Two of the four guitars in this run will have a violin inspired paint job. These pics show the process so far. The guitars are given a dark amber stain, a clear coat and then some darkening with some burnt umber lacquer. I top it off with a touch of lemon yellow lacquer to brighten it all up. The arm and belly bevels are then masked off and painted black. This will look cool later with the ebony hardware in place. Now on to the topcoats, one will be high gloss, one will be a satin finish.
February 18, 2012
February 17, 2012
New tailpiece for Gilad!
Gilad Hekselman stopped by with his guitar the other day for some adjustments and tweaks. He travels all over the place with his axe and plays it quite a bit, so it was time for a quick pit stop. We also installed a smaller tail piece to do some experimenting with a longer string length between the bridge and tail. Its a cool new look to the guitar also! This is actually an older design but i might have to do more of these- they are slick!
February 16, 2012
14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! Wood Binding for Brian Mikiten
Heres some pics of the binding process I did for one of the laminates in this run. My client Brian decided to add some maple binding on the guitar he reserved in order to get some contrast with the color he chose (like this). Its gonna look sweet! Binding work on the laminates is a little dicey, since the outer shell of the guitar is usually only .025 to .035 thick (about half the thickness of a dime). I cant disturb it in any way while installing or accidentally cut into it while trimming. That would suck. Big time. But after going slow and taking my time i got it all installed and looking good! There is a belly bevel installed also, and that will add some ergonomics to the guitar.
February 12, 2012
14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! Various steps…
Ive been hard at work on my mini run of 14″ laminates. This series of pics show more of the various steps involved. This model is designed to be primarily an electric instrument and the carved and scalloped quartersawn spruce bracing impart a nice woody tone while preventing feedback. The bracing is custom tailored and larger in design than my carved guitars, but the overall weight of the guitar is still quite light (in the 3 pound range without hardware) preserving the guitar’s acoustic qualities and responsiveness. Next step on these is to clean all the guitars up through extensive sanding and detailing in preparation for staining and finish.
February 2, 2012
Model 15 Thinline Archtop for Ken Nieves “Malia” model- Sneak peek!
I strung up Ken’s guitar for the first time today. Nice! Always a good day in the shop when its a guitar’s birthday haha. I made all the hardware out of flame maple and oil stained it all jet black including the pickup covers. During waxing and polishing some of the color gets buffed away revealing the flame figure, but still has the aesthetic of ebony. Pretty cool! Ebony has a much higher potential for cracking- especially the pickup rings, so this is avoided too.
January 29, 2012
14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! Plate laminating…
Here’s the laminate plate process Im using on the run of 14” guitars that i’m on! (see my first post on this for the whole scoop). Last year i got a nice vacuum system for the shop, and it makes the coolest laminate plates for these guitars. They use maple veneer, and are laminated in alternating grain directions with a super hard drying glue. This makes a real stiff and great sounding plate. I machined out a real precise form that I can use to press veneers into the shape. I can then add the bracing i want (which i custom designed out of sitka spruce) and it will match up perfectly.
The outer shell of the plate is gorgeous 1 pc full width flame maple that I found. It will look incredible after it is stained. One of my clients asked for a Sitka spruce face as well, and i took pics of how I sliced the veneer on the bandsaw. It takes a great setup on the saw as well as a brand new blade. It takes a bit of fitting to get a good bookmatch on the complex arch surface. Turned out great though and the guitar will have a cool spruce face.
CARVED VS LAMINATE????
I get a lot of inquiries on the difference between the sound of the laminate and carved guitars. Theres so many variables, but heres the quick answer. This applies to the differences in my instruments- not in laminates vs. carved in general, because i prepare my plates with quality materials (alternating grain maple), with hard drying glue and with a special bracing formula. My laminates sound more “electric” than my carved guitars, and this is a good thing. Many players are looking for less acoustic quality in their sound, in order to have a more modern tone or to be able to cross over into other genres. Carved isnt “better” than laminate! Its just different. That said, my laminates are built very lightly and have excellent response. Factory laminates on inexpensive guitars can have cheap plates, and thats why they sound dead. Its very much possible to have a very responsive and great sounding laminate (with surprising acoustic volume!) as long as the guitar is built lightly and care is taken with the plates.
14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! Neck building Part 1
Things have really picked up here at the shop! I made a 14″ laminate last fall and posted it here in November. Its garnered a lot of interest and i took a bunch of orders in. YES! So I decided to do a mini production run of the guitars, and these pics show the various stages of neck construction. I’m doing eight necks here, four to be used on the current commissions i have, and the other four to have as inventory for another run later this year. The necks are either mahogany or spanish cedar, with ebony or indian rosewood fingerboards. Theres a couple 7 strings in there too. I finally made a couple vacuum fixtures in the style of the big boy manufacturers so i could speed along the process. I’m trying to keep things very affordable so this stuff really helps. Less setup time, less tooling changes etc… Ive worked on my neck profiles and other features over the last 10 years to be exactly what i want, and the necks turn out great after final shaping and sanding. They are very accurate and feel awesome. I only occasionally do “production” style work, so its a pretty fun change of pace. Looking forward to having them all done at once and to play them all!! :^)
January 13, 2012
Model 15 Thinline Archtop for Ken Nieves “Malia” model- Staining and finishing!
Major progress on Kens guitar this week- i got it all sanded out and prepped for finish. The coloring is done in a bunch of steps. First i apply different stains to get the base color starting with a golden brown dilute ground. Then a darker brown, then a yellow. Its all rubbed in by hand until it looks right. Stain work is fairly forgiving- if theres too much on you can take it away with clean solvent. I like how it looks a bit rustic on the spruce- the little natural “defects” in the wood grab the stain in a real earthy way. After the stain, i apply a layer of sanding sealer and level it all out with finer grit sanding. Then i apply a bit of darker color around the perimeter almost like a sunburst and seal that off with a coat of clear. The body edge is masked to give a bit of a binding effect, and the headstock logo is masked off to keep it clean. Then i mask off the rear of the headstock to paint it black. The guitar looks awesome! Now i will apply the topcoat, let that dry and buff it all out. AWESOME!
January 7, 2012
Model 15 Thinline Archtop for Ken Nieves “Malia” model! Assembly…
Moving right along on Ken’s project! Pics include bracing, Preparing the compound angle neck attachment, body assembly etc… The guitar is all sanded out and prepped now ready for stain and finish! STOKED.
