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Well, I may as well kick things off. May I present, "Its-a-what?" It is in fact a Guitar Bouzouki. The playing geometry of an Irish Bouzouki matched with the modified body design of a steelstring OM acoustic. I confess, when P asked me if I could make him one, my reaction was indeed, "It's a what??" It's my fifth acoustic build - and definitely my first Guitar Bouzouki In terms of other builds, what started as an urge to mod and improve my own guitars around 10 years ago led to builds for myself and band-mates and then occasional commissions such as this. Vital stats:

I've been telling people that there are two kinds of people in this world: people who will build a guitar during the pandemic, or people who sit on their couches and watch Netflix. I'm proud to be in the former group with you all! The Black Queen Woods: - Macassar ebony neck and body core, and tremolo cover - Swamp ash wings, quilt maple top, - Gaboon ebony fret board with silver wire starfield inlay, and pearl 'planets' Scale length: 25" Special bits: Authentic Trisonic pickups hand-made by a gentleman who builds Red Special replicas and uses the spare parts bought from

Alright, finally finished this build! Here she is: Slight scallop in the higher frets, not too deep, doesn't go all the way across to the bass side, just where I need it for bends and such. Super happy with the way these logos came out, first time I've ever had a proper set made. Glad I went with metal too. This was extremely fun to design and build, and was a big step forward for me in the technique department. This is also the best fretwork I've managed to pull off to date, and it plays better than anything I've built

Well that went well. Feedback was it sounded clear, deep and punchy. Played well with lovely neck, so can't ask for more. Heres a snap of Marshall I Henry playing it on the pyramid stage! Very humbled to have one of my instruments used here not just in my little studio.

The instruments we make tell a story. The materials we use, the designs we come up with, the music we imagine our new instrument playing, and even the reason we decided to make the instrument are all elements of the story. I think this is one of the big differences between mass-produced instruments and hand-crafted custom instruments. The first are made for a market, the second are made to tell a story. Reading each of the different build threads going on here with so many different ideas coming to life tells us something about the builder. Even if we aren’t aware of it, the decisions we

Hey everyone, I'm finally back at home after this weekend's event Everyone involved had a great time and the auction went very well! I just realized I never showed pics of the entire package up for auction. The guitar was bundled with a Gator vintage brown case and Couch Cadillac brownburst strap. The cool thing about this strap? It's made from original vinyl used on 70's Cadillac roofs. The event was held on a gorgeous property out in Jupiter, FL. The weather was amazing, it couldn't have been a better setup. So here's my little table. And after the auction,

SEL Birdseye Maple Here is my last just finished guitar. The build thread is here : Sorry I do not have good pic of the finished headstock (I lost some file), they were blurry and I'm waiting good outside light to make new pic... Here is the spec: -Birdseye laminated arched top -Solid figured yellow birch back and side (bent side) -Black Walnut Binding -Roasted Birdseye maple fretboard over maple neck -Mahogany/maple/mahogany center block -Maple pickup ring and sting retainer. Maple/black walnut/maple truss rod cap. -Vineham Whisky Burner bri

So late last year I started in on a new model based around a Super Strat that I ultimately named the Helix. I wanted to incorporate some things I like in a guitar such as a super thin neck profile, a deeper cutaway, magnetic truss covers and a thinner body and a few other minor things. When I started building the first Helix I broke out the video equipment and documented the entire process. To anyone who's done it you know shooting a build by yourself is a time consuming task. Stopping at each step of the build process to set up a camera slows down the build process considerably. On some

SR

True!... a sharp gouge is just fun. I've been carving the heel, that was a quick job. I will try to make kinda volute in the heel... Still needs some refining, but the big part is done. Sorry for the square neck profile, I need to clear out the surroundings before proceed with the neck carving. Have a nice weekend!

Bit more progress with this. Apologies for the post being a bit pic-heavy. The pickups arrived. The pickups themselves have a bottom multi-wire connector which, with the three way switch supplied, gives the three options of 'P' bass' (diagonal split); 'Jazz bass' ( single coil); Humbucker. They are passive, so the only connections needed to the PCB on each switch is a ground, a hot out and a 9v in to drive the LEDs: A wants a straightforward 'off/on' for each with a master volume and a master tone. We decided on this as a layout: With those large connectors, I ne

"The Les Flaus" - Lucky scratch build #7 for me! FINISHED WEIGHT: 8lbs 6.9oz BODY MATERIAL: QUILTED MAPLE(CORE), 3/4" 4A QTR SAWN CURLY MAPLE CARVED TOP BODY CONSTRUCTION: FULL LENGTH HOLLOW CHAMBER ON EACH SIDE, SOLID CTR BLOCK BINDING: SINGLE PLY CREAM NECK MATERIAL: CURLY MAPLE/WENGE/CURLY MAPLE NECK JOINT: 4DEG ANGLE SET NECK NUT: BONE SCALE LENGTH: 27.5" FRETBOARD: 24 FRET FRETBOARD RADIUS: 16" FRETBOARD MATERIAL: GRANADILLO FRETBOARD FRETS: EVO GOLD MED LOW FRETBOARD INLAY: GOLD MOTHER OF PEARL TRUS ROD: AT HEAL THRU 21ST FRET (ALLIED LUTHEIR)

Anyway, a few more arty f**ty photos

Well I think this one is done as well. I’ve installed brass inserts in the pup cavities for these bolts, oiled and waxed the neck, etc. I put on some Hipshot tuners cause the Sperzels were breaking strings (3 at once!). I’ve filed the post holes a bit, but these have a better gear ratio. They are also 3 ounces heavier and cause a little neck dive when sitting. I’ll see if a strap changes anything. I cut a fourth (!) pickguard, and crap if I didn’t get the neck opening off, plus a tiny nick. But the rest looks so good I guess I’ll do it again. But not today lol. There are no side dots

My absolute favorite step in the build is dying the maple, here’s some shots of the process: First coat of black. Sanded back. Red added. Sanded back. Orange added and sanded back. Yellow added to middle, red added again to sides, both colors blended while wet. This shot was taken after drying out. This is a shot of the headstock when it was still wet, which is close to what it will look like after I add the clear coat finish.

Seeing as I got a shoeing by Scotts burl beauty last month, I thought I'd enter Adrians singlecut that I was working on along side the bass build. Specs Chambered construction with PRS style f-hole, Bosnian maple top, African mahogany body and neck, Ziricote fretboard with maple binding and mop inlays. My usual Schaller Signum bridge and Sperzel trimlock tuners, bone nut (the first nut I've cut myself) PRS 85/15 pickups 1 vol, 1 tone and 2 mini toggle switches for coil splitting. The finish was done with Angelus purple and rose leather dyes, chestnut cellulose sealer, walnut grainfil

Hi I present to you "SwiftGuitar", sometimes shortened to SG It's an 'in the style of' Gibson's iconic classic but with a few tweaks along the way. I've been building guitars and basses as a hobby for around 7 years: sometimes for my own use; sometimes for friends or fellow band members; once for a Nepalese buddhist who played in heavy metal band; occasionally commissions This one is for a friend, Matt, and has used mainly wood that I had accumulated over the years and pickups that Matt himself has wound or modified. Spec is: Timbers: Top -Yew; Back -Sapele; Ne

The last couple of days have been about the final knockings - final shaping and refinishing of the neck, set-up and strap buttons I had built a couple of tweaks to help the balance but the main one - fitting Axesrus' (a decent UK supplier) wonderful lightweight aluminium tuners - was dashed because of (presumably Covid-related) non-availability. Instead, I have fitted some really, really nice open gear Hipshots - but, honestly, they are quite a bit heavier than the Axesrus ones. But when Matt tried it out. I watched how he played and we discussed that yes - he does want to get to that

Back to hanging like a side of beef. SR

I had to use some lacquer thinner and a razor blade to get the double sided tale adhesive off. As long as the grain is jumping, I might as well take some glamour shots. SR

HI Guys, I would present my 1st build (after my 2nd which was a Thunderbird bass from January). Guitar name is: LP-1. This is my single cut, Les Paul, whatever you want to call it. I didn't spend significant time on the design, the goal was apply a standard sunburst technic. I really wanted to make a vintage look with brown and amber colors and definitely not a relic design. It was much more done by my instincts than done by experience but frankly I could really surprise myself with the finish. I used Crimson stains and closed it with high build guitar oils which applied only one

The Pimp Hi y’all! Wanted to do a thematic build so I imagined a guitar with pimp aesthetics. purple velvet jacket, gold bling, raw p90 sound etc 2 piece Korina body sealed with shellac and painted in ultra thin-skin nitro. Halon gold hardware trem and bridge (you gotta try these! Best quality! World - class alloys and tone!) Nick Silver blue moonlight pickups alnico II 50s style p90s gotoh vintage gold tuners ebony fretboard 16” radius tortoise shell pickguard real mop inlays 4-ply laminated neck flame maple with walnut. home

Using the body as a pattern, I marked out the top. And then cut it out. And like its big brother it need to trim down a bit. I may have said I wasn't going to do that again..... but I guess I thought I needed a couple of hours of exercise. I put some water on the side I'm using to better see what was inside and to remind myself that the two hours of exercise was not wasted. SR

Definitely! I’ve tried it before using just tape, and since the dye is so viscous there’s always bleed and it’s really hard to get clean lines after that - even razor scraping leaves a sort of soft edge when I’ve tried it. Thanks! Definitely the most risky I’ve been with edges/sharpness, and it’s been fun to try something new. I’ve decided to name this guitar The Hatchet due to its sharp edges Alright, finally got to my favorite part of the build process today: color! The body came out plenty dark so the neck can stay as is. I was planing on screws for the

I sure hope so! Not certain, just a picture I figured would go with my username. Get it? Lumberjack...? Axes....? But also, guitar axes.......? I’ll show myself out. Major pic dump from a long day in the garage: Body trued up to 80 grit, controls drilled. Control cavity roughly routed, and a shot of my “method” for cavity cover fitting; I’m not a big template guy (although I know I should be) and cut almost everything free hand, including routes. Pressing aluminum foil over the cavity gives me my shape, as every cavity I cut is unique to the controls and layout I decide

@Prostheta Wow you lost me on that one! Well I painstaking scraped the pinstripe purfling to reveal the maple stripe better and it was worth it. Just enough to make it pop more. Peeling my pinstriping tape away revealed that it did a good job, but still had seepage in several places. Unfortunately it was swamp ash and not maple and it sinks in deeper as the wood is so soft and porous. There were also a couple spots on the sides that looked like the dye splattered but it was completely covered so Im baffled as to how it would get there. Weather is raining and cold. but I opened the garage

Hello! Hope my post is correct... I just finished a Semi-Hollow Baritone guitar! Got a lot of problem while doing this one, but this guitar is so resonant in the end and has a wonderful tone (will try to make a video soon). Here is the spec: SEL Baritone 28 -Figured yellow birch back and side. -Figured cherry laminated top (cherry-poplar-cherry) -Maple center block -Black walnut binding -C shape Figured mahogany set neck, long tenon (go under the neck pickup but in the end make not much difference with well made shorter tenon) -Marble Wood fingerboa

day 6 and 7!!! fretboard sloting table jig,

I had posted this with a bunch of other guitars in an earlier thread, but wanted to split this out on its own. Not a typical 335 as the body and sides are I piece of Black Korina, took a while to hog it all out. The back is carved the same as the top and I put the toggle switch on the top horn. neck is flame maple with a cocobolo fretboard and headstock veneer. Top is a rescued piece of "ambrosia" quilt, had a couple of cracks I had to stabilize, but had awesome natural colour. yesterday was finally nice enough to paint, and I kind of went with the seat of my pants with the

Here's my polishing kit: micro mesh and an automotive buffer. SR

YOU GUYS. IT'S IN MY APARTMENT. And now for the good(?) part: I made a little video!

And so, as a post-script. P and his delightful wife arrived last weekend to pick up the Guitar Bouzouki. And I think he would be happy in me saying he loves it For me, that is a great pleasure and relief in equal measure! P was able to bring his standard Irish Bouzouki for me to have a look at and listen to and that was fascinating. We both agreed that the Guitar Bouzouki has a much richer sound (which would be hoped and expected) and a strummed chord just goes on, beating sub-harmonics all the way, for a long, long time. The neck between the two instruments was quit

Oak Hollow body guitar This was my 4th build, I wanted to try something a bit different recycling the wood from an old oak wardrobe, carving out the hollow body by hand and having a go at making my own bridge, tailpiece and pickup rings. Very lightweight with no balance/neck dive issues. Specs Oak body, with a bolt on Maple neck and a rosewood fretboard and brass nut. 24 frets 646mm scale. Oak bridge, tailpiece and pickup rings. Wilkinson Machine Heads. Wilkinson Zebra Pickups. Colron natural Danish Oil Finish. Build thread -

Thanks buddy. This one has been a serious test of that patience. Oiling neck. Finally it is similar color to the lacquered body core.

Name: Prcknow R.S. Hey folks, here's my first build ever. With little prior woodworking experience, it's been a wild ride but I'm extremely happy with the result. I decided to name it Prcknow (derived from the Croatian word "prkno" that is slang word for ass...) because whenever I brought the topic of building a guitar among friends, the joke was "if you build it, it'll sound like ass" hence the name. R.S. stands for "racing stripes", just like on racing cars, the racing stripes along the neck/body make you play faster haha. (lame jokes among friends, but oh well...) The whole j

And now it is fun time! SR

Got a little demo recorded this afternoon. Cheers!

So far so good! I tried staining it black and it reacted with the wood and turned it purple...so sanded it back and experimented with different colours. Black to highlight the grain, then some yellow and some brown. I’m liking this effect. Turned out that the bridge was too wide for the neck, so to cut a long story short I modified it and it is now a hardtail. The plus side of this is that it saved quite a bit of weight, that brass block was heavy! Some modifying of the scratch plate is now needed, so that it folllows the curves better.

1957 Futura build I've been building for about 7 years now. It's a hobby I started with my dad where we built a couple of guitars together at his work shop. Since then I have been adding to my own workshop over the years. I have been pulled towards the "golden era" of electric guitars. The late 50's and through the 60's. I started with almost no wood working experience but I have a background in CAD and computers. Here is the link to the build thread here - 1957 Futura build Here is how the guitar looked when finished. It was my first attempt at a vintage nitro cell

I got a couple of things partially done this weekend....nothing especially picture worthy. I got frets in and the ends beveled, but I have not leveled or dressed the frets yet. I realize that I change the fret end dressing constantly while carving and sanding the neck. I decided to carve and sand the neck first and then level and dress the frets. So the neck is carved and roughly sanded. It still have a fair number of tweaks left before I'm completely happy with the shape and feel. SR

The back plate has been attached and about 90% filed/sanded/scraped flush with the sides. It's very close in most areas except for the scroll and neck join/heel areas. The join is pretty solid. There are a few imperfections in the 'usual suspect' areas. I don't expect it will be very noticeable when it's all said and done. Once I get the scroll/neck areas cleaned up I'll add a small roundover on the back, since I'm not planning on binding it. I've tapped on the box some, and it has that 'high ping' sort of resonance. I don't honestly know what I'm listening for, but I do like

Hey guys, First of all, thanks for all the help. Great to have a community that are generous as they are with their knowledge and experience. Its been a tremendous help. Here's my 2nd build: Osprey Wood: Genuine mahogany make up the wings. Wenge control cover. The neck is mahogany, wenge, and maple. The fingerboard and head stock plate are macassar ebony. The pick guard is ebony and zebrawood. Inlay: The inlay in the pick guard is gold mother of pearl. The fretboard is gold, black, white mother of pearl, and bloody basin jasper. General: 25.5 scal

Once I was able to see better I found that I did need to revisit the polishing. And once I got the hardware on it, I found a number of things that need to be tweaked. In the meantime, I got to see what it looks like with the hardware hung on it, at least for now. SR

This is fun stuff! SR

It seems the stuff we put on him for fleas, ticks, and heartworms is useless against termites...and boring beetles or carpenter ants. Perhaps it shows a bit, but I'm pretty damn happy about the way his eyes came out. I believe my British friends would say I was quite chuffed with the results. SR

Custom KM-I carve-top finished - Wenge on Mahogany body, 5-piece Maple/Purpleheart neck, Ebony fretboard, Floyd Rose Original, Schaller M6 tuners, BKP Miracle Man (bridge)/Cold Sweat (neck) and Tru-Oil gloss finish... That Ziricote top will be next... Then some new stuff coming...

I'd like to make a comment about the line under your nitro on the body. I'm on builds number 2 and 3, not a very experienced luthier, but a VERY experienced furniture maker. What happens is that people use Titebond or Elmer's yellow glue or equivalent for edge gluing 90% of the time, and these glues cure by losing the water. The glue hardens in hours, but the water soaks into both pieces being glued, swelling them slightly at the joint, and wicks away in days or weeks until the moisture content at the glue line matches the rest of the plank. You can plane the wood you have glued up in a m

Welcome to this episode of spot the guitar!

I've been having too much fun building..kinda forgot about this whole internet thing :-)

It's a beautiful sunny spring morning here in the English midlands and I couldn't resist a couple of piccies... Another couple of "flow" coats on - unfortunately not quite as clean this time and introduced a small curtain on the backside of the lower horn. It might polish out, but might need knocking back and going over again. I'll ponder it. The front is looking pretty darned spangly though!