Wine Red Burst

The following are a couple of shots of the ALS hollowbody in finish. It is getting a wine red burst, and it is hard to give it justice in the pictures.  You can get the general idea though.

 This picture in particular really captures the true essence of the burst.

And below, I have some shots of the top darkening of the port orford OM.  He wanted to channel the Olson cedar guitar look.

Binding Again...

Here are the associated pictures to rebinding the new back that I just put on Jake's GA.  Essentially, I bend the binding package (including the purlfing) which allows me to install it all much more easily.

Then, using a williams style binding machine, I cut my rabbit channel...Usually, I try to do this about 0.005" deeper than the thickness of my binding strip (in this case flamed Honduran mahogany).

 Then I install the binding.  I used white glue in this case because I could not afford to have CA leakage into the body.  Somtimes I use CA glue, but only if I have sealed the pores of the wood (especially on the top) and if the rabbit channel has NO access to the body.

Then it is ready for scraping.

Joining the Back to the Sides and Brace Tucking

Alright, so as some of you know, I built Jake's GA, then felt as though it was too thick, so I took off the back, re-profiled the sides, made a new back, installed new kerfed lining, and now I am here.   So I took the time to show you exactly how I install a back and tuck my braces.

First, I clamp the back to the guitar in place, and mark on each side where the braces hit the sides.  Using a straight edge, I connect those lines and then use a hobby saw to cut the edges to the depth of the brace I will be tucking. 

Then I use a dremel with a router base attachment and a 0.062 endmill to remove the material out to my hard cut lines.

 Then I test fit.  If all is good, I go to the gobar deck for gluiing.

 Here she is in the gobar deck getting glued...

 Out...

Then I use a laminate trimmer to bring the back down to the side plane for binding.

Cool Stuff

These are a couple of shots of one of my singlecuts (far right) being used by Christian of Anberlin.  He was giving one of my guitar a whirl to see if he liked it.  Based on his reponse, I believe it is fair to say that he does.  We will be laying out his commission soon.

Stephen

Built Myself a Motorized Bowl Sander

I built a new drum sander machine last night out of a furnace motor blower so that I can more quickly profile my sides.  This will save me 1 - 4 hours a guitar!

Sides and Rosettes

Well,  I have been working on putting the kerfed linings in many of the sets of sides for the upcoming 5 guitars.  Additionally, I put together 3 of the rosettes for some of these guitars.  Though you cannot really tell in the pictures, there are very subtle differences in each of the rosette setups.

Enjoy!

New Guitars in the White Room

Now to some of the newer stuff...

Here are a couple of shots from the 'white room' (where the guitars get their finish).  The first several are of Pelly's 4 string Ziegenfuss signature singlecut.  This bass is really going to be stunning in its simplicity.  The guitar will have a satin urethane finish, which is just enough to keep it understated but help bring out the marvelous figure in the broad flame maple top and the marbled black walnut back.  The body core is African mahogany.  The neck is maple and cocobolo.  The pickups will be nordstrand dual coils with custom B&W ebony covers, with matching black hardware.

Then, we get into a couple shots of Feldman's OM.  This is hawaiian koa with a port ordford cedar (truly a cypress) top.  She is bound in flamed honduran mahogany, and will has ebony accents.  A great deal of work went into custom inlays on this beauty, so I am pretty excited to unveil it when it is fully done.  I imagine Feldman is excited to get this because he has been waiting forever.  Literally, forever.