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I finished my first baritone guitar a month or so ago. It's Claro Walnut with a Lutz Spruce top and with a scale of just over 28" so it is tuned to "B" rather than "A". I have it tuned a la Pat Metheny with the 3rd and 4th strings tuned up the octave (some refer to it as a Nashville tuning), and, oh my gosh, what an incredible sound. The resonance and clarity is absolutely amazing with the top four strings providing a kind of alto range cluster of sound that is harp like, supported by a deep pillow of low bass. The extra scale pushed the bridge position towards the tail and I think this may be one of the key reasons why the instrument is so successful.

The inlay is based on the famous wood block print by Hokusai called the Great Wave at Kanagawa and another lesser known wave print by Hokusai. I sort of deconstructed his waves so I could spread them out the length of the fingerboard and head stock.

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Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net

That is a beautiful instrument. I'd love to hear a sound clip!

Great work. Love the wood and the inlay.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Beautiful guitar! The inlays are stunning, Kevin! Wow!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Great inlay!

I just had one of my 28.5" scale guitars in the shop to set it up for this exact tuning. I used .012 and .020 plain steel for the 3rd and 4th strings and was blown away... what a great sound it made!

Very nice!

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Aaron Craig

Very nice indeed!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Nice work, Kevin. Looks like Grit's class was worth it. And thanks for the baritone tuning advice.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Very original and tasteful.
Is this your first inlay. or do you have any others hidden away?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Very nice.

Looks real nice Kevin. Your bringing that one to St. Louis on Saturday, right?

Steve

Woh!!!

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Stunning!

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Steve, yes, I am bringing it to St. Louis this weekend.

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Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net

YES BRING IT!!!!!!

That is a stunning guitar. What did you make the blue part of the waves from??

Zeke, the blue is Dark Lapis recon stone. The rest of the inlay material is solid shell (white, gold, and tahitian black mop) on the fingerboard. On the head stock, because I need a big piece of shell and did not want seams, I used laminated shell, Agoya I think.

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Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net

Now that's very pretty. You'll have to get transparent fingers so people can see the inlay while you play

Well it's beautiful! Any chance we could hear a recording? I'm not familiar with the tuning you mentioned or how it sounds.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

That's gorgeous! Michael Bashkin also did a guitar inspired by The Wave, but I much prefer your interpretation along the fretboard.

Darryl, I don't have a recording of my guitar, but check out Pat Metheny's album called One Quiet Night. The entire recording is played on a Linda Manzer baritone tuned as I describe, but down a step to A. The sound is just amazing.

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Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net

Oh, wow. A Japanese print expressed in MOP inlay. Fabulous, in my estimation.
Patrick

I love the inlay. I have tattoo's with very similar inspiration.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing work. Can't quite grasp how that can even be done. Wow.

Kevin, What body shape is that? Looks like a 0000 perhaps? And I don't understand when you say that ..."The 'extra' scale pushed the bridge position towards the tail." Seems that 28" is actually 'less' scale and it would do the opposite? Curious, thanks.

EDIT: Wow I see see my brain took a serious vacation. For some reason I saw 28" scale as shorter than a standard scale. Sigh.

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Thank You and Best To All

Larry, the body shape is what I call a Grand Auditorium. I suppose it could be like a 0000, but I am not very familiar with Martin shapes. What I mean about the bridge placement is, if I used this body with a 25" scale, the bridge would be closer to the waist. Because the baritone scale is 3" longer, the bridge must be placed approximately 1 1/2" lower on the body.

Thanks to everyone for your supportive comments. I went outside my comfort zone on this one, and I am very happy with the result.

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Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net