Official Luthiers Forum!

I finally finished #4 this weekend and wanted to share some pics.

Materials are Englemann with Euro Maple B&S and maple neck. Macassar ebony fingerboard, headpiece & fittings. Curly koa bindings & Gotoh 510's from Shane. The finish is Target Ultima. It's my first attempt at colour, a light single colour sunburst to bring out the koa & I was happy with the result (not as yellow as it appears). The Ribbecke/Manzer "duet" was also an influence. The pickup is Kent Armstrong's handwound PAF, with a "hidden" volume thumbwheel under the aft corner of the pickguard.

It's basically a 17" Benedetto plan, but with the non-standard f-holes give it a bit of a "D'Aquisto" look, so this time I reworked the bridge base and tailpiece to try to compliment that look.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time

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Dave
Milton, ON

She's a beaut Dave! And nice photos too!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Dave,

That is absolutely gorgeous! I really like the look of Koa binding and the stain matches very nicely. You certainly have a flair for the artistic....the bound soundhole, finger rest, tailpiece, koa binding all of it work so nice together.

What did you use to bind the soundholes? Also what stain did you use? Did you stain the wood or blend it with the Target Ultima?

I sure need to make the drive out to Milton to see this one!

Great job

I am IN LOVE!!!

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

WOW is that beautiful!!!!!!

Dave you created a masterpiece there - incredible!!!!

The mad rose looks great with the finish and all the various shapes that you have created compliment each other perfectly.

This is one of the prettiest guitars that I have ever seen.

Superb Dave -

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Artistic is right!!! That is a stunner, Dave. Beautiful!

I'd like to know more about how you did the shading.

long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Wow, beautiful and very inspiring.

Thinking of building an archtop next year myself.

Marvelous. That goes in the personal archive. I really want to do one of those, myself. I love all the honey colors blending together.

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

Very nice

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Thanks for all the kind words.

Anthony, the sound holes are koa bound with a B/W purfling line. The stain is a blend of conc. liquid stains (tobacco, red mahog & amber) added to the lacquer only (none on bare wood).

Bob, as this was my first (nervous) the most significant thing I can say is that it went a lot more easily than I expected. I strongly suggest anyone contemplating a sunburst get the Stewmac video (Sunburst Finishing). I referred to it quite a bit, from blending & "alchemy"  right through the process.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Absolutely gorgeous!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Lovely work as usual!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Very tasteful.  I like it a lot.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Wow Dave you Wowed us All!

Thanks for the tip on the StewMac Video.

INcredible instrument on a number four.

I know Larry Presnall is looking and wondering..... ay Larry?

Thanks Dave for sharing these pics.

Did you do your own photos? I'm wanting a background change on my own. Yours is very nice.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Thanks again. Bruce, the pics are my own - just using diffused screw-in CFL bulbs (no flash) over a 54" backdrop a friend gave me. Hard to get true colour rendition however (even with camera correcting for flourescent). Tips welcome.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Mi-T-Fine!  That is a guitar "to kill for".  The lighting is very complimentary to the instrument.    

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Wow Dave
What can you say about something like that!
Thats really amazingly, tastefully done, in every respect, & as with everyone else who has posted, I just love the colour, the koa sets it off nicely,,, just wow..
it has that indescernible "it" factor cosmetically....

I dont remember anyone doing soundclips of thier archtop builds - do you have the capacity to do one>?
If so Id love to hear one... if that guitar sounds as half as nice as it looks....look out!
Cheers
Charlie

Very tasteful, beautiful guitar. I'd love to hear a sound sample.
Dave could you tell us more about the Target Ultima finish? I assume it's their waterbase lacquer, how does it spray, does it shrink much with buffing (did you notice the finish sink in the spruce for example)?
Does it seem on the hard or soft side, adhesion/delamination issues? I'm very curious…

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Thanks.  Sorry Charlie, no soundclips.

Re Ultima, what can I say? Lots of debate out there! I "wanted" nitro, but it just wasn't an option, for most of the usual reasons. I believe doing your own finishing is a big part of the fun (nothing beats having the instrument begin to glow in your hands as you buff it out - priceless!) so I was reluctant to farm it out. I was turned on to Ultima by Gerrald Sheppard & his beautiful work. I know it's undergone much improvement over the years and for me, it works. It sprays well through a detail gun, into a knockdown booth (which I setup in my shop), venting through media right into my dust collector! It has good adhesion, now I know it takes colour well, & if there's proper pore-filling (I use Z-Poxy), no evidence of shrinkage. (My first Ultima job was sprayed in March and looks like it was finished yesterday.) It looks clear to me, although I'm sure a nitro guy would argue that last 1%. My schedule of leaving it 4-5 wks to cure (I believe this is a key), wet sanding to 2000 (another key) then med. & fine buff yeilded a very high quality finish.

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Dave
Milton, ON