I started on a project for Stan Charkey, who plays a seven-string electric guitar retuned as an Elizabethan lute. He is on staff at Marlboro college and is a composer / performer. He came by the shop last year to discuss his needs in a guitar and to show me the instrument he is currently using. He uses a special tuning D G C F A D G. We settled on a list of specs and i got started this week on it. Very exciting, heres what i have so far… I love doing the seven’s!
This post shows the plate work- i started off by splitting up some big blocks of spruce and picking the best one. All the rough carving is done as well as the routs. My carving templates are very detailed and accurate, and now I’ll spend some time fine tuning the responsiveness using thumb pressure at the bridge and removing wood from the perimeter to create the right spring in the top.
