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This one has been two years in the works. I originally finished it and another guitar with Sherwin Williams LoVOC Nitro. Nice stuff in terms of fumes, and my research on it showed folks having good results. But with these two guitars, the lacquer never fully cured. Two years later and the necks still felt tacky.

For this archtop, I pulled the neck and stripped it. The first spray job looked good, not quite the right color, but I got a couple of cracks immediately after a super cold stretch of weather. So restrip and respray. Great color this time, but I was using a new gun and did not have the controls dialed in and get some bad spit marks where the tinted lacquer did not fully atomize. So 4th time around was the charm.

Here she is, finally all back in one piece. Based on a Gibson L-5, but modified with a multi-scale and different F-holes. Volume, Tone, and Blend controls. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and looks like I have a buyer lined up. So a long time coming, but worth the extra effort. More photos coming as soon.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Beautiful. I'm glad the extra effort payed off!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

I like that..!!

Yep, I like that one a lot!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It's ACES, man. Good job.

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

Just what I needed to see. Been debating a multi-scale archtop. The stumbling block has been the floating bridge. Are there any issues with it wanting to slip? How was trying to fit it to the arch?


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Looks great. Can you tell us about the electronics, pickups, pots,caps etc? How did you ground the strings with the violin style tailpiece?

What is the reason for a multi scale neck on a jazz guitar?

Nice work.

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

Thanks, all! To answer questions:

Fitting the floating bridge was not a problem. I made a little roller setup like the Stewmac tool to dial in the curvature.

Electronics: TV Jones Duo-Tron pickups. I wanted Filtertron-style pu's and really like the look and sound of these. CTS 550K pots, blend is an Alpha 500k. I'll have to double check the cap, but I think it's a 0.022uF. Nothing fancy. I did use micro connectors that modelers use for RC components to make install and swapping easier.

Grounding: I put a copper sheeting strip on the back side of the tail piece that T's out across all the string holes. The ball ends of the strings hit the strip. The other end is tucked under the tailpiece cable loop adjustment nut. I stripped a small section of the plastic cable cover that makes contact with the treads on the jack.

Multi-scale on a Jazz Box? Who says a big fat archtop is only for Jazz? I actually built it for myself as a blues, rock, americana sort of tool. But I did have a jazz guy play before I did the refinish and he really had a blast on it. He said it gave him sounds that he usually didn't have access to. But mostly, I wanted the challenge. I've played a couple of multi-scale instruments and I wanted an archtop, so why not?

I still have a couple of things to do before it's done done. New nut and saddle to bring the strings in a little bit. Clean up the frets a little. And buff it out.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

That's a beauty! Many nice design details and I really like the nice gradual sunburst.

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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

Lovely!
Those dolphin holes look like jumping dolphins...

That's a real honey for sure, nice job.

Nailed it Tony!!!

Absolutely!

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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.

Super nice!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

looks great!! Congratulations. Two years is a long time. Ask me how I know.

Great job and self control to get it right.

2 years? Yeah that's about how long it takes me to build an F5 mandolin.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

It was 2 years on the refinish alone! Another winter to build it the first time around. But learning all along the way. As with anything, it would likely take me half the time to do the carve if I built another one.

I plugged it in last night and determined that I really do need to redo the wiring to address a little noise. My soldering skills have improved, so it should go better this time around. The potential buyer is getting antsy to play it so I really need to get this off my bench.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Be careful who you sell it to. I made the mistake of selling one of my best mandos to a friend that never learned to play it. It resides in a closet. I have offered to buy it back but he wants it for some reason.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Don't buy it back. Use that money to make another one and make THAT one your best mando.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

I think a lot of high end guitars wind up not being played but an old pro in the music retail business once told me “they all wind up in the right hands eventually.”

That has been my experience as well. I had one really nice OM sell to a guy that planned to learn to play but never did. It sat under his bed for 12 years. I went over it and got it set up well for him to sell and a year later got an email from a singer songwriter in Germany that was gigging with it.

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

I haven’t sold too many, but my suspicion is almost all of them sit unplayed. One guy didn’t even pretend. He just wanted it as a part of his “unique arch tops” collection. It’s maddening because I spent so many years trying to dial in the tone and playability.

At least I play them daily.


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Most of mine go to players. But I sell them at a price point well below what a collector thinks they need to pay. Being an amateur I can work for sub minimum wage wages.

I agree that most instruments, period, don't get played much. I'd guess that I'm about 50/50 in terms of being played. I've been building for the pleasure and learning curve, and am just starting to take on an occasional requested build, while still keeping my prices down. I'm replacing and upgrading tools along the way. I break even plus a little if you don't count my time.

As for the archtop. I know it's not my best work, so I'm not really worried about it being a collector's piece or player. Either way is fine with me. There's definitely a better build in me. Though I'm definitely not giving it away for pennies.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

I was finally able to get this guitar into my friend's makeshift photo studio. We didn't get it all dialed in, but had some fun. Here's a taste of the photo session. It was fun to work with a real photographer who had the full lighting setup.

The full set can be found here:
https://www.mwcustomguitars.com/archtop-multiscale

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Stunning photos Tony, looks like a different guitar!

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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.