Official Luthiers Forum!

When I first started this crazy thing called lutherie, I dove right in and attempted to build my dream guitar- fit with all the bells and whistles that tickled my fancy. I ended up with firewood and frustration. But my eyes were also opened to the journey of development. I realized I had to slowly chip away at each task that vexed me- binding, miters, inlay, finish.... the list goes on.

Fast forward something like a decade and more than 35 guitars and I guess I got up the courage to dream again. I approached it much differently this time though- with patience and lose of sleep (like all good luthiers).

This guitar started in development as a drawing. I took 12 months to think through everything I could. I drew it out full scale and hung it on the wall. Every time I thought of something new, I'd add it to the drawing or make a note in the margin. Once the aesthetics were where I wanted them, I started tackling the engineering of it all. Eventually, the idea felt fully matured and I got up the gumption to give it a go.

8 months of work, lots of custom tooling, and maybe a bit of head scratching later, out popped this thing:









More photos coming soon.

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

That’s gorgeous. My tastes typically run to the traditional, but this looks perfect. I love it.

I like it man:) congrats!!


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I had the pleasure of handling this guitar two weekends ago. It was even better in real life. It made me want to both, give up altogether and get directly in my shop and start creating. I have long appreciated Chris' eye for design and clean craftsmanship. This is the culmination of both.

Chris, I'm glad you got to complete your dream guitar. I wonder how different your concept of your dream guitar is today compared to the first time tried. I'm finding that my tastes are evolving faster than I can make instruments. Some of the things I wanted to make someday are no longer even on the radar. This particular guitar of yours inspired an idea in my head (nowhere near as ambitious). I hope I get to it before I forget.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Classy!

Lovely work.

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George :-)

Beautiful.

Do you have any inside pics of the upper bout bracing and backer where you cut the soundhole(s) out?

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Two big thumbs up from me!

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

Spectacular!

Gorgeous! Really cool overall design and I like the repeated circles motif. Very nice job on the arm bevel. It blends in nicely with the body shape.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Amazing!! I especially like the fret maker purfling detail!!

Digging the crop circlesqe purfling scheme!

Don't be confused by the shiney new username, it's just good'ol Pat Macaluso!

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Pat

That looks to me pretty much like the definition of sublime, and has made my day!
And it's very much to my taste.
Lots of questions, but I'll limit myself at the moment to the width of the lower bout, the scale lengths and perpendicular fret (9th?).
Oh, and the woods!
Like Brad, I would also love to see some pics of the internals.

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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.

Unfortunately I don't.



UB width is 11.5"

24.5" - 25.5" scales, perpendicular at the 8th

African Blackwood & Lutz with Maple neck and purfling

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

UB width is 11.5"

24.5" - 25.5" scales, perpendicular at the 8th

African Blackwood & Lutz with Maple neck and purfling[/quote]

Cheers chris, but it was the lower bout width I as asking about, sorry.

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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.

Cheers chris, but it was the lower bout width I as asking about, sorry.[/quote]

LB is 16”

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

LB is 16”

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

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

Excellent work! Finally someone else who understands the subtleties of making a bevel look good And you have fine taste in back wood as well.

The only thing I'd change is the waist. It looks to me like the bass side is slightly lower, which is natural for the asymmetric body shape, but it effectively points the neck a bit more downward than usual. I did it on my harp guitar, and don't like it. Switched to symmetrical waist and asymmetrical lower bout on my next fan fret guitar, and it's perfect.

Do we get to see the inside as well?

This reminds me how many designs I still haven't built yet, including my ultimate dream guitar, which still needs more experiments done before I can be confident that the real thing will work. But the humidity in here has been sitting at 75% during these past few days of monsoon-style rain, so not the best time for guitar building right at the moment

Wow!

Absolutely beautiful!

Could not be better - every detail is just right

What is your dream now?

Ed

Looks absolutely incredible. Congratulations! Do you have any sound clips? I'm curious how the size of those openings affect the sound.

Thanks!
Charlton

Lovely AGF 'fingerstyle' guitar...

Nice job on the look and appointments! Excellent attention to detail! Few questions.

What is the finish? How does it sound? Any clips?

Do you have an access panel for the interior?

How did you decide on the placement of the sound holes? Is there a side port too?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

To have enough time to play it!



Finish: Poly Urethane

My next post should answer your other questions.

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