zyonsdream

I have a solid acrylic Telecaster that I built about 12 years ago. It's a standard 1.5 inches thick and comes in at 17 1/2 pounds. It hangs on the wall and never gets played... I'd like to build another one and make it a thinline semi-hollow. This would drastically reduce weight without sacrificing the look. I've also built a guitar out of solid purple heart. If you don't want it to turn brown, use a VU protectant in your finish. After a few hours exposed to light, it will start to loose its purple look.

I see you put this up in the GOTM....might be your first win! I had a buddy who used to do this with bear bottle labels. Thought those were cool and I think this one is too. I've had pine guitars...you might be surprised at how many budget guitars are pine.

Personally, when you slap a set of high gain pickups and run it through your amp, the wood means very little. I have an all maple guitar and it has plenty of low-end... I love people who argue tone and sustain when it comes to wood choices....

Hey, I'd never spend the cash martin asks for a guitar. I'd venture to say that most people at Martin would look at you stupid if you asked them what the term "luthier" means. However, Martin will make 100 million this year off those "production" guitars so they must be doing something right. Keep in mind that the high end Authentic and museum guitars are widely crafted by the two or three luthiers at Martin. Don't believe me, take a tour of the shop and you'll see them hard at work. As I've been told, "handcrafted" depends on your definition of handcrafted. All of us use tools to build our guitars. What's the difference between a bench plane and a motorized planer? Mostly speed... To me, anyone can churn out a half decent body with just about any tools. To me a real Luthier is a person who can craft a stable and playable neck without the use of CNC's. CNC's don;t make you a luthier, it makes you a machinist.

Actually just got my first look at the 2012 price guide for Martin. An all Koa Authentic or Museum grade guitar from Martin is around 55 thousand dollars. That's a lot less than the all Brazilian Rosewood which comes in at 105 thousand dollars In all seriousness, all Koa is simply an esthetic desire and will not enhance the sound. Finding good looking Koa is very hard (unless you can walk around Martin's acclimating room like I get to do every day.) Actually,with Certs, it's even hard to do at Martin now. Good rosewood or mahogany backs/sides and a spruce top will give you a great tone at a lot less cash. You can still get good looking rosewood out there if you look hard enough. If you want something that stands out, go find some black limba for the backs and sides. You;ll end up with a stunning guitar.

about 4,000 dollars

Some might argue but really, the wood has very little to do with the final tone. Wood can affect sustain but really, that's minimal. Electronics are more important in a solid body than the actual wood. But again, some might and likely will argue with this....

I'm not sure about the bridge. However, it's original Tite bond for the neck, bracings and rosettes, bindings, backs and fretboards. Good old fashioned super glue for the position markers on the fret board. I was also a bit disillusioned when I found out about the ebony but the inside scoop is, the owner of Taylor bought up the ebony supplier and if Martin wants ebony, they have to go through Taylor to get it. I know one thing, that wood does not come into the mill if it doesnt have all of the necessary paperwork! That's for sure!

I've been working at C.F. Martin for some time now and my duties have been in the machine shop. for the most part, my primary goal is to build tops. I thought some might be interested in knowing what goes into making a spruce top. 1 Person one receives shipment of rough lumber in book matched lengths around 10 to 20 feet 2. Person two cuts boards to length, stickers and stacks the book-matched tops on a pallet. (approximately 1000 tops per pallet. ) 3. Person three places the wood in a kiln and dries it if the lumber was not dry before it came to us (in most cases it is) Person places pallet in the acclimating room, where it stays for no less than 30 days. 4. Person four sands the tops to a rough thickness (approximately .350-inch) with a very large sander. Person 5 (a catcher takes them out and stacks them back on the pallet. Once both sides are rough sanded, the pallet is placed back in the acclimating room until needed. 5. Person 6 takes 200 book-matched tops and places them on a cart. That person double checks that each top is accurately book-matched and checks the wood for defects. We use a clear template to ensure any imperfections are either cut out or hidden. 6. Person 6 takes the book-matched tops and then preps them for gluing. Each set is rough joined, one side of the top is notched for the CNC and then the top is run through a finish joiner. Before the top can be glued together, you must place the tops edge to edge on a table with a light running down the center. If you cannot see light through the joint, the top is ready for glue. 7. Person 7 applies glue (Tite Bond) to the edge of one side and then places the both sides of the top in a clamping press. Downward and sideward pressure is applied to the top for 20-minutes (the machine is capable of 14 tops at a time. After 20 minutes, person 7 takes the tops off and places them in a stack. After two hours, they can go to the next step. 8. Person 8 sands the glued top down to the final thickness (both sides) to remove any steps in the wood due to the gluing process. Keep in mind, the tops are not cut out, the lumber for the tops are sanded to thickness. Once sanded, person 8 enters the tops into inventory to notify the next person in the process. 9. Quality control inspects the tops for any defects such as cracks, sap and gaps in the joint. They mark out which side of the wood will be the top and then draw the shape of the guitar, where they want the top cut out. They receive a final grading and then are stacked until an order is received for a guitar of that grade. 10. Person 9 places the top onto a laser CNC machine and cuts out the shape of the top 11. Person 10 places the top in a machine that cuts out the rosette cavities 12. Person 11 glues and installs the rosette. 13 Person 8 gets the rosetted tops back and then completes a final sanding to cut down the rosettes flush with the top of the guitar. 14. Person 12 cuts out the sound hole in a drill press and then sends the tops back up to QA 15. QA inspects the tops and then sends them to bracing. 16. The bracing is glued onto the top and depending on the type and quality of the top, the bracing is then hand carved to thickness. Optional step (if there is a cut away on the guitar, it's placed in a machine and cut out now. This is not done when they initially cut out the top (Don't ask me why) 17. The top goes to a CNC machine where the locator tabs on the sides are cut off so the top can be installed. 18. The top is glued onto the guitar 19. The top is cut so binding can be installed or the top is radiused if no binding is to be installed Some other notes, Martin no longer uses ebony. Instead, they use a composite material made out of fiber, epoxy and formaldehyde. It's very life like but yet, it's still plastic. They still use ebony on historic guitars though. I worked over time today cutting up blanks for bridges and fret boards out of this stuff. Machines very nice but still... not the real deal. If you think this is a lot of steps for a top, I could go into the steps for the neck making process, assembly process and just about every other process and you'd quickly see that Martin likes long processes. There are only two or three people in the entire company that could actually make a neck with a spokeshave. The ONLY guitars made that way are one-off prototypes where they cannot use the normal CNC'd necks or for thre "Authentic" series guitars that cost 110K. BTW, Don't hold me to it but the only thing "Authentic" about the Authentic guitars is the wood used, the way the neck is made and how the bracing is made. Otherwise, most if it is still CNC'd Martin makes all of their guitars except for the X series in the USA. The X series are made in Mexico, along with the strings. The only thing Martin does not manufacture on their own are the tuners and electronics. They cut their own wood, binding, bracing, pick guards and purfling. Martin produces 200 guitars (standard and custom) daily and plan to increase that number to 225 next year. They consider Taylor Guitars their only "Real" competition. Yes it's true, famous people show up all the time and take tours. Anyone can take a tour of the shop if you wanted. I've yet to see any really famous people though. The acclimating room is approximately half the size of a Lowes home improvement store and stacked full of goodies What's the best thing I've seen so far? Well, they have a huge stack of reclaimed mahogany taken from a Tibetan Monastery that was standing for over 500 years. They have had it in the mill for over 6 years and Chris Martin still has not released it into production. The Mojo that wood has.... well, you can feel it when you stand in front of the pile.

yah, I've had a few where the joint pulled apart. Not fun on those older guitars. The finish is about impossible to repair! Not sure what they used on those old Harmony F-hole guitars but it's real thin. That's the reason I never used heat lamps. They work great but a guitar that's that old... just always stayed away from them. Many of the old Harmony and Kay necks did not have a fret board glued onto the neck wood either. The frets were installed straight into the neck. This gives you you the ability to pull the frets, plane the neck, add a truss rod (mentioned earlier) and then add on a fret board of your choice. Most of these old guitars sell for 75 to 100$ so the investment in time and money is not always a good idea but if you want a real playable guitar that one eventually spring back into a dobro, then that might be a good repair job for you.

Cut a two inch thick piece of hardwood to the length of the fretboard and then run the wide face through a planer or jointer. Place the flattened surface against the fret board and then clamp the board to the neck. place a clamp at the first fret, the fret just before the heal and then between the two. This will straighten the neck. let it sit for a week or two. Then, install the thinnest gauge strings you can and learn to play down tuned. The less tension on the neck, the less likely it will bow so drastically. I've had a few old Classical F-hole Kay and Harmony guitars over the years. This is what I've done in the past to correct the issue. As a note: if the bow is really bad, don't fully force the neck straight all at once. Do it a little over a few days. This allows the wood time to react to the change and minimizes the risk of cracking.

I've never seen any viable data that says a set neck, neck through or bolt on is better or worse than any other neck. You can put a guitar on a machine and measure sustain to infinity but usable sustain is really only a few seconds long in the real world of guitar playing. A bolt on neck on an acoustic is not your everyday occurrence but to me, bolt on necks are the easiest to work on. Neck goes bad, make a new one and bolt it on. A set neck is easier than a neck through to replace but again. it requires a lot more work to complete than a bolt on. I've seen a few bolt on acoustics in my day and they seem very nice. Are the necks from Ovation and Applause bolt ons? I have one in my attic waiting for a refinish some day in the near 100 years. Might have to check it out.

I watched the videos.... So the big selling point is that the guitar stays in tune when you dive bomb.... most well setup tremolos will stay in tune when dive bombed as long as the saddles and nut don't catch the strings. However, this bridge does nothing to stop tuning issues when you pull up on the bar. The saddles pull backwards, which still stretches the strings. In fact, I'd think the strings must stretch more than on a standard bridge to compensate for the fact that elongating the scale by pulling the saddles backwards would lower the pitch. I'm positive that pulling up on the bar would cause tuning issues. I'm not basing it. Outside of the setscrew on the back of the bridge, its not overly ugly (to me anyways) but it only seems to address some of the ills of a tremolo instead of correcting them. To me, the Kahler is still the "go to" for tremolos. However, this is coming from a guy who prefers wrap around bridges.

My doors are paneled, Wouldnt do much for me except for the framing. We've worked hard to keep the house authentic, so the doors get to stay doors. All of the joists and trusses in my house are mahogany as well. All 4-inches thick and about 8 inches wide.... don't think I havent pondered ripping out a few joists LOL

Fender should take note of that Custom Tele and put it into production immediately I absolutely LOVE non-traditional Telecasters and I would be very proud to have this one in my collection. hands down the winner for me. Heck, I would have picked this one over any listed in the last couple of months. I think the adaptation of the Les Paul configuration fits nicely.

I have a 100+ old home and I recently had to cut into one of the original doors do i could install a cat door. turned out, mine was mahogany. it's hard to tell just looking at the end grain but you could have the same thing. Mahogany was very popular back then.... On a side note, I got a chance to walk around the acclimating room at Martin Guitar on my break the other day. They have a stack of mahogany that stands 15 feet high. It came from a Tibetan Monastery that was recently torn down. The wood was in the monastery for over a hundred years before Martin bought it. Guess it's been sitting at Martin for over 6 years now. Chris Martin won't authorize it for use yet. I was told that they wont use it on any guitars that cost less than 50K.

Absolutely stunning. I'd love to own it! I'm a sucker for non-traditional teles

Just wondering, does that actually say Les Paul on the headstock?

Virgil Guitar: Excellent inlay but seriously too busy for me. These specialty guitars have their place but just like the PRS dragon, that place is not on my wall. I’m not one for traditional shapes but a slightly more traditional shape would take away from some of the chaos on this guitar and help to keep me interested in the extensive inlay work. The addition of the video was cool. Thank for that! Crow: good take on a PRS shape. I love the reverse headstock and the star inlays. I wish the pictures were better and showed off the finish more. The second picture left me wondering about orange peel but that could have been reflections. Also, the use of the Fulcrum tremolo just didn’t do anything for me. Kramersteen: BC.Rich would be proud… or possibly contacting lawyers for a cease and desist. Everything looks good on this guitar and reminds me of the 80’s but overall colors don’t do much for me. The second guitar did more for me. Never understood completing against yourself in a competition but this one was the best of your submissions. The guitar reminded me of early GMW paintjobs. Again, better pictures could have helped. I particularly liked the use of the clear pickguard. The third guitar. Outside the three humbuckers, this guitar did nothing for me. However, none of the Ibanez Satch shapes have either. Guitar number four!!!!! Seriously, enough is enough. Please keep it to one (maybe two) per month…This guitar did nothing for me. Couldn’t even tell they were skulls until the closeup shot. Andyt: Crap! The day you posted this I fell in love with it. I WANT THIS GUITAR! Beautiful color, wood, design and execution. I have nothing but love for this guitar… unfortunately, it did not get my vote! Any other month, it would have. Jaycee: I might take flack for this but this bass really reminds me of Danelectro. It may be the wood you used. I know it is not a Danno shape but that’s what it reminds me of. I’m a bigger fan of the stretched out and sleeker basses but this is a looker and looks well done. Better photography could have helped. Demonx: Loved this guitar the first time I saw it. Traditional shape but it has EVERYTHING I love in a guitar. Kahler, single humbucker, minimal controls, no inlay and a reverse neck. I also love the finish! This is the one that got my vote this month. Just simply everything I like. If you build this guitar in the shape of Andyt’s guitar, I’d just have a heartattack and sell my kids to buy it!

Hoogle bug: The second pictures shows how flawless the finish on this guitar is. This mini-scale is a far upgrade from the crap that Toys R’ Us sells for kids and if you have a child that fits this guitar and can actually play it, that is cool. Would I get one for my kid? Nope. I’m not a fan of the heel transition or the tuners. They sit too far off the headstock for me. Restoration AD: I love Padauk and I love maple but for some reason the color combination does not seem to go together very well. Alos, the light spot on the fretboard catches my eye but not in a good way. I think I’ve said this before, but having strings go over the edge on a headstock just looks out of place. These are all things personal to me. This is a great guitar for anyone who does not have my hangups. Swedish Luthier: Many, every bass you makes just looks so professional. Nothing constructive to say about this tasty 8-string. I’d play it, even if I tool the extra strings off. Crazy Paint: Dunno, I like ricks but the carving on this one…. It seems like it needed a few more coats of oil to really set it off. The star inlays look out of place and the god hardware does not seem to complement the walnut. Again, if the walnut was darker (with more oil) it might complement it better. Hitone: Love the looks of this guitar and the fact that you donated it to charity. I don’t know how much I would play it but I’d love to have it hanging on my wall. DC Ross: Clean build, great color choice but the upper horn does not do it for me. I love the lacewood. I built a neck from that stuff once. I clear coated mine and it looked awesome. I can appreciate the sanding effort that went into it as lacewood is not much fun to sand. Hard choice between the bass and the Hitone. Hitone got my choice this month.

This was a serious month for guitar building. Every guitar built belongs in production! Excellent work all around! Andyt: You won in December of 2008 and you should win this month. However, I get an extreme hard on for Black Limba and that flame on the neck is crazy! The unique fretboard does not detract away from the Limba for me. It just adds to the beauty. I’d absolutely love to see this guitar in person. The only thing that would make it better is if it was a single humbucker in the bride with no neck pickup but that is purely my tastes. This got my vote 100%. MetalHead: Any other month and that figured walnut would have earned my vote. The laminations are spot on and that fret board is to die for! I’m not 100-percent sure about the gold. It doesn’t look bad but I’m not a big fan of mix/matching hardware color. I think the black works better. I’d surely play a few jams on this beast! Peter Brown: The big drawback about this guitar is the washed out, grainy pictures. Take a look at the other submissions. They are crisp and clear and give everyone a clear idea of what the guitar is all about. It’s cool that you wound your own pickups. I wound a few of my own and I show people all the time because it’s different to have your own pups, especially if they sound good. Maikkeli: is the face of that guitar dirty or is it an effect from photo shopping the background? Take some of what I said to Peter and apply it to yourself. Your pictures are better but the filtering makes the guitar look subpar. The close-ups do look better though. The binding is top notch and the headstock looks like it came from a professional shop. The inlay looks good. You’ll never sell me on the compensated nut though. The tuner is a great use of space and would be a welcome tool for anyone who uses a chromatic tuner. Brutal Lv: I’m not a fan of that headstick shape on an LP body. It looks too metal for such a classic shape. The round holes and the sunken controls yield a classier look and then you see that Dean/ Rico Jr headstock and it esthetically throws me for a loop. I’ve installed an LR Baggs before. It was lots of fun and really gives a great tonal range to an electric. The green finish looks nice over that maple top.

For the first time, I could see every guitar in the GOTM hanging in a music store for sale! This was a excellent month. I have a soft spot for the BCR mockingbird and this is by far the best work you've done sir so you get my vote!

Scatter Lee: Well crafted but I’m not sure why the space between the neck and the neck pickup looks so much different then the rest of the finish on the guitar. Hydro: clean looking bass, excellent wood grain! Nothing I can say could improve on it. Great bass! Boggs: Just not my type of design. Hardcoat looks like it needs more sanding. Crow: gets my vote. If it was a 6-string I’d be asking if it were for sale. Perfect heal transition, great belly cut. And… it’s sure to piss off the tele purists Hufs: Not to offend, but it seems too close to a mock for me. If you were in the US and BCR saw this, you’d get a cease and desist letter. I’m not a fan of copying a protected shape and then selling it…which is what you’ve done. Swedish: This was my second choice. It really came down to which one I would play more. Although I’d jam the crap out of this guitar, I’d play the tele more often.

Bill: Had this been an oil rubbed finish or a grain filled hard-coat you would have likely gotten my vote. Looking at it inside might not show the grain so much but with the pictures you took, it is very noticeable. I love the tree pickups and the non traditional configuration of a Tele. I love pissing off Tele purists too. Big D: Excellent looking guitar. It looks like it was picked off the shelf. The top and binding really look nice but to me the colors matched with the mahogany look a little off. Boggs: I must have a bad case of dejavu because it seems like we have seen this one in the GOTM before. I could be wrong but I am too lazy to look. I like the graphics but the one thing that bugs me is the neck pickup. It does not match the same angle as the other two pickup. This may be intentional and if it is, it shouldn’t be. You will get no improvement in tone and it just looks off. Hufschmid: the shape is cool, the craftsmanship is great but I just don’t care for the wood. The red switch throws it off for me. Maybe if it was a black switch it might blend in better. I love the bridge and would love to try one out. To me this is one of those guitars I might love if I had it in my hands. Swedish: This is the one I voted for! I love the finish, I love the look and the craftsmanship is top of the line. This is the reason you are a three time winner. I would absolutely love to own this guitar. Take new pictures though. The grainy look to the black background makes the green look blurry. I’m guessing it is some sort of filter you applied to the picture. Scatter: this was my close second. If it were not for the phallic headstock, I could have tossed my vote to this one. I like the fender jack. I think it works better than a face mounted Gibson jack. Wyrd: No one can say this isn’t a great build but you lacked some attention to details when you put it together. The back edge of the bridge rests over the web cut outs. The toggle switch half mounts on the bevel. This looks sloppy like someone put it in the CNC machine incorrectly. It also looks like it lacks a complete grain filler. Chile: Again, the craftsmanship is there but the body shape; I just don’t understand it. I know it has meaning to you so I guess that’s the sacrifice. You understand it but most people wont.

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