Official Luthiers Forum!

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally strung up my fifth guitar. While it has a few warts, this is my first built completely from scratch and I'm pleased with the results. It's a 12-fretter, made from an adaptation of Michael Collins' popular J-45 plans. The top is sinker redwood from Lance and the back and sides are curly walnut that I purchased many years ago from Bruce Hermann. I made the stacked neck from Peruvian walnut from LMI. The bridge, fingerboard, headplates, bindings, etc. are ebony.

The playability and intonation were quite good from the start, needing only slight tweaking. Based on my previous efforts, I expect to keep making adjustments as things settle in. This is my first time building with anything other than spruce/mahogany or rosewood and I'm still trying to figure out what is different about the tone of this one. Considering the dimensions of the guitar I was expecting a fairly prominent bass and there is definitely a nice roundness to those notes, but so far it feels like a full and lush midrange may define this guitar's sonic signature. I like it very much, as there is an overall smoothness across the spectrum that I find quite pleasing.

I owe a big shout out to Stephen Zeigenfuss for helping me add a logo to my headstock for the first time. I'm not sure if I'll stick with this design or not, but Stephen was great to work with and his efforts produced excellent results.

I've learned a tremendous amount since joining the OLF and want to thank everyone here for all the support and inspiration you share so freely.

George :-)

P.S. I'm not much of a photographer and have only a fairly basic point and shoot camera on hand. I couldn't get any close ups in focus, so this is the best I can do for now:

Wow! A really beautiful instrument!
The woods are wonderfully matched.
Great work George!
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

that's a lovely piece of redwood.
The guitar has a warm, homely look to it. Can't see any warts at all. It looks beautiful as a new born baby.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Front to back, it's a real beauty, George! Nicely done!

Alex

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

She's a beauty George. I love the back and side wood, it compliments the soundboard quite nice.

For your first scratch build it came out great. I can only hope my first all scratch build will be as nice.

Nice one, now you get to play that thing.

Looks great George, that is a real nice sinker top you used.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Nice one George, love specially that top!

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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.

Thanks for the kind words. The tonewoods really jumped out at me when I saw them listed for sale. Once I wetted them with naphtha I was amazed at their dark, rich luster and extravagant figure. Chocolatey is how I think of this one; in appearance and tone.

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George :-)

George: Nice looking guitar...!! CONGRATS. Love the curl in the walnut.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Amazingly beautiful, George! Would love to hear it. Congratulations!

Very nice, congrats!

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

I agree. I quite like it!

I love the wood combination. Both the top and back are spectacular!

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Lovely!!

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Sweet!

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FB Page

Wow. Fantastic. Can you post some audio somewhere? I'd really like to hear it.

You should be very proud of that for a #5 or a #50, nice work..!

Trev

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Some of you asked for a sound clip. Sorry if took me so long to get around to posting something. I'm not a great guitarist and this is just an mp3 that was captured using an USB mic plugged directly into my computer. When listening through headphones it seems pretty close to what I hear when playing the guitar:

https://soundcloud.com/moocatdog/chocolate-guitar-demo

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George :-)

Wow. That is beautiful. THIS is why I look at this site nearly every day, to be inspired by what everyone is building.

Sweetness!

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

Congratulations, George. That is a very nice instrument. I scrolled back and forth between the two pictures several times and I can't see any warts. I know that any of us could point out details on our instruments that we wish we had done a little better, but I don't think anyone will see any problems here if you don't point them out. To my eye, the colors are particularly warm and inviting. My immediate reaction is: "I want to pick it up and hold it, but it's so pretty that I'm afraid to touch it." I've made several instruments with walnut, and two of them have redwood tops. I think walnut is a very nice tonewood.

Very nice George and sounds good too! Nice work. What did you use for the finish?

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guitarsbygiltzow.com

Hey George. That is a sweet guitar - kind of a modern interpretation of a Roy Smeck.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

Stunning guitar, George! And it sounds wonderful too! Thanks for sharing the photos and the sound clip. It's always nice hear a sound clip.