I have been gone for a short while to a luthier school in eastern PA and have come home with my first hand built guitar. I know it is mine and that I am somewhat biased, but I would put this guitar up against anybody's guitar. It blows away any of the factory built guitars.
I thought I would show a few pictures from the ordeal so that you would get an idea on what is involved.
First, we started out with quartersawn walnut and italian spruce (with bearclaw figure). In this pciture, we had already sanded it down to working thickness and then edged and glued the bookmatched pieces together
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar1.JPG)
next, the back got a center brace installed and then the opther braces were added and glued up
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar2.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar3.jpg)
the sides were bent and then the front and back were glued to the sides and clamped in place
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar4.jpg)
then the binding was added along with a lot of hand sanding
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar5.jpg)
thent he neck was shaped, sanded and glued to the guitar
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar6.jpg)
then there was a lot more sanding and fitting and then the frets were added and then the bridge and strings were temporarily added.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar7.jpg)
this was one sweet sounding guitar and I am really proud of my accomplishment on building it by hand.
Now, I've got to educate myself on the art of french polishing it with shellac before I can take it on the road.
awesome! I built a guitar when I was a junior in high school, a good luthier can do amazing things while building an instrument!
i used wood for the perfling and bindings. I also made my own "mosaic" out of small walnut veneers.
I used walnut for the back, sides, and neck, and redwood for the top. my fingerboard and bridge was white oak. it's at my folks place. I remember when I went to buy the tuning machines at the tuning shop, they were $39 or so, and I only had $15, so the guy let me send him a check when I got home (I was super embarrassed), but looking back now, he was an older fella, and when he heard my story of what I was doing, he was probably proud to be a part of it!
Here is da proud papa with his geetar. I got a chance to strum it a bit today first hand and it is SWEET! Ken did a great Job. Mebby I can take lessons from him one day and build my own.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/ken_guitar.jpg)
Ken, that's a fine piece of work. It makes me want to build one myself and I've always wanted to build a fiddle. Are you gona let me pick that new gitbox of yours?
Way ta go Ken......
Ya built it fer entertainment at the P. Roast...didn't ya.... :D :D :D
Ken that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that with us nice job on the hitting the highlights I know it was much more involved.
I want to build my own marimba one day. If I live long enough I will do so ;D
thanks to all for the kind words :)
woodbowl, I'd be honored for you to try it out at the next piggy roast too!
When I saw the title of this thread I thought getoverit was going to school to become a Lutheran. ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10432/guitars.jpg)
Quote from: pigman on March 13, 2007, 11:03:54 PM
When I saw the title of this thread I thought getoverit was going to school to become a Lutheran. ;D
8) 8) 8) ...... I did too Bob. I did a google search to make sure. ;D
Quote from: getoverit on March 13, 2007, 08:00:40 PM
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13048/guitar3.jpg)
I have never met you, but the pose looked familar!
(https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=dlattach;id=1020;type=avatar)
I think someone could teach me how to make a geetar.
Dey would have funhard time trying to teach me how
to play da geetar. :D
8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Looks like a great guitar!!!
Cool!
Thanks for the tour Ken. :)
All I can say is, "WOW!!!!!!!!!" I'm continually amazed at the capabilities and different interests of folks who are initially drawn together by their interest in/love of woodworking/sawmilling/chainsawing/logging/forestry, etc.
There is a program which I sometimes see (alway accidentally/never know when it's coming on) on TLC or one of "those" channels, titled "Handmade Music"; it's about hand-built musical instruments...........
Beautiful work, you have every right to be proud of it. Thanks for sharing.
So, where about in eastern PA was that? Did you happen to get near the Martin plant in Nazareth, PA (outside of Bethlehem)?
believe it or not, I was just 20 mins from the Martin Guitar plant in Nazareth. I was in Easton, PA at the shop of one of the top luthiers in the world, Frank Finocchio (http://www.finocchioguitar.com) . You can see Frank in one of the pictures that I posted (the one with the familiar pose :) )
We were so busy in the school that we didnt have time to go over to the Martin plant and take the tour. One day I still hope to be able to take that tour.
I might add that I own a Mrtin D35p guitar, and the one I just built blows it away by a long shot. There *is* a difference between a factory built instrument and a hand made one.
I am ready to play the bass 8).
the best part is it will sound better as it seasons up :)
at least that's what "conventional wisdom" says... and who's to argue with that!
Taking commissions yet??? I have a buddy that can play...
How long was this school?
Stew
Actually, I am building my second guitar now, which will be an Indian rosewood/ sitka spruce dreadnaught guitar with herringbone trim.
The first guitar is mine to keep and pass along when I'm gone. All others will be for sale.
The first guitar has over 70 hours of labor in it already and I am expecting another 40+ hours after putting a hand rubbed french polish on it.
I will be listing guitars for sale on my web site soon, and will be taking commissions on builds later this year.
Stew, the school was for 7 days. There was a video course that I took prior to going up there to get the hands-on training though. This took me another week.
have you joined the guild of american luthiers? i used to get their magazine, it had a lot of good info.
it seemed that the guys who made any money built the guitars in batches of 5 at a time or so.
I am a member of the G.A.L.
Most likely I will start building 5 or so at a time also. There are times when a piece is clamped up and cant be worked on, so by doing several at a time you can stay busy with others while the glue drys on the other.
that used to be a goal of mine, but upon the realization that i'm pretty much a hack at doing things, and my attention to detail suffers at times :), i gave up that method of starving myself!
How did you bend the sides? did you use a form, or did you bend it over a pipe? I lucked out when I built mine, I didn't know the difference between quarter and flat sawn, and luck had it my pieces were quartersawn. i tried to do another one, but the sides were flat sawn and the grain broke apart while I wasy trying to bend it. I used a pipe heated by a torch.
This is a great thread. I've built a lot of specialized tools and machines for luthiers- mostly arch-top jazz guitar makers. I've worked a lot with Bob Benedetto, who used to also be in eastern PA (what is it, the water?) but now resides and works out of Florida. Despite all the hype, I've found that it is the maker, not the materials that determine a great instrument. To prove a point, Benedetto once made a beautiful guitar out of #2 pine from a big box store, knots and all. The sound was pretty much indistinguishable from one made out of old growth carefully aged spruce. I've built a few instruments myself, mostly string basses, cuz I could never afford to buy one! My dream is to build a harpsichord some day.
Do you have a pic of the string bass?
I taked to a fellow last night that wanted me to see if I could build him a "dog house" bass and then give him a price on building it. by any chance do you have a set of blueprints?
I bent the sides with a combination of the pipe bender to get the waist in place, then putting it in a mold to finish it off. This is the quickest and most accurate way to do it and you dont get any "flat spots".
We were taught the art of bending using nothing but the iron, but I'm afraid it would take a lot of practice to become totally proficient using that method.
I built my first bass by copying an old Kay. The second one I built out of a book by Harry Wake. Actually, the first one sounded better! I don't have any pics (it was a long time ago) but my Mom might have some- I'll ask the next time I'm up her way. Right now, I'm building an electric upright, since the regular basses are just too big and fragile to haul around, and most folks end up amplifying them anyhow. It is my own design, with a vestigial semi-hollow body to add some more acoustic sound to it. I haven't worked on it in some time- maybe I better get busy!
I have been thinking about getting an electric upright. A good one is thousands of dollars. Hauling the old upright around is a major task.
Looks like a handsome guitar Ken. Great pics. Love it. Somehow I missed this thread. Some of you guys are sly at slipping these posts by me. ;D I'm sure the folks will enjoy hearing you play at the piggy roast. Don't know if i want to hear Jeff's singing though. ;) :)
Awesome work! Thanks for the thread. I've been hoping to come across some nice curly maple as I mill to save for my local luthier to make us some guitars.