Monday, September 20, 2010

A tale of two guitars

This blog will document what's going on in my guitar shop.

Presently I am making five guitars.  My plan is to document the build for two of these instruments.

 One of the two guitars is a tripple 0 cutaway made of Cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa).  I am building it for a customer who has shoulder problems and wants a guitar designed so that he does not have to hold his arm very far away from his body to clear the lower bout of the instrument.  This guitar will be tapered so that the lower bout will be narrower on the top side and thicker on the bottom side.  Its a wedge shaped guitar and should be very comfortable to hold.  The cocobolo has the look (and tap tone) of a pre-war rosewood guitar.  It will be trimmed with Boxwood bindings and should look elegant and formal.

The other guitar is a smaller instrument whose shape and size was inspired by the old Gibson L-00. It is being made for a local  professional musician who wants something that is easy to play, has good volume and is small and light enough to be comfortable to use for extended sets.  This guitar will be made from an old set of curly Koa that I have had in my wood stash for over 10 years.  Nothing sings like old wood.  I have not decided on the trim and may work this out with the future owner. 
     
If you have not heard a CD titled "Local Honey" I certainly do recommend it.  Great original sound.  This guitar will hopefully be used with some regularity in this talented performer's hands.

Check out my web page at http://www.kinnairdguitars.com/Home.html

Here is the 000 guitar;s sides bent, looking kind of rough, with blocks installed.

here you see the sides have been trimmed so that they are close to where they need to be to recieve the top and back plates.  This picture shows the lining being glued in.  I have bent the lining over heat and will glue in two thin pieces stacked to make a laminate.  The linings are made of Spanish Cedar and should smell great when the box is closed

Here you see the linings are in and they have been shaped to a triangular cross section.  You see the neck block with an L shaped extension that will secure the fingerboard extension, which bolts down to the top making the neck completely removable.

Here you can see the wedge shape.  The guitar is sitting in the same position that it will be held when played.


1 comment:

  1. You are AMAZING!!!! The guitar looks so beautiful I cant' wait to make her sing!~

    ReplyDelete