Official Luthiers Forum!

   A friend of mine just posted a few photos of a Parlor model that I
delivered two weeks ago to a customer from the Baltimore area at
another forum. He took delivery and headed out to Jorma Kaukonen's
Furpeace Ranch for a clinic with Jorma and David Bromberg. He said that
both of them loved the guitar and commented on both its tone and
appearance several times over the weekend that he was there.

   The guitar has Brazilian Rosewood back/sides, German spruce top,
flamed Maple bindings throughout, Snakewood fingerboard, head veneers
and inlay pallete in the top and a Snakewood bridge with hand carved
clamshell relief in each wing, a one piece quilted Mahogany neck and
some understated and simple traditional flower style inlays. It is outfitted
with beautiful fossilized walrus ivory nut, saddle and pins that I turned
myself. I also turned an ivory strap button for the heel. It is rounded out
with nice Abalone top prufling and an abalone rosette.

   One of the finest features on the guitar is the beautiful set of Rodgers
tuners with lovely Sterling silve engraved plates and dramatic Snakewood
buttons that were fashioned from the same wood that the fingerboard
came from. They look elegant on the delicate slotted headstock of this
piece.

    It is probably one of my top three favorite guitars of the nerly 500 that
i've built and was a special collaboration between me and the customer
who has grown to be a close friend over the years that we've enjoyed
working together.

    If you'd ike to have a quick look....and since I seem to have lost my
ability to negotiate the photo upload process here during my time off,
here's link to the thread where the photos are posted;

   http://69.41.173.82/forums/showthread.php? t=85831&page=11

   Jump to the next page in that thread and scroll down for a few detail
shots, too.




    He also has a beautiful MJ with gorgeous Brazilian Rosewood back and
sides and a Master Grade Sitka Spruce top, nicely flamed Koa bindings
throughout, Ebony board and bridge, Select Paua Abalone top purfling
and my "Rose of Sharon" inlay in the fingerboard.

    It sounds incredible as it's opened up over the few years since i built it
for him. I recently refinished the top after a bump on the corner of a
piano that dug in to the top a bit and while i had it, I did a neck reset to
bring it to my current neck angle specs and set up, refretted it and gave it
a great setup.

    It is equipped with a B-Band A2 with the AST/UST combination.


   He's selling it because of a nerve problem in his arm that is preventing
him from playing the larger bodied guitars that he's preferred in the past.
Let me know of you'd like to see photos and I'll see about getting a few to
you.

    I let him know that I'd do what ever I can to help him to get it into the
hands of just the right player. I will be offering an extension of the
warranty for year to the buyer of the guitar in order to address any issues
that the new owner may see necessary.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Wow!! Great work Kevin!!

Are you back at work??

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Here is a Hot Link.

Great looking guitar, Kevin.  The detail shots are really good.  Beautiful woods.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Wow! Kevin, that's just stunning.
I like everything about it, but that neck! Mmm-mmm!
Where did you find that gorgeous chunk of mahogany?
It's the perfect compliment to the guitar.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Amazing guitar Kevin. Love that bridge!!

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Peter,
Thanks, that means alot ot me and...yes...I'm back in the shop and
getting work done as quickly as possible again. I'm enjoying being back
at it full time.


Waddy,
   Thanks for the kind words and the hot link to the thread. It's much
appreciated.


Steve,
   I was at Hearne's Hardwoods down around that Maryland border in
Oxford, PA about five years ago and had one of their hands dig through
about 2 million board feet of everything from Leopardwood to various
Maples and Walnuts to these Mahogany boards.

   The quilted Mahogany boards that yielded that neck blank measured 26
inches X 18 feet X 5 inches thick. They allowed me to cut great neck
pieces as well as beautiful backs and sides. I bought enough to give me
more than 100 of the necks and nearly 125 sets of backs/sides, but I sold
alot of it to keep my house while I was unable to work this past year. Most
of my wood supply is gone, but i'm sure glad I had it to sell as bills would
come in faster than income with me crippled for so long.

    I'm back to working a full day six days a week and am delivering my
longest standing orders right now. I'm still working on building my parts
inventory back up, but have to buy a few guitars' worth of things at a time
until I'm rolling well again. It's still tight, but better times are on the
horizon for us.

   Hearns is a great place to visitm but I wish I ived closer to their mill.
They had prices all laid out for me on all of the woods i had stacked by
the 24 ft. truck that day...until the owner heard that i was a
luthier....everything went up by more than 35% in a matter of about 60
seconds. I needed most of it and really wanted the rest so on the truck it
went and out came the checkbook.

   They see us coming and know the quality that we demand, but you can
bet I'll be disguised as a cabinetmaker next time I visit.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Wow, Kevin. That's beautiful. Wish I could hear it and see it in person!

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

beautiful guitar, that neck is something and the bridge looks fantastic .

Kevin,

That is such a lovely guitar. I hope to get to play one of your instruments one day. I'm glad that you are back building again.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Kevin, I actually googled Omega Guitars last week and that thread came
up. I glad to hear that you're in your shop full time again. That's
absolutely fantastic. Did you get to keep any neck blanks?

Beautiful...every bit of it. Love the neck too.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

really beautiful guitar Kevin. Excellent style, lines and execution

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com