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I strung up my latest last night (#10 for me). This is the first guitar I have outsourced the finish on and I sent it to Joe White in Indiana. I traded some Coco from the swap meet and put up some cash and he did such a spectacular job. Hesh has sung his praises and I am too, the finish is really really beautiful. I wondered too if a different finish would affect the sound (I have been french polishing) but I haven't noticed any difference at all, it still sounds fine right away. If anyone is on the fence about trying out some farmed out finishes think about Joe. I believe he is offering a discount for February as a starter deal. I tried some new things out on this guitar too. I went with a pretty straight forward bracing pattern but I left the top a little thicker than I normally would and lightened up the bracing some. It is hard to tell, of course, right away, but I like it alot so far, the trebles are not thin but the bass is still full. I have been matching the top and back before adding the bridge also and from listening to Al I assume this is helping in this area. It is very satisfying to see results when trying out things like this! I also had some fun with the purflings. I found a piece of pink ivory that had a really smooth transition from deep magenta pink to creamy sapwood. I bookmatched the purflings (the piece was only 18" long) so the magenta was at the butt and heel and the purfs faded to cream at the waist. This is on the top, sides, back, and backstrip. It came out nice. It is pretty subtle really. I also want to mention that I got some pearl called brownlip from (I think) our sponsor the Australian Mother of Pearl Co. but on ebay. It has the most dynamic range of color I have ever seen. So many pinks and greens but also gold. Every way the light hits it is a different tone. The pieces I got were small, but the guy who cuts my logos does it in many smaller pieces. Anyway, that brownlip is great!

Here are the specs:

Carpathian top
Australian blackwood back/sides
Madagascar Rosewood fb, bridge, binding, headplate
mahog neck
pink ivory and yellow veneer purfs
25 5/8 scale
gold fretwire
sweeeeeet poly finish (on the body only)
double sides
solid linings
gold schaller tuners

Thanks for looking!

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Beautifully done! That blackwood sure looks a lot like koa. Nice binding/purfling - wished I could be that accurate.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Burton bro that is one beautiful guitar!!!!

Your bracing looks very interesting to me too, kind of a hybrid between scalloped and non-scalloped. And I agree with your comment about the sonic transparency of the finish.

It was an honor my friend for our guitars to be Joe's inaugural guitars too!

Beautiful work Burton! CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP

I saw this guitar when I was over at Joe's and was very impressed with the quality of workmanship and attention to detail. Joe hadn't even done any prep work on it and there were virtually NO gaps or areas that needed attention. The mitred purfs are as good as it gets.

Very nice indeed Burton...thanks for posting.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Well done! I love the attention to detail...excellent!

I have a lod of guitars that will be shipping out to Joe later in the month. I'm really glad that everybody is sharing their experiences with his finishes. I am really looking forward to seeing one of my own guitars with a top notch finish on it as well.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Very Pretty guitar!

How about explaining how you go about matching the back and the top

John

Beautiful! The pink ivory really does stand out (in a good way) and add a lot of flair to the binding scheme.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Beautiful guitar! Well done!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Beautiful guitar! There's something about Aussie Blackwood I really like.

Just brilliantly executed!

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Mitch

Very Nice! Clean as a whistle. Good job. Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Hey guys, thanks so much.

Hesh and JJ, thanks for showing pics from your visit with Joe. It was great to see his setup and to put some faces with names. I would love to get out there sometime.

John, matching the top and back for me involves mostly lowering the back tone to meet the top, which for me starts out higher. I do this by blocking the soundhole and tapping in the bridge area on the top and the same spot on the back. They are usually pretty close to start with (my lower bout back braces are looser than some others I have seen here) and some ROS sanding of the back brings it down fairly quickly. There was some more detailed discussion about this in a recent "determining the pitch of top and back plates" thread where Mark Blanchard and Al Carruth gave better explanations of this than I could. I can't comment on the difference between the back as a reflector and the back as a vibrating member of the system. I have been trying to work with the latter and this information has been invaluable in that respect.

Mitch, East Granby? I grew up in Canton Center and I am still there all the time. Do you ever go to the Log House restaurant in Barkhamsted? There is a band there on friday nights, one of the guys plays a guitar of mine and I am working on one now for one of the other players. I love that area so much, I want to set up shop there someday, when I am done with all the hustle and bustle here in Boston.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Very nice!
Beautiful color scheme.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Beautiful work, Burton. I really like your headstock shape and logo.

Darren

Nice work Burton!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

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

Ken, Could you please define how mny equals a lod?

If that ain't the pot calling the kettle black! But it is a good question. Ken, how many is in a lod?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars