Official Luthiers Forum!

I know one bloke who is going to get a nice surprise for Christmas.

We finished this one today. A Mahogany/Lutz OM with Snakewood bindings. Scalloped bracing. Ubeaut Hard Shellac finish. Waverley tuners.

It was built to be used as a DADGAD guitar and string gauges at present are 56-13.

It's plenty loud and nicely balanced so it'll be fine for the Irish sessions that it will be used in.

Thanks to Dave White and Colin Symonds for their advice whilst planning this one.

Here's the pics.
















Thanks for looking

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

BOB!!

I love it! I would have never thought to use snakewood bindings on a mahogany guitar, but it works beautifully! I like the bridge too...very unique.

Well done !!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Bob/Dave

Another one up to your usual high standards.

Lutz/mahogany will work really well for sessions - I guess your customer is another one that likes their "bottom end"

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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

Lovely work!

[QUOTE=bob_connor]
Thanks to Dave White and Colin Symonds for their advice whilst planning this one.
[/QUOTE]
That makes me curious; any 'secrets under the hood' you would like to share?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Beautiful guitar and appointments, Bob. I completed a similar combo on an SJ last summer...the Snakewood bindings really set it off spectacularly.

Thanks for posting.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Great looking and I am sure sounding guitar Bob!!!!  Wow that hard shellac finish REALLY shines!!!  The reflections are amazing!

It looks like she has an X-braced back too.

As always beautiful work M8 and it's nice to see the cleaning supplies ....  but the pink flowers are uniquely you.....

Superb guitar Bob

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Great looking guitar, Bob! The finish is just beautiful. I am finally going to get my hands on some of the Ubeaut Hard Shellac (a fellow luthier in Germany is sending me some. Any tips on your method of application?

Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Bob,
You are the real 'Ubueat'. What a beauty

Beautiful work, Bob!

I'm about to start a Mahogany/Lutz OM.  That looks great!  Gave me some ideas.  I like that finish. Did you ever post your Ubeaut finishing schedule?
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Great sound port. Looks fantastic, as usual.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Super job!
That snakwood binding looks fantastic against the mahogany!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Very sharp looking OM Bob! Love the snakewood with mahogany.
And the sound port looks great,I love it!
Great Logo! And your Ubeaut hard shellac finish is just Gorgeous. Really nice job!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

EDIT:   Those Waverlys top it off Bob! Very nice!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Bob, the superlatives all apply to your guitar. wow.

Congrats to you and your recipient. Gotta love those back of the headstock overlays, nice.

Merry Arkansas Christmas from the Ozark Foothills!

Oh, and you have some first-rate advisers there in Dave and Colin!

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Very handsome instrument. I like the snakewood bindings, too. Nice touch.

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

Once again, a stunning success!  I would have expected nothing less.  That guitar is, indeed, a knockout.  Makes you want to pick it up and try it out, and I don't even play steel strings.     

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

My oh my! Does that look great or what! I would have never guess that guitar has a shellac finish.

Merry Christmas Bob!

I'm trying hard to find something I don't like........










NOPE!!

can't find anything!!

great job!!

I was thinking about snakewood bindings on a mahogany guitar as I have some side length offcuts left over from a guitar I built a while ago.

you have just convinced me!!

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Can you share your Ubeaut application method/schedule with us?
Thanks
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

I second j.Brown's request.

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

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

Arnt - Dave and Colin's suggestions were:
1. Mahogany back and sides (would you expect anything else from Colin )
2. An X braced back (which Colin believe gave more mid range punch)
3. Parabolic Bracing

As it ended up the customer wanted scalloped braces after playing a couple of our other guitars, hence Dave's reference to bottom end. Other than that there's nothing too tricky going on under the bonnet.

The player wanted this guitar for accompanying fiddle tunes and is a reasonably aggressive strummer so it has medium gauge strings and the top and bracing are a little heavier than we would normally do for for an OM used for fingerstyle.

Hesh - pink is a very fashionable colour amongst the trendy luthier set. I seem to remember some other bloke had some pink night attire sneaking into his pics recently.

The Ubeaut is the equivalent of a 4lb cut.

We spray it neat, wait 15 minutes for it to flash off then spray another coat.

That's it.

Let it cure for a month and then rub it back.

Since this one has been finished we've bought a new Sata Minijet 4 spray gun, which is waaaay better than the cheapy we'd been using. Much better flow out and less sanding.

Plus we've bought a Festool ROS (thanks Lillian) so we now level sand with 400(dry) and then 1000 and 2000 grit Festool Platin 2. Then it's straight off to the buffer.

This one was hand rubbed so you can see some undulations in the finish if you get up close to it.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Bob, that looks fantastic! Right up there with the best the forum has to offer. I bet your customer will be thilled.

Colin

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

Thanks Bob,
So you pore fill and only spray two coats of Ubeaut, cure and rub out?
That's amazing if I am reading correctly. That really looks nice!
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Great work Bob
   What about some more details on the woods. The bridge in particular.
   Also, I am curious about that reverence to the Festool sander and the Platin 2. What is all that?

John