Boggs

Thanks, man! 3 guitars now entered all finished this month! I should mention that yours looks just outstanding!!!! Very nice work! Boggs

My final entry is the prototype that started all of the padauk guitars. The coolest thing about this guitar is that it is made out of the cheapest woods I could find... $10 worth of pine slab and European Hardwood plywood TOTAL in this body! The neck is a basic Carvin hard rock maple neck I got on EBAY, and the pickups and controls are the same Carvin H22N in the neck and C22B in the bridge but I went with gold hardware for the contrast (rustic look in the body and bling in the controls) and for a bit of a chuckle! The body is about 1/2 inch thinner overall, but construction is the same and I learned from making that guitar how to make the padauk one with confidence. This is my first born in every sense. I know the look is untraditional, but everyone who has played this thing has had the same descriptor for it... It has a real charm! The body is VERY light and it is universally the most comfortable guitar anyone who plays it says they played. That is how I knew the asymmetrical waistline was the way to go. Tone is remarkably resonant unplugged... A lot like Tim Fuss' floating top padauk guitar. It has a remarkably warm tone plugged in... more jazzbox-like but will get grungy and even carry surf-tones remarkably well! Very versatile axe which weighs nothing! Nice to have as a spare, for sure. Same features as Boggs' padauk guitar as this was the one that determined how I was to build the padauk model and what gave me the styling cues I liked and needed tweaking. Finish is nitrocellulose on the body after staining the pine and plywood with a rosewood stain and removing some in an antiquing kind of way. The neck is finished with Murdoch's hard oil except for the headstock which is actually 2 colors of tinted lacquer spray to make it look like a headstock overlay. This guitar has a real special place in my heart! The second picture is my friend Tim playing it... Boggs

Boggs here again... My friend and assistant in building my guitar also built his guitar using what was left of my padauk and some mahogany and maple he had lying around (must be nice!). He did it based upon the design of his Kubicki Factor basses combining that basic layout with some design features I incorporated into mine. Since we helped each other with these projects, I am therefore entering his guitar in the GOTM contest as well. I hope that is alright... He went with the same electrical layout as mine shown above. He designed his own headstock and his neck (also made by Carvin) has standard medium jumbo frets, the padauk headstock overlay from the same billet as mine, standard Carvin tuning machines, same pickups. His body is chambered differently to allow the relief in the body work which he cut in by hand using a drawblade and spokeshave. Very nifty hand work there in contouring that body which is also French polished. His neck was finished with Murdoch's hard oil. His braces on the top are floating in that they are not connected to both the top and back as mine are and it allows the top to vibrate more freely. It projects acoustically so well that I am convinced that if he put "F-Holes" in it, it could be played acoustically! Visually, she is certainly a stunner and goes very well with his basses. Here is Tim Fuss's guitar... The last one is of me playing it without a strap. Boggs

Boggs here... First, some features. Chambered body. Offset waistline positions the guitar perfectly and comfortably whether sitting or standing. Balance is perfect (quite unusual for a chambered body guitar). Intuitive selectivity of any combination of single coils or humbuckers or both in unique switching system. Tremendous tone variety with this system! Volume control out of the way of playing aggressively, but easy to locate for volume swells in lower position. Reach to bottom corner, lift hand, and it falls right in place. Guitar can be leaned against a wall and remain stable by resting on end where straplock pins protect it. Shape allows 2 stable rest points but still seats very well in any stand. Location of output jack works best with right angle chord. Protects it from the dreaded cable dance and is easy to find on a darkened stage. Internal conduit system makes threading pickup wires a breeze. Additional chamber for 3rd pickup incorporated under padauk between neck and bridge with conduit already in place if 3rd pickup were ever to be added. Body is Cuban mahogany with bookmatched African padauk top and back with binding layer of maple veneer between padauk and mahogany for contrast. 7 pieces of wood make up the body (8 if you include the hand cut access panel in the back). 22-fret neck is Honduran mahogany with Holdsworth style headstock and locking Sperzel tuners with stainless steel frets and offset dots. Headstock overlays are padauk on maple on the mahogany. Padauk provided to Carvin was hand sawn and planed and provided to Carvin who made the neck to my specs. Finish is French polish on the body (3 layers of grain filler for this open-grained wood) and nitrocellulose lacquer with a single coat of tung oil on the neck for feel. Pictures start with the chambered mahogany body blank followed by the back of the guitar body followed by the guitar itself in the case and finally in my friend's hands. He built a guitar from the padauk as well.

Thanks, man! I have to decide now on what photos to do... Since Tim is not a member here, am I still allowed to enter his on his behalf since I helped him with it?

What's the story on the GOTM? I don't see a forum or anything dedicated to it. I'd kind of like to submit both of ours if there is a process... Boggs

Great job! How'd you keep the cost so low?! Boggs

I was pretty scared at first especially knowing how much this guitar means to its owner, but I am becoming steadily more confident we can pull this off. Support and encouragement from folks like you (and even my wife!) have really made a difference. I cannot thank you enough! Boggs

He realized he limited access to the upper frets after it was "too late." Both of our guitars are chambered bodies using the full thickness of mahogany (Cuban mahogany in my case) chambered out for resonance with African padauk on the top and bottom. We also both put in a layer of maple between the padauk and the mahogany to enhance contrast between the woods. The top and back are both bookmatched so each body is made from 7 pieces of wood. We both cut our electronics access panels out from the backs by hand. It is a Carvin neck and the headstock is Tim's design. That upright is from the 1800s and Tim has been steadily restoring it and has actually gigged with it. He made the bridge for it and reset the neck and also fixed some gaping cracks and delaminations. We are learning this stuff on-the-fly by doing. "GOTM?" Thanks for the interest! Boggs

I hope to someday be able to supplement my income through repairing, setting up, fixing up and reselling guitars, and maybe building a few new ones. I would never expect to make a living off of it alone, but it would give me something useful to do during my retirement that might give me a little spending money. Right now, I am learning by doing. I need to aquire a lot of tools to make it efficient enough to make any money at it. I don't want to work on expensive gear. I want to work on beginner and intermediate gear to make "newbies" want to play their instruments because they are easier to play and sound good. That's my goal. I'm not in it to build up my ego. I would like to be able to inspire others to play their guitars and to learn how to work on them themselves... and maybe take the plunge to building one! Boggs

His resonates more like my prototype. If it had "F" holes, it probably could be played acoustically! The "skeleton" on his is much thinner than mine and therefore the top and back resonate more. I suspect it will sound more like a jazz guitar like my prototype does. Visually, it is knock-your-socks-off stunning!!! Boggs

Thanks for the support and well wishes, all... It means a lot to this amateur! Boggs

I know it is not that old. The owner wants a solid top put on it. I cannot charge him for labor because the guitar was not that expensive to begin with. I am doing it because he expressed so much faith in us, it is something we can learn and I know we can accomplish, and I know you won't be able to buy the publicity for our work he could bring. Besides, he's a really nice guy who uses it to bring a lot of joy to literally hundreds of thousands besides joy to himself playing it... I already have the fingerboard leveled yet still retained some of the discoloration to retain its character. Frets are now pretty well polished as well. Bridge is cleaned up pretty much which will balance better visually with the new top. Took about 2.5 hours. I'm thinking I should remove the fingerboard before removing the top. Might make it easier overall. The neck really doesn't need to be reset. The perfling around the sound hole is pretty well chewed. It won't be usable. I would personally like to see a AAA bear claw Sitka spruce solid top on it. That would give it character. It would also be a bit cheaper than AAAA or AAAAA which the guitar, quite frankly, doesn't really deserve and would be a waste of the owners' money. Next thing I must do though is make up a bunch of clamps. We have a book on lutherie which will help us to voice the new top which must be a bit thicker if it is solid wood and also have a new bracing pattern. That's about it for now... Boggs

It's not traditional, so I fully expected that there would be some who did not like the shape. Many who said that came around after playing it as they both saw and felt the advantages of the offset waistline in player comfort sitting or standing. Customers in stores when I took it around to evaluate and appraise it were drawn to it. I honestly got much, much better response to the shape than I would have predicted. Most often, the "I love the shape" comment was the first to come which was extremely gratifying. It's okay to not like it though. I can take it! Boggs

Thanks, man. My wife told him of our lack of experience and I told him of our lack of experience. He knows. He just has faith based on our work with building the others, I guess... and of the work we did resetting the neck of my 12-string and my work on leveling the fingerboard and building up the bridge of it, etc. I told him all that is involved in replacing a top. He didn't hedge. Now, I must live up to that faith shown in us. Boggs

Thanks... I'm gonna need it! Boggs

I don't think it is remotely that old. I suspect it may be from the 1960s or so. Can't say for sure though. I will be among other things replacing the laminate top with a solid one. That will require a slightly thicker top (laminates are inherently stiffer) and different bracing pattern to voice the new top. I have already started to repair the fingerboard. I am pretty sure I can refurbish that to maybe 95% or so without refretting or anything. We may make a new bridge for it. Don't know yet whether we will just remove that one and transfer it over or not yet. The "D" hole surround is going to be interesting, for sure. Boggs

The range of estimates from all 5 shops were from $1500 to $2000... The high price came from the luthier. Not too shabby for a first time effort! I understand your drift, rhoades. No dis taken in the slightest... Boggs

Here are pics of the guitar showing some of the problems Tim and I will be fixing... Yes, I am whacked but I will learn a lot from this and make the owner deleriously happy (I pray)... Boggs

Pictures are of Tim playing my guitars (Tim is the big guy first playing my padauk guitar and then my padauk guitar in its case) followed by Tim playing my prototype and a close-up of my truss rod cover "embellishment") followed by me playing his padauk (on my knee since he didn't have a strap on it). Enjoy! Boggs

Nothin' but net...!!!

Tell him to buy it from you for $2000, and then see his reaction. He builds his own. Why would he want to buy mine? You had to see his archtop he made... Beautiful piece of work!

Unanimous and most enthusiastic thumbs up by all at 5 guitar shops! One of the evaluators is a luthier and he put a value of the padauk one at a $2000 selling price... All agreed that the range of tones available were amazing and that my electronics layout was first rate and NOBODY is doing it that way and it is very intuitive and effective... All loved the look and the playing comfort and positioning the body shape creates. All were taken back by its tone and loved the wood choices... One actually liked playing the prototype better because it weighs nothing and still sounds great even though it is more of a jazz box tone and uses cheap woods. I have to go back to Stutzman's when Dave (the owner) gets back as both of the player/sales guys would love the opportunity to sell them... and they were the luthier/highest dollar value evaluators of the bunch. 2 customers asked me for a card or how to get ahold of me... They seemed to gravitate to these guitars! One of the other shops' employees builds amps and he was setting up the bias and such on one of them for a musician (Funky level of player) that was going to be using it that night for a gig and they both decided to use my padauk guitar as the guitar of choice (over everything in the store) as the reference to set up the amp!!! I kind of know what I would have to build them for price-wise and I will have to look much more seriously into either making jigs for this design and/or getting them manufactured (are you listening, Carvin?!). They were a HUGE hit at the various shops!!!! All features I incorporated into them were immediately acknowledged and appreciated... They weren't sure why they felt so comfortable until I pointed out the offset waistline which positions the guitar so well and then the lightbulb came on...!! Anyway, I'm really babbling... HOLY CRAP... My wife is on her way back from the Renaissance Faire with one of the music performers' prized guitar with the hole warn through the top that he wants the top replaced on... He loves the work Tim and I did on my homebuild that he wants US to do the work!!!!! My wife told him that we (Tim and I) have never tried doing anything like that before but that we would do our very best and would do it much cheaper than anyone else would ever do it as it would probably be too expensive to do otherwise... He said he had faith in us and just handed her the guitar to bring back!!!!!!! Excuse me... I must go $hit myself now... Boggs

The first couple of coats I did using a cut T-shirt material as the cover applicator cloth and I found that this material is too thick and coarse to really do the job which is why I went and got the 200TPI cotton linen. That just made a WORLD of difference. Also, the pad I used underneath the cover was too "wet" with shellac and alcohol on the first 2 coats causing swirls and a bit of a haze. Also, on the applications pictured, I used lemon oil for the lubricant and when I applied at home with the good cover, I also changed to extra virgin olive oil for the lubricant and I found I liked the results and ease of application a lot better. Live and learn! Boggs

It is a chambered body. Here is what the mahogany looks like under the padauk... The overall depth of the guitar is about 2.5 inches. It is perfectly balanced. Probably weighs a bit less than a Les Paul, but pretty close due to the density of the Cuban mahogany and padauk woods. The design produces a thick, warm, live, resonant tone that you cannot get from a solid body guitar. It can also do the Strat-like tones and sustain is phenomenal. Boggs