Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:34 am


All times are UTC - 5 hours


Forum rules


Be nice, no cussin and enjoy!




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 14 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:55 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:30 am
Posts: 202
Location: Central Coast, NSW
First name: Martin
Last Name: Taylor
City: Central Coast
State: NSW
Country: Australia
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
At last I can share the build that I completed for the Elvis Movie. This is a replica of the Gibson Super 400 that belonged to Scotty Moore and featured in the 68 comeback special. There was a really tight deadline of 3 weeks to build, spray, make metal parts etc whilst still running my guitar making school and my design business (lot to be said for being an old ADHD kid).

I've made a video of the build process and the link is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfAh6SGq6aA

Here's also some pics.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

_________________
Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au


Last edited by martintaylor on Sat Jul 23, 2022 3:04 am, edited 1 time in total.


These users thanked the author martintaylor for the post (total 6): rbuddy (Mon Jul 25, 2022 5:39 pm) • Robbie_McD (Mon Jul 25, 2022 8:23 am) • bcombs510 (Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:36 am) • joshnothing (Sat Jul 23, 2022 6:17 am) • Chris Pile (Sat Jul 23, 2022 5:24 am) • Hesh (Sat Jul 23, 2022 3:02 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 3:03 am 
Offline
Old Growth Brazilian Rosewood
Old Growth Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:49 am
Posts: 12971
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
First name: Hesh
Last Name: Breakstone
City: Ann Arbor
State: Michigan
Country: United States
Status: Professional
Very cool!!! You nailed it!!!

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars



These users thanked the author Hesh for the post: martintaylor (Sat Jul 23, 2022 5:01 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 5:25 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:04 am
Posts: 5743
First name: Chris
Last Name: Pile
City: Wichita
State: Kansas
Country: Good old US of A
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
Outstanding. I bet Gibson didn't build Scotty's Super 400 in three weeks...

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



These users thanked the author Chris Pile for the post: martintaylor (Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:47 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:05 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 10:44 am
Posts: 6232
Location: Virginia
Wow! How in the world did you do that in 3 weeks? Excellent work.



These users thanked the author jfmckenna for the post: martintaylor (Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:48 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:25 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:15 pm
Posts: 7219
First name: Ed
Last Name: Bond
City: Vancouver
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
Fibson, lol…


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:30 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:21 am
Posts: 3288
First name: Brad
Last Name: Combs
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
This is amazing. Such talent!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars



These users thanked the author bcombs510 for the post: martintaylor (Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:48 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:49 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:30 am
Posts: 202
Location: Central Coast, NSW
First name: Martin
Last Name: Taylor
City: Central Coast
State: NSW
Country: Australia
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
meddlingfool wrote:
Fibson, lol…

I think I had just as much fun making the label as the guitar!

_________________
Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:57 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:28 pm
Posts: 188
First name: Chuck
Last Name: Skarsaune
City: Butler
State: TN
Country: United States
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
That is super cool.

Nicely done.



These users thanked the author Skarsaune for the post: martintaylor (Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:01 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 4:36 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:52 am
Posts: 4524
First name: Big
Last Name: Jim
State: Deep in the heart of Bluegrass
Country: usa
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Awesome Work [:Y:] [:Y:] [:Y:] [:Y:]

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/



These users thanked the author WudWerkr for the post: martintaylor (Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:02 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 5:40 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 8:16 am
Posts: 358
First name: Brian
City: U.P.
State: Michigan
Focus: Build
Outstanding from peghead to tailpiece! Love it.

_________________
Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED



These users thanked the author rbuddy for the post: martintaylor (Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:02 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:06 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:18 pm
Posts: 292
First name: Chris
Last Name: Wood
City: Chester Springs
State: PA
Zip/Postal Code: 19425
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Semi-pro
That is really awesome!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2022 11:22 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 11:20 pm
Posts: 502
Location: Kurtistown, Hawaii
First name: Bob
Last Name: Gleason
City: Kurtistown
State: Hawaii
Zip/Postal Code: 96760
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
How about some of the details on making the metal parts and the plating procedures? That's pretty cool work! Thanks, Bob

_________________
“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:17 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:30 am
Posts: 202
Location: Central Coast, NSW
First name: Martin
Last Name: Taylor
City: Central Coast
State: NSW
Country: Australia
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Pegasusguitars wrote:
How about some of the details on making the metal parts and the plating procedures?


Hi Bob,

Yes the metal bits were a challenge as I hadn't done any metal work before. As the deadline was so tight I wasn't able to track down original parts so had to improvise.
Firstly, my background is as a graphic designer so I have the advantage of being able to draw up plans etc before I build. In fact I couldn't find any plans for the Super 400 so had to draw up plans based on photos and specifications that I found by googling. When I started looking at Scotty Moore's Super 400 in pics and footage (particularly of the 68 comeback special) I noticed the extra bit in the headstock and thought, whet the hell is that??

Anyway, a bit more googling and I discovered that it was a string damper originally designed by George Van Eps and Gibson licensed it for a few years. Again, using as many photos that I could find and even finding the original patent was able to draw up what it might look like and how to make it. It is made out of an Aluminium base with a felt damper and some stainless steel rods all hand tapped etc. The base was just a thicker piece of Aluminium that a shaped with files etc and eventually buffed. Aluminium comes up a treat when buffed.

The tailpiece was similarly designed by looking at pics and trying to work out proportions etc. IT is made form a flat piece of Brass that was thinned, cut out and bent then an extra thicker piece and a block added and held together with epoxy. I still don't have brazing skills.

The last "extra": was the felt block that is under the tailpiece. Again this was something Scotty Moore implemented as he wanted to eliminate any overtones from the strings beyond the bridge. I found one company in Australia that still made genuine felt that thick but they said they supplied in rolls of a minimum 20m in length. Once I explained how little I needed they experimented by turning their machine of and off again and it spat out a strip 1m wide and about 1inch long. It was perfect.

No plating was necessary on the metal work, just good old elbow grease and buffing.

_________________
Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:18 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 11:20 pm
Posts: 502
Location: Kurtistown, Hawaii
First name: Bob
Last Name: Gleason
City: Kurtistown
State: Hawaii
Zip/Postal Code: 96760
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Martin- Thanks for the metal working tour. Pretty astonishing work, on top of the woodwork!-Bob

_________________
“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 14 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 53 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com