Category Archives: News I’ve started the finishing stage of Dan’s ergo axe- here’s the coloring steps. First pic is the Hofner guitar Dan gave me to reference as inspiration. It is a amber color with a slight sunburst, and the trim is in all black. I start first by applying a clear primer and cutting that flat with […]  Dan’s guitar came together this week, what a fun project. Like I said before i never gave much thought to ergo minded instruments before this project request, but i definitely see the advantage now. The guitar is super comfy in the playing position and is very compact, although it has a decent amount of air […]  I strung up the second of the four laminates i’m working on. This one is a “student” model with a satin violin finish which is a little (ok a lot!) simpler to apply than the high gloss, but i think it looks really cool as well. Plus it is very low maintenance for players who […]  I strung up the first one of the four laminates i’m working on. The first one is the 7 string (Hmmm i just happen to play seven string.. coincidence? haha). I made all the hardware earlier and did the initial setup this afternoon. Sounds killer! More soon stay tuned!  The laminates are getting close to being finished, one is set up and polished- the rest not far behind. Heres some of the various steps in the making of the hardware to be used on the guitars.  After a lengthy planning stage, Dan’s ergo archtop took shape last week. It all looks super cool and I’m very pleased with all the components. Next steps are to assemble all the components, trim everything and sand / prep it all for finish!  Here’s one of the 14″ laminates i’m working on. These pics were taken during clear coats last week. All 4 of the guitars in the run are just hangin out while the paint sets up. I should be able to start polishing them out in a week or so (nitro takes forever). If all goes […]  Here’s a the beginnings to an interesting project! My client Dan showed me pictures of a guitar that he has, as well as his hand drawn plans for an archtop version of the guitar. (first row in this gallery). After plenty of back and forth collaboration I have the CAD rendered plans ready for what […]  Ok now for the fun part- playing one of the guitars! Here’s a clip of me shedding with my client Ken’s new guitar that i just finished building. I’m playing over the changes of the Bill Evans tune “Very Early“. Mellow recording done after hours at the shop on my iphone camera with my zoom […] Here’s a quick little video of me inscribing Ken’s daughter’s name “Malia” on the truss rod cover of his guitar. The machining path is mapped out via CAD. The truss cover is attached to the machine bed with double stick tape and the tiny bit cuts the letters. Cool!  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 […]  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 […]  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 […]  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 […] 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 […]  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 […]  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 […]  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 […]  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.  Here is some more progress shots of Ken’s project! This is plate carving, the plates start out as rough blocks, in this case old dry European spruce and nicely flamed big leaf maple. Each block’s edge is squared first with a big spiral bit on the milling table. This is more accurate than using a […]  The clear coats on Russ’ guitar are all set up- time to level the paint and polish it. The paint is pretty shiny when it leaves the sprayroom, but always has a slight bumpiness to it from the spray gun. I start sanding with soapy water with 1000 grit, then 1200. I sand it all […]  The clear coat process for Russ’ guitar is all finished- looks awesome!! The paint laid down just right (gotta love when that happens), and i’ll be able to start cutting and leveling with 1200 / 1500 grit paper in a few days after it sets up. Then a lengthy treatment on the buffing wheels and […] |
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