you can just feel the notes jump off of the soundboard. It's like hearing a guitar in High Def. I can't wait to explore this design further.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Beautiful!

25th guitar? Wow. That looks like my 150th guitar... at least I hope it does when one day I get to that many. That's a beautiful work of art and the best part about it is that the sound carries along with it's beauty..

Absolutely a beautiful piece of work.

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Blue Ring Acoustics
blueringacoustics.ca

Just.... Wow. You are a talented man.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Beautiful guitar.

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Nicely done, Chris. I see you are a Batson fan!

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Wow! Amazing and beautiful!

Thanks for posting