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.