verhoevenc Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 (edited) Ok, so I'll admit, this is the same post copied from the GOTM thread, but I thought I'd put it here too so that it's in the "Finished" section, and there's a place for people to comment. OK, so here she is, quite while in the making: my first acoustic. She has quite a story behind her. I finished her over a month ago and played her for a week, then brought her back to my friend's shop where I work to do some last fret job touch-ups. I pulled the strings from the bridge and balled them up at the tuners so as not to waste a perfectly good set of strings by taking them off. Needless to say, in my week of intense playing I had put a scratch in it and my friend goes "well since you have it back in the shop, I'll buff that out real quick" (I was working on another guitar that's why he said he would). There was a USELESS piece of metal on one or the buffing arbor arms (it has since been removed) and as he was buffing out the scratch a string caught and my guitar's neck ended up wound up in strings. The strings dug into the neck in some places, the headstock was quite mangled, etc. I ended up having to reshape the neck to get rid of some of the gouges from the strings, and we had to totally re-headplate it because the old one was destroyed. The body only had some finish dings and chips from hitting the wall (never hit the floor) that had to be refinished. So without further adieu, I present the 2.0 version of her! -She's an OM size acoustic with a little extra depth. -Redwood top from Fryovanni (amazing!) -Honduran mahogany back/sides and neck. -Ziricote headplate, binding, wedge, bridge, backstripe, and rosette. -Ebony with abalone unslotted bridge pins. -Red abalone rosette ring. -3 part pickup the world pickup system (under-saddle and dual soundboard transducer as well as a magnetic pickup on the soundhole). -Nitro finish done by your's truly, the neck is tru-oiled. Here's the whole front and back. Here's the backstripe and the two-layer headplate (that's flamed redwood in the step-down, also, the "medallion" inlay was salvaged from the old headplate): Although I LOVE to do complex inlay work, on my personal guitar I like something subtle and classy. Here's my moon and reflection inlay (red abalone moon and rippled green abalone water/reflection): Here's the tail wedge: Bridge and pickup. Here's one of the main unifying themes of the build, asymmetry!! The rosette's ziricote is asymmetric, the cut-away makes the body asymmetric, the use of both .060" and .040" b/w/b purfling in the rosette is as well, etc. Word to the wise... shell besides paua does NOT hide joints as well. Lastly, here is the ONLY picture of her before the mishap... when she still had her headplate with the flamed maple drop-down instead of flamed redwood. I think that about covers it... Oh, and she sounds AMAZING. She's very loud and the balnace created by the tonal characteristics associated with redwood and hondo mahogany are awesome. The one comment that most people make about it (was at a luthier convention with her yesterday) is the amazing amount of definition between strings it has. Chris Edited May 4, 2008 by verhoevenc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFR Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 Chris Amazing!! I really admire a nice built acoustic. I have built hundreds of electrics, but never an acoustic. I am going to give it a try the easy way sometime. I'll get a luthier's Mercantile or Stew Mac kit. That is one sweet piece of work! My hat is off to you. Roman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 She is a beauty Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 Absolutely stunning Chris! Very nice recovery also! Since I've started learning to build I've developed an opinion that being able to recover from damages or screw-ups takes more skill, knowledge, and creativity than just a general straight through build, so anytime I see some killer repair or recovery from mistake I always have more appreciation for the luthier and the work. Anyhow, I really think your acoustic meshes well and I love that moon and reflection inlay, along with the headstock two-layer concept, very nice stuff. I'm also a sucker for ziricote and the asymmetrical look. Well, excellent work Chris, can't wait to see what you got up your sleeve next. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 Beautiful guitar! I love a nice acoustic. Someday I will get around to building one myself. BTW, Shop safety 101: don’t buff your guitar with the strings on it! Sounds like your friend got lucky that they didn’t get pulled into the buffing wheel. Doesn’t sound bad until you live through a high speed but kicking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted May 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Hahaha, I know! He had JUST told me a horror story about some guy and buffing and strings not the week before! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronico Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Beautiful acoustic, congratulations ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Love your design! The inlays are very cool. The aesthetic is fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.