Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share my latest guitar to come off of the workbench. This one is actually for me, and will be my permanent gigging guitar (I make my living as a professional musician). With that said, my main priority in the build was that of durability, stability, and amplification response. I used Port Orford Cedar for the soundboard as it is incredibly stable under changing weather conditions, as well as Walnut back and sides. The neck is a beautifully flamed piece of mahogany that I reenforced with two graphite strips to aid in stability during the hot and humid Florida gigs. I also used Gilbert tuning machines for their ability to be easily serviced. For amplification I opted for the LR Baggs Stagepro Anthem system, as it offer the punch of a piezo with the natural woodiness that only a mic can offer. The ability to control the pickup for the side of the guitar is a must for any gigging musician and I just love the sound of this pickup.

As for the inlays, I wanted to do something that represented my home, so I opted for the Sea Oats on the fretboard. I made these from Oregon Myrtlewood and they are completely hand made. They took about 4 hours to cut out and another 3 hours to inlay. I find that they are bold yet subtle and do a good job of representing my home. In addition to that, I also inlayed a small pair of eyeglasses near the end graft. This is to represent my son, who is visually impaired.

All in all I'm very pleased with the guitar and It's good to finally be gigging with a guitar that represents my brand in a much for accurate way.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Wow! Another beauty. Gorgeous woods. The sea oats inlay is very cool. I can't even imagine doing something like that in just 7 hours. I also like the asymmetrical heel.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Wow! She's beautiful. The neck, back and sides are amazing. And then all those smaller, thoughtful details make it stand apart even further. Congrats on this build! Looks like a masterpiece to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That thing is 4 or 5 kinds of awesome. Well done!

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

I love everything about this!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Beautiful!

Super nice! ...everything about it!

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Very beautiful. The walnut neck in particular. Is that a bevel on the back side? If so, what is the reason you did it there? Superb work on every detail.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Wonderful work! Love your sense of style

Brad, the bevel on the back is a "rib bevel". It's the same thinking as an arm bevel but this one relieves pressure on the ribs when it's being played for hours on end. I was going to do an arm bevel as well, but don't like how they change the symmetry of the face of the guitar. As for the neck, it's actually Mahogany with a tobacco burst on it.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Well that certainly is a good representation of your amazing work Chris. Beautiful workmanship as usual. The glasses are cool. Is your boy old enough to get that?

Cheers,
Danny

Chris, Chris, Chris. You're never gonna be able to hang on to that one. Someone will talk you out of it! Very nice guitar!

James

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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.

Chris, your description calls the neck a beautiful piece of flamed walnut, hence my remark. Either way, it looks perfect with the overall ascetic.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

Lovely instrument

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

WOW!!

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guitarsbygiltzow.com

Very nice indeed!

i loooove that fingerboard, it´s pure gold! amazing guitar.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Incredible guitar!!!!!!!!!!
Mike

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Mike Collins

Now that I got up off the floor....all I can say is "wow"

gorgeous in every way. The fret board inlay is beautiful.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Gorgeous, this is for sure.

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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."