Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone,
    After months of shamelessly lurking and borrowing ideas I've finished my first build.  Since everything I know about building came from all of you, it only seemed fair that I finally post the results.
    My previous guitar was built by a college room-mate who sold it to me in '80.  Ever since I've been wanting to build one myself, but it's only since returning from a work stint in Peru about 5 years ago that motivation plus opportunity finally got the best of me.  I came across a piece of perfectly quartered, tight-grained douglas fir in my brother-in-law's garage and asked myself the fatal question, "I wonder if this could make a good soundboard?"
    I was able to find answers to every question along the way in the archives.  The fact that this forum is marked by such generosity and graciousness has given me the courage to post pics.  One of my goals was to use only woods available either here in Northern California or in Peru where I lived previously, and to build from scratch as much as possible. Here are the main stats:

13-fret neck
top:   3-piece douglas fir (The bandsaw I had access to could only re-saw up to 6")
sides:   lightly flamed myrtle
back:   3-piece myrtle (see bandsaw comment above)
neck:   mahogany
bindings, bridge, fingerboard, tuner buttons:   bloodwood
headplate, rosette, tail wedge:   tan oak burl

I took the df down to about >085" and used a hybrid x and redwood lattice bracing scheme.  To my ears it came out sounding pretty good, about as loud as my brother-in-law's d-28 but with more "air" in the treble and more clarity in the bass notes.  The treble breaks up a little if you dig in but for fingerstyle it is just what I wanted.  But then again, since this is my first build, what do I know?  I'm happy, and what else could you want?  I have no plans to sell.

Here's the pics:





 

Welcome...Great looking guitar

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

Wow, I can't believe this is your first! Cutaway, and bound peghead and
fretboard, very difficult things to do on a first, much less a tenth guitar! You
must be very proud. Congrats on this wonderful achievement! My first was
also myrtle, but I used a cedar top and cocobolo binding. I was too afraid to
do a cutaway. Welcome out of lurkdom, and hope to see more of your work.

Tracy

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

First guitar, yeah right.

Isn't it just amazing what folks can do on their first.

No doubt you've had experience with wood before.

Thanks for sharing with us.

I get a kick out of a quality lurkingluthier emerging.

Congratulations.   

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Really nice looking guitar! Youreally deserve a pat ont he back for pulling off something like this on your first try. Most people take a while befire they attempt some of these accomplishments.

Well done!!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Wow First Huhn? Great job!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Paul,

Welcome to the OLF!

Your first, you say! Superb craftsmanship!

With all the red tones going on, your guitar looks quite unique to me!

I really like it! I think the bloodwood and D-fir compliment each other very nicely!

Did you design your own bridge?

Congratulations!!!

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Everything has beauty, But, not everyone see's it!

Paul shame on you for lurking so long and then building this beautiful guitar....

Welcome to the OLF!!!

Your guitar looks fantastic and you should be very, very proud my friend.

What did you use for the finish - it looks great?

Congrats and it's great to have you here.

3 piece back to boot... nice job

Another very nice first guitar! Great job on the cutaway.
Nice headstock inlay too.As Bruce said ,it Is amazing what can be accomplished nowadays with the help of the OLF!
You should be very proud of this first guitar and Welcome to the OLF.
Keep up the fine work.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Wow! Beautiful!Thanks for sharing the pics and making yourself known!

I'm planning a guitar w/ D-fir top, all local woods for the rest as well. If it comes out half as well as yours I'll be a happy man. Enjoy! What are your plans for build #2?

By the way welcome to the OLF! (old lazy farts)

Welcome, and your guitar is awesome. That's good work. Congrats. I'd say you can stop lurkin' now.

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Welcome to the OLF
What is it with peoples 1st builds. They look fantastic. I never would have
considered a cutaway on my 1st.

What happened to the learning curve....making mistakes etc.

Wow....I am impressed

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Outstanding first guitar!  Welcome to the OLF.  I'll have to second (or third, or fourth) the craftsmanship.  Very nice work.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

I QUIT!!! 

Nah, I don't.  Just thinking that the bar keeps rising for firsts around here.  Now we have a cutaway  with a 3 piece back.  Man, it's gonna be hard to measure up.  Not that it's a competition or anything, but is sure drives one to seek perfection in a first build.

Welcome to OLF.  Give us some pointers.  You seem to have the process down pretty well.  How long did it take?  And, again, what is the finish?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Welcome Paul. Beautiful first. Stunning.

Don't you think its time for another confession??
This isn't the first time you've held a chisel is it?

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Aoibeann

Hey Paul! Welcome to OLF! That is a very nice first guitar. Much better than
my first. I am very impressed by your willingness to step outside of tradition
with your wood choices. With the current world lumber situation I am all for
using wood out of the backyard and I hope that this type of thing continues.
I wish you had previous builds because I am really curious about your
opinions of the Dfir. Anyway, congratulations and I think you will find that
your first will soon fall prey to your second...and third.... and.... you get the
pic! Thanks for posting.

Great Job...
for your first?? Wowser - I hope youll continue to build and share your progress,,, your certainly off to a flying start..
Cheers
Charlie

Hi Paul,
Nice guitar.
You should be proud.
The finish looks fab, and I like the wooden keys on the tuners.

Way better than my first build.
Welcome to the OLF.

Cheers,
Claire

Thanks for all your kind comments.  Of course, tone is what really matters and unfortunately I am not set up to send any soundclips.  A lot of the design decisions revolved around my skill or equipment limitations, like the 3-piece front and back.  I had no intention when I started to include as many difficult features as I did.  I cursed myself a thousand times for doing so once I got started.
    It is embarrassing to say how much time this build took me.  I started about a year and a half ago, working mostly in the shop of a friend who lived in a nearby town.  I didn't worry as much about the time, which I had, as I did about the money for materials, which I didn't.  There is a good chance that within the year I will be back overseas in a place with limited tools and resources, so I felt that this might be the only guitar I ever build(I'm sure a lot of you are chuckling here).  Being such a cheapskate, I got all the wood except for a small  bloodwood plank (and the top which was originally destined for a stair riser) from a local hardwood store.  The tan oak is from a smallish burl I found on the beach.
    I did a 13-fret neck because I thought the denser douglas fir might need all the help it could get.  The headstock binding, which is repeated around the tail wedge, was left from an unsuccessful first try at making purfling (too wide!).  The pics don't show the numerous goofs I made.  The bridge shape was inspired by a DeJonge bridge and just made sense to me structurally and aesthetically.  The use of wood inlays for the fretboard and headstock was another result of my not wanting to fork out for shell or a jeweler's saw-- besides, I like wood in wood inlay.
    I wasn't sure about the bloodwood for bridge and fretboard at first.  In flash pictures they can come out almost too red.  In reality they are much more subdued, which I like.
    I had a blast, in spite of all the frustrations of jumping in over my head.  I've done a lot of woodworking before, much of it with hand tools, so the woodworking part wasn't as much of a learning curve as was the exacting nature of dimensions and the luthiery/sound part of the equation.  I am already partway into my next build, a redwood-topped (from a old redwood beam I found half-buried in my dad's backyard) classical with an elevated fingerboard.  As you can see, I continue to throw myself upon my sword.  It's so much fun, though.  Thank goodness I'm not trying to make a living at this...

Oh yeah, the finish is french polish on the top and ktm-9 on the rest.  Since I was working in borrowed space I was concerned about fumes and anyway there was no room for a spray booth.
    The part that gave me the most fits was the cutaway.  Thinking that this was a once-off build, I didn't take time to build a proper outside mold.  I also stupidly didn't take the cut-away into account when I originally braced the top, leading to some improvisation.  I almost changed my mind but then thought about those upper frets on a 13-fret neck, which I do sometimes play on.  There was nothing for it (for a pig-headed guy like me, anyway) but to plow ahead.

Well, I was giong to be building my first soon, but now I've seen this it all seems so pointless.

I mean, a first guitar build, coming out like that? Wow, just wow.

Incredible work, and all I can hope is that this thread has long since dissapeared into the archives by the time my frankenstein-like monster first is finished. That way it won't seem quite so bad...

And yes, to my eyes, yours really is that stunningly good. Well done!

Nice job.  I like how the various elements work together.

And, to whom it may concern: I do not like the inference that my participation on this forum, the OLF, means that I'm an old lazy fart.  I'm  not that old!

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

and welcome to the termites nest