Newport / Miami Beach Guitar Show Guitars are done

Well... here they are. They are finished, strung up and shipped.

I am very pleased with how they turned out. For only being a few hours old both sound really wonderful. I hope to find them a good home at the show. The show starts Friday and runs through the weekend. It really looks like it is going to be excellent - I can't wait.

If I can score some good pics I will post some from the show.

Anticipation

Here are my Newport Guitar Show (Miami) guitars in the finishing stage... I can't wait. In just a couple weeks these are going to have strings on them and begin life as musical instruments.

Drifter Ready For Finish.

I know... I know... I have been slacking on the blog again. But I have been working hard on the guitars. This one is ready for finish and should be ready for the Miami Newport show (just in time).

I am very excited about this little guitar. It has a great tap tone with a long sustain. I really can't wait to get the strings on it.

Stay tuned...

More Progress On the Drifter

As you can see, I have made more progress on the drifter. The rim assembly is mostly complete. This guitar (as do most of my guitars) features double side construction to add substantial stiffness to the sides, this coupled with "capped linings" results in a rim so stiff that is rock solid. This makes a substantial difference in the tone of the instrument.

You can also begin to see how this guitar will look as it comes together. I have set the rim on the back to give you a glimpse of how this will look (and a vanity shot of my new laser etched labels :-) ) . Also I found a very nice piece of brazilian rosewood for the end graft.

The soundhole on this guitar is slightly smaller than what you are used to seeing. This lends to the bass response on these small instruments. A smaller soundhole helps give the guitar more ooomph in the low end. The rosette is a petite ring of Brazilian Rosewood with a very thin ring of Red Heart Abalone in the center as an accent.

Cocobolo / Adirondack Red Spruce Highland

You can see I am pretty far along on this guitar too. This is also one of my show guitars. This is exceptionally nice straight grained cocobolo with a master grade adirondack red spruce top. Most of the appointments (bridge, fingerboard, headstock, etc.) will be brazilian rosewood, but I am torn about the bindings. While I prefer the organic look of wood, I am drawn to the vintage look of ivorid.

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I am 99% sure this guitar will have a sunburst that matches the cocobolo back and sides. What do you think? Wood or Ivorid?

Brazilian Rosewood / Italian Spruce Sierra

I am pretty jazzed up about this guitar. It is going to be a Sierra model with premium Brazilain Rosewood and a mastergrade Adirondack top. I am just getting going on it, but it should be done some time in January.

"The Tree" Quilted Mahogany & LS Redwood

I obtained a small set of the fabled "The Tree" quilted mahogany and I couldn't resist building a Drifter model guitar to take to the '08 shows.

This one is going to get paired with a master grade LS redwood top and premium Brazilian Rosewood appointments. The LS tops are so resonate that just come alive with sound when you touch them.

Here are some initial pics. Let me know what you think. I am very excited about this guitar and I think it will be something really special.

I am such a slug...

I have been cranking in the shop and I have seriously neglected my web site and my blog. Well, all of that changes today. Part of my new year's resolution is to take more pictures and post more of the work on my blog.

Ok, so ... watch this space and I will begin posting some of my guitars for the Newport Guitar Festival and the Montreal Guitar show, plus a few other things I am working on.

The Healdsburg Guitar Festiva '07 is over!

Wow! What an event. It was a ton of work and thoroughly exhausting, but it was a FANTASTIC time. I met hundreds (if not thousands) of great people, heard some truly amazing players, saw many of my friends who are guitar builders, and had the opportunity to gawk at a sea of inspiring work.

Many many thanks to the folks at LMI who really treat us right and worked so incredibly hard to make this happen and to Paul Asbell for his fantastic job during my mini concert.

I sold all the guitars that I took to the show and added a few to my build list -- life is good. I can't wait until the next one.

The Koa Guitar is Ready for Finish.

Man, I am really running my HGF showing right down to the wire, but I thought I would post a few pics of where the Koa guitar is. This wood is really going to come alive under finish.

New Healdsburg Entrant

Koa / Adirondack - Sedona

I have FINALLY got around to posting some pics of my Healdsburg guitars.

I have decided to add this Koa guitar to my Healdsburg Guitar Festival line up. It features an extremely nice set of flamed koa and a wonderful Adirondack Red Spruce top. So far the back is braced, the rim is made, and the top has been cut to profile and the rosette has been installed.

The rosette is a combination of maple burl, red heart abalone, and various purflings.

This guitar will feature a brazilian rosewood bridge (you can see the blank I am going to use in the picture, it is old with lots of great spiderwebbing) and a heavily figured Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard. The bridge design you see laying on top is a new prototype I am working on. It still needs a few tweaks, but you can get the general idea.

I am still trying to decide whether I will bind this with Brazilian Rosewood or Curly Koa, I think both would look very nice.

Let me know what you think.

Contemporary Classic

Honduran Mahogany and European spruce are a fantastic combination on virtually any size guitar. This is a very nice set of flamed honduran mahogany and a blinding white euro top that is exceptionally stiff and resonant. This guitar is going to be bound with brazilian rosewood and I am considering putting a sunburst on the back and sides to draw attention to the flame while leaving the top pristine white.

What do you think?

Brazilian Rosewood / Carter Redwood Drifter

This guitar is my small "take anywhere" model. It is loosely based on a Martin 00 size and this particular guitar is going to be Brazilian Rosewood coupled with a 4A redwood top that came from the Carter stash cut in the mid 90's. These redwood tops have tremendous tap tone and are very stiff. This guitar will be appointed with ebony bindings and b/w/b purflings throughout.

This will make a very nice instument for recording, traveling or fingerpicking.

Cocobolo / Adirondack Highland

It seems the popular wisdom is that Healdsburg crowd wants nothing to do with "big" guitars, but these Highland models are so alive and have such a sweet sound that I can't help but build one for the show. This is my contemporary interpretation of the popular round shoulder dreads Gibson made famous in the 30's. Despite it large size (16 1/4" lower bout) this guitar is lightly built and a real powerhouse when it comes to flat picking or accompanyment. This guitar will have ivorid bindings and a dark wine sunburst to complement the cocobolo back and sides.

Clean, Simple, Elegant

This big leaf maple Sierra model is one of my favorite combinations for a grand concert size guitar, it is well balanced with complex overtones and perfect for fingerstylists. This guitar will have simple appointments such as ebony bindings, and b/w/b top purflings.

The maple is much whiter than it appears in the picture and my plan is to put a slightly gold finish on it -- reminiscent of the blonde arch tops.

HGF Guitars Underway.

After getting pulled away from these guitars briefly in the fall, I have finally started my Healdsburg Guitar Festival batch in earnest. My goal is to take 4 instruments. One Drifter, Two Sierra models, and a Highland.

Let me know what you think as I show the progress of these guitars.