zyonsdream

Demonx... Neck thru, single pickup and a splitter. Kahler! Yah, when do you ship this to my house LOL! This guitar is right up my alley for sure.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190874668101

I have four of these left. These are in excellent condition. They will require bracing and final shaping. Will make a OOO sized guitar or could be modified for a custom shape. Could also use it for killer wall art if you like.

You ony have a few days to enter this contest, the drawing is going to take place on the first of May

You can also click here http://bit.ly/10DtNx1 if you don't feel like serching for the give away on his Facebook page

Aaron VanWhy, long time C.F. Martin Custom Shop inlay artist recently launched an inlay business and as a friend and co-worker of his, I thought I'd pass on this awesome opportunity to win a Dreadnaught sized "Tree of Life" inlaid pickguard. You can choose between one inlaid with maple and abalone or one inlaid with koa and abalone. Both are finished and ready for shipment. Won't cost you a dime to enter either. Just check out his Facebook and sign up for the promotional give away. page https://www.facebook.com/vanwhyinlay

I've seen these pickguards and you won't be disappointed. They are a direct fit for any Martin Dreadnaught and should fit on any guitar with a dreadnaught sized soundhole.

This is what I used to finish this white limba body and mahogany neck.

Wiped on a light oak minwax stain and let it dry.

Wiped on several light coats of wipe-on-poly with paint sponge. Allowed 24 hours between coats. After about 5 to 10 (can't remember exactly) coats, I wet sanded and then buffed out with #0000 wool. Then I hand buffed with wax. This guitar is around 3 years old and is my primary player. Finish has held up great for me.

I did the same thing for this flat sawn zebrawood guitar

and the same thing for this Padauk/ limba guitar

Poplar is an exellent wood for a solid body and would be great when used with a P90 pickup like you'd expect to see in an LP Jr. I know Taylor has used poplar in their acoustics. Martin has been experementing with poplar for back/sides and for necks. It seems like poplar is becoming more popular due to the scarcity of some common "guitar" woods.

Demonx... I said it when I first saw it and I never wavered this month. If I had the scratch and didn't have a 9,000 Martin in the mill right now, I'd be on you to buy this guitar. The only thing that could have improved this axe would be to remove the neck pickup and leave it a single humbucker but that's just my personal preference.

I liked all of the guitars this month!

Martin made the alternative X with an aluminum top mated to wood sides. The epoxy we had to use to get the top to stay was so caustic that the EPA made us build a separate booth away from our standard glue-up area to properly vent the fumes. I'm not sure what the exact brand of epoxy was. Monday, I'll try to find out.

we see very little in the way of nylon stringed instruments on this forum. It's cool to see such a non traditional setup. I'd like to see a fulcrum tremolo with Graphtech piezo saddles. A classical nylon with a bit of wiggly action would really tick off those classical guitar purists

funny, wiped down it looks a bit like black limba with all the different shades of mahogany

Many people get confused between "tone" and "vibrational transfer." In a solid body electric the wood affects the vibrational transfer of the tone from the neck through the body. In essence, the material used to construct the guitar affects the overall length and strength of sustain. The tone is purely constructed from the pickups, wiring, quality of pots and caps. To most, this translates to the ear thinking they hear a tone difference. However, you are hearing the tone amplified and often sustained longer.

I'll go even further in saying that wood choice has very little affect when speaking about acoustic construction. I have in my possession right now a Martin OMC made with cherry back, sides, front block and neck with a sitka top. The braces are unscalloped sitka and the guitars sounds almost identical to my traditional rosewood/sitka. To go even further to debunk the "all maple= shrill and bright" argument. I just purchased a Martin GPCPA prototype made in 2007. It's made with Flamed maple top, sides, back and neck. The fretboard is Richlite. The bridge is Richlite and the front block is made of stataply (which is a mixture of burch and maple.) It's got enough low end bass to over power any mix and the midrange and treble are perfect. Keep in mind that this is a big body Grand Perfoermance Martin so it's expected to be loud. The maple did nothing to demising that.

You can take a guitar made with any crap wood and match it with the correct electronics and have a wonderful sounding guitar. Look at Danelectro. Guitars made from pressed board and I doubt many can deny their classic tone.

I understand your feeling about critiquing but as a person whose put several guitars in past GOTM, I find the critiquing to be the best part of the competition. Sometimes, positive and negative feedback lacks in build threads and the GOTM is sometimes the last place a person can get honest feedback about their build quality. I always try to learn from both the positive and negative so I can hone my craft at everything I do.

I can't see the poll option, but my vote is for Shad Peters. That guitar is perfection.

I don't really like listing what I like and dont like about other guitars, but they are all nice and all better than what I do.

I'm aware of this, I work for Martin and I'm forced to work with it every day because we use it as our "certified" wood. It helps keep us FSC certified. As mahogany gets harder and harder to legally obtain (CITES and FSC certified) we are moving to Sapele. We use it mostly for back and sides but have been testing it for tops as a replacement for mahogany in guitars such as the DM. Guess we'll call it the DS.

I guess in a worl where Richlite is a suitable substitute for ebony, Sapele is not that bad off a wood. At least its actually wood. My take on this lumber is personal and not shared by all of my coworkers. Many of us do not like it but hey, to each their own.

Super heavy, tone deficient crap wood if you ask me... at least in the world of acoustics.

Martin, taylor and others are using sapele on some model... i'va also heard that Steinway & sons use sapele for their pianos...

Curtisa: There is nothing wrong with this build for me. I liked the wood choice for the body, the carve, the direct mount pups and the bridge choice. This could easily be the GOTM for most months. The only thing that prevented me from voting for you was the choice of fretboards. It blends in to the body wood too much for me. Maple or ebony would have made it stand apart, and for me, that's something I like to see. However, many will disagree with me.

ScottR: To me, the pictures likely do not do this guitar justice. instead of picking on the things I don't care for I'll congratulate you on the amount of votes you've received so far.

Demonx: I really thought that this was one of your best guitars to date. I've continually been impressed with the high level of work you've been putting out. I wish you lived in Arazona because you'd be an asset to Neal's shop and as far as I'm concerned, your work is absolutely on par with his. I was all set to hit the "vote" button for you until I saw the Buckeye. When I saw your submission for next month, my decision was made easier. No one is going to beat that one out in my eyes so this month I'll vote for the Buckeye and next month you get my vote for sure.

Shad Peters: WOW! I'd love to have this guitar on my wall. Killer wood choices, killer hardware choices and finished to perfection!

If it's a solid body Sapele then I'd hate to be the one that had to wear it for a gig! Super heavy, tone deficient crap wood if you ask me... at least in the world of acoustics. I'd burn every piece of it at our factory if I could. However, with the diminishing availability of good mahogany, it's likely the "mahogany substitute" for all manufacturers of any actual size.

so what happens to the wood? a massive haul of a rare resource, but its illegal - do they burn it?

They will not burn the wood. They will work to certify it and distribute it back into circulation over time. In the grand scheme of things, 220K worth of wood is not that much wood.

sweet! he got my vote! Congrats

Not sure where they get the Koa reference from. I did some Google searching on it and to me, none of it resembles koa, sans the reddish tone I saw in some pictures but that could have simply been the sheen from the flooring finish. Koa is indigenous to Hawaii and as far as I know, it only grows on the islands. I could buy the the Tigerwood reference but I'm not so sure about the referneces to Goncal Alves. Too red and not enough green to me.

People attach names to lumber to make them sound special. At Martin, we sell a wood called Morado. It's also known as Pau Ferro. From what I understand, Martin did not want to associate the wood they used with the popular basses built in the 70's and 80's so they used a less common name. We use several other species that have more "common" common names than the ones we opt to use.

the question really is... does the material composition of the finish change the tonal characteristics. lather on a nice thick coat of automotive hard-coats and you'll notice a difference than if you used a few thin coats of nitro. The gloss or lack thereof will not change the tonal characteristics or even the sustain of the guitar. Many people like a satin neck because they feel it allows them to traverse the neck easier. At Martin we build a ton of guitars with a high gloss nitro body and a satin neck.

is that paint a spin on the old "rising sun" motif or is it a take on those red and white candy mints? I'm also a fan of guitarheads. Most of their pickups are great. I love their actives... I'd take them over EMG any day. Currently have 3 guitars loaded with them.

You could front route and then use a router bit with a right angle head to cut a recess for the two body mounted knobs. I think you could use a datto or tongue/groove bit too. You'd then load the pots into the body before you mount the pickguard.

I want that blue tele sooooo bad!

It's not always the most technically proficient builder that wins GOTM, A great design and execution of your ideas is a good place to start. You;ve used non-traditional woods, which have seemed to work nicely together. Your wood burning skills are great. Wood burning is something we rarely see. The inlay on the neck looks really cool and ties the theme together. I also love your cost effective fret hammer. Something I wish I would have thought of years ago! Would give me a reason to keep buying Coke LOL.

Some vote on wood choice, some vote on color and some vote on best skilled luthier. I for one simply vote for the guitar that I'd walk into the store and buy. This looks like it could be one of those guitars for me.

Zyon, I appreciate the comments but the quality of some of the builds I see on here far surpass anything this guitar will be.... I will post a video clip once done so you can hear it though...

for me its simple, when you can build a properly working, functional neck that others want to play on then you are a Luthier.