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This is a very special guitar for me. I've been dreaming about building a guitar out of woods all sourced from the USA for a long time. Well I finally found the right client for the project. Every single piece of wood on this guitar both inside and out is from the USA. It was quite the challenge. Sourcing the fingerboard especially. It took me 3 months to find that piece.

Anyway, here are some of the specs:

Auditorium shape
Bear claw sitka top
Osage Orange back/sides
Walnut binding, armrest, neck
Spalted firewood purfling, rosette, end wedge, headstock overlays
Walnut burl front headstock overlay
Desert ironwood fingerboard, bridge, tuner buttons
Poly finish

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

You nailed it Chris! How about a close up of the purling.

I had the honor of seeing this one up close last weekend. It is stunning!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

So beautiful, Chris!

Thats really pretty. I especially like the tail wedge.

WELL DONE!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Dwindling supply of exotic woods? I've thought for the longest time that there are plenty of woods native to North America to make exceptional guitars, and you have proved it, Chris. Bravo!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Now THAT is Making America Great Again!

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I sure do like that one

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Now I even more regret missing the show I followed the AGF build thread for this one and really wanted to play it and compare to my all-American Robin's Nest guitar. Such a beauty!

Nice!

trendmaker congrats !!

Superb! Well done, sir!

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George :-)

We missed you for sure!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Wow!! Just, Wow!

I've been dreaming of an all Domestic build for a couple of years now. So inspiring.

Very nice!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Fantastic guitar!

Beautiful!
Is that a book matched fingerboard?
Osage orange (hedge apple) and desert ironwood aren't the most common of woods, but if demand increases (and more exotics are banned) maybe we will see more of them available in the future.

Once again someone raises the bar.
Did you have any other choices for fb material? I had thought to do the native wood build but using Canadian woods. We are even more limited in our choice of hardwoods, and darker colored woods.
Nice job!

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

That is a beauty!

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

My favorite native wood for fingerboards is Texas ebony. It grows in the Rio Grande valley around Brownsville. I would love to source some Texas (black) persimmon, but the trees are very small....more like bushes.
For a Canadian build, I would probably go with a dense piece of black cherry, or use hornbeam and dye it black.

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John

Nice!

How about sugar maple heartwood? No better options in Canada, as far as I know. Black locust is not native there, but according to wikipedia it has been introduced, so you might be able to find some. It's about as light colored as maple though, so not really any advantage.

Desert ironwood is definitely my favorite of the North American fingerboard woods, but it is indeed very difficult to find. I only have one, which I got from Arizona Ironwood several years ago. Might be worth asking if they can cut more fingerboard blanks. Count me in for one or two if it helps.

My old neighbour had a couple good sized Black Locust trees in her yard 30+ years ago. Next time I'm in the area, I check how big they are. The one B. Locust board I have has a green tinge to it.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Yep. Good eye! You're the first person to catch that.



There are a few other materials that would work- persimmon, osage orange, mesquite, and texas ebony are all hard enough. The challenge is finding a dark, hard USA wood. That's why I was jonesing for DI.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com