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I haven't shared any pictures of my work on here before. So far, I have only completed 3 guitars. I am currently finishing up number 4 and 5.

This is the second guitar I made. I nicknamed it the Katalox King.

Specs:

Back & Sides- Katalox
Top - Carpathian Spruce
Neck - Honduras Mahogany
Bracing - Adirondack Spruce
Binding - Padauk
Fingerboard & Bridge - Katalox
Pickguard - Katalox
Headstock Veneers - Katalox

The back and sides are a little darker in person. The lighting was a little off in the pics.

Very nice!!

Great job. Hard to believe it’s only your second...

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

Looks great. Love the sapwood in the bridge. I’ve never used Katalox before, but looks like it has all the nice aspects of coco. How is the dust from it? Coco hasn’t bothered me too much so far, but folks say “just wait”.


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Thanks!

On this build I didn't seem to notice any ill effects from the dust. Sometimes I would get very mild, allergy like symptoms after sanding (admittedly not wearing a mask).

Fast forward a year. I make sure that I use all dust collection and air filtration that I have and I always wear a mask anytime I touch it. I cut some fret slots by hand a couple months ago and forgot to wear a mask.... It was horrible. I had the worst sinus infection of my life and felt like crap for two weeks before the antibiotics took care of it all. It might have been coincidental, but I'm not taking any more chances with it.

All that said. I really love the looks of Katalox. It bent well enough on the hot pipe for how dense it is and it finished great.


I liked the bridge look as well. I bought a pair of Knife scales from the same person I got the the Back and Sides from. Turns out it was all from the same board. Pretty Cool.

Very nice! That came out really well, especially for a second effort. How does it sound?

Interestingly enough, I just started a Katalox guitar and had a hard time deciding what to use for bindings. I settled on redheart, the look is very similar to your choice. Good call!

The first time I sanded Katalox, I had an upper respiratory reaction that was so bad I had to stop and leave the shop. I discovered I was able to saw, scrape and plane it just fine but sanding was a no go. Later I forgot and started sanding again and had another reaction. Contrary to what you would expect it was not nearly as bad; some Claritin took care of it. I will definitely use a respirator when I thickness sand the back.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Nice job, especially like the sap wood accents...

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Thank You and Best To All

"I will definitely use a respirator when I thickness sand the back."

I keep my drum sander on a rolling cart and do my sanding out of doors. It keeps down some of the contamination that is produced from milling and sanding the wonderful woods we work with. Many of them are sensitizers and the more you use them the more you become sensitive to them.
Some one gave me several Med carts which the hospital was junking and with their 2ft.X 2ft. top they are great for mounting small drum sanders and planers and compressors on to increase their portability.

Oh... And that is a fine looking guitar!

Thanks. It sounds very sweet and full now(I'm not good at describing sound). However, it was a bit bright, almost shrill, at first. It was probably my fault, as I think the top might have been left a little too thick. But, it sounds great now. It is very loud.

I also couldn't decide on the bindings when I was building this and thought that padauk was a nice accent. So, I must have been doing something right if you decided on a red color as well!

Thank you all for the compliments! I'm glad to be part of such an ecouraging and supportive community!