Official Luthiers Forum!

The first one is a Ladder braced Stella Style style parlor guitar made from some old mahogany with an Adirondack spruce top and custom-made purfling.

The second one is a O size with Adirondack red spruce top, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, fretboard, bridge, head, veneers, and binding and Spanish cedar neck .

Both lovely guitars!

_________________
Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au

Beauties!

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Really nice Brad! I especially like the one with the slotted headstock.

Brad. Such neat work as ever. Was the ladder brace based on a particular design from the past? How do you get sufficient stiffness along the top?

I love the dark line along the neck of the second. I have only recently learned how hard it is to get the veneer on the back of the headstock to be graded into the neck. Yours is excellent.

This may seem trivial but I am intrigued by the stone wall you use as a backdrop for you photos. It looks like some serious stonework...

All the best Dave

Dave ,
Yes, this guitar is based on an old Stella guitar model.
I own one that I restored. It is actually an artist brand, which is a rebadged Stella.

I’m not sure what you mean by “how do I get Sufficient steps this along the top?”
The top is traditionally Ladder Braced Guitar so there’s three braces above soundhole one below and one behind the bridge plus a bridge patch .
I usually make the tops a little thicker than on my X braced Guitars.

On the backstrap, depending on the shape of the neck, and where it meets, the head can determine the shape of How it’s blended into the neck.
For example, here is a different shape, on one of my archtops:


Regarding my Stonewall, I had some incredible Masons build that about 20 years ago. It’s about a foot and a half thick, and I’ve tried all different kinds of backdrops. And this gives me the best results since I am not a very good photographer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very nice as always Brad!

Thanks Brad. I was simply thinking that without any longitudinal bracing one would need to use a thicker top as you say you do.

And another great back strap carving. Although they do look great if well done, I think I'm going to try avoiding them!

And yes great stonemasons. Without getting into proper studio lighting it is tricky getting the photography right.

Cheers Dave