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...but my first Full Monty. This guitar is a prototype, so I'm trying lots of stuff with it in addition to the sunburst -- the new "Odalisque" body shape, built very lightly with narrow, tall braces, and my new rosette theme. It's a lotta look, and I may not use all those elements together on the next one, but who knows?
Thanks for looking!

Ken

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

I like everything about it! That rosette is fantastic. How do you do that?

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PMoMC

Here's a couple of the neck.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Sweet!

Basically, I draw it on the computer in Rhino, and the different arcs are created by moving their center point, which becomes the axis for a router outfitted with a circle-cutting jig. It was a little tedious, but I'm still working out my procedure a bit more. The next one will have three segments.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Particulars are Honduran Mahogany back, sides and neck I got from a cool old hippie a couple of counties over, in the form of big old beams he's had laying in his yard for the last fifteen years. The top is Lutz from Shane at High Mountain, red spruce top bracing, the same mahogany for back bracing, solid mahogany linings, ebony and Brazilian rosette, and Brazilian appointments from the estate of another local luthier.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

I LOVE the sunburst. Very soft and antique looking. Great job!

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Looks great! Very nice job. When you get it all assembled and strung up, can we see some more pics? Especially details of the rosette.
Congratulations.
Patrick

Really nice Ken!!!!!

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Nice burst Ken! Did you use nitro?

Very nice sunburst. The guitar looks great, too.

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Great looking sunburst Ken...

Thanks, all. Mark, my plan was to have my new spray room up and running by now so I could do nitro, but I've still got a couple of pieces of the "explosion-proof" puzzle to work through. So I am again using EM6000. If done right, it is a wonderful finish. The aniline dyes were mixed in a 1.5# cut shellac, then sealed with a coat of super blonde.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

I love the rosette particularly, especially as I'm planning to try something a little different, it's got a bit of trompe d'oeil about it...very impressive. All round it looks great!

Alan

Really nice Ken! I'm just doing a Sapele and Shane's Lutz that I'm planning to burst.

What did you use to spray it and how about a little info on how you did the diamond volute?

Cheers,
Danny

I've done a diamond volute by hand from memory. It's not a very complex shape and once you understand the basic scale, it's not hard to go from there.

Although when I did it I carved it in sessions. I would cut the diamond, carve the neck and find that it's too big, and then I would make it smaller.

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My first impression was also that it had a built-in aged look to it.

That turned out QUITE well, Ken.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Hey thanks everyone! Man, it's nice to feel like you're on the right track sometimes, ya know?

Regarding the volute, of course you have to design it into your roughed out neck blank. I basically draw a W on the back of the headstock from lower corners of the headstock to the bottom vertices of the volute. Then I just sand the back of the headstock above the diamond, down close to final thickness. I then use an X-Acto razor saw to define the faces of the diamond, just proud of the surface. From there it's a lot of chisel and Dragon rasp work sweet talking the diamond and defining the recurve from the neck into the diamond. I freehand them, so each one is slightly different. It's a way of giving a guitar something of it's own fingerprint. Hope that's helpful.

I'll put up proper photos as well as sound clips as soon as it's strung up. Thanks again for having a looksee!

Ken

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Looking great Ken. That hog looks really slick and silky. Is that just the mahogany looking that way or a combo of the burst and hog?
Come on out this way for a weekend when you get that one done...

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Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

Now that's a great looking sunburst!

Ken - that is really gorgeous! Nice work indeed. I too would love to see some additional photos once she's all strung up.

Thanks guys. I'm very happy with it, especially considering my apprehension about diving in. I'm realizing though, that doing bursts is a lot of fun -- it appeals to the artist in me. Also, it's a good way of standing out from the crowd a bit.

Stuart -- I can't say I was intentionally going for a vintage vibe, but I did have a very specific palette in mind when I chose the colors. I wound up doing four different mixtures, though I initially intended to do only three. They were yellow/amber, amber/red, red/brown, and brown/red/black.

Chris, careful or I might just take you up on your invite! I'd love to come out for a visit and see your operation.

Happy building!

Ken

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com