Post by leugieweugie on Dec 10, 2010 20:56:29 GMT -5
This is matt huge from days long ago just letting folks know that I've begun building (and repairing) guitars as a means of eating and passing the time. I'm living on beautiful vancouver island right now attending the summit school of guitar building and repair learning all I can about guitars and instruments (and I doubt in this life time I will have learned it all). That being said, I thought I'd show a bit of my work to musicians and see what they think. Of course, you can't really get a feel for what it is I've built by looking at photos, and by the time march of next year rolls around, I'll find myself setting up shop and building full time in sudbury. I'm also encouraging a discussion about handmade guitars, and the difference between what you'll find in a factory compared to someone who is paying attention to every little scratch and nick, inspecting and choosing the best wood, and making sure that the instrument leaves never to come back again.
To price a handmade guitar means we need to talk over coffee, because you can't just pick a number at random. Every little detail counts. If you have an interest in seeing what it would take to get a guitar built to your specifications, with whatever materials you please, shoot me a line, and I'll break it down for you. My main focus is acoustic instruments, but that's not to say I haven't dabbled in electrics. All the guitars I build are completely from scratch - no kits are used; I go to a lumber yard, and I choose what I want (or for really fancy wood, do some research and order from certain guitar-oriented retailers). Once you've built an acoustic guitar, other than the electronics, building an electric guitar becomes quite simple (and I've helped build a laminate neck through body bass with a neck angle, so even some of the more complicated techniques are not over my head). Here's 3 guitars that I've built so far, and a glimpse at my latest work - a copy of a bob benedetto archtop guitar (benedettoguitars.com/).
Telebastard (no. 1)
the ash billet roughly cut to the body shape of a tele, and a hand carved maple neck with maple fingerboard. the neck has some subtle flame on the back side.
binding on the tele body with all the cavities cut out and ready for some nitrocellulose lacquer
the pickups in this tele are hand wound by myself, have an insane amount of response and sensitivity to your string attack, and a warmth I've only heard in handwound pickups. made the crappy solid state amp in the repair shop sound like a crappy tube amp. it might also help that these are solid woods of pretty good quality.
Dreadnot the dreadnaught
sapele mahogany back and sides (back shown) with a sitka spruce top - british columbia has the largest stands of sitka spruce found on earth, which is the most widely used acoustic top tonewood, so lucky for us, we get first dibs on some of the best, at a crazy price (especially when you're connections are the people cutting down the trees).
curly maple binding, which probably grew somewhere in bc or ontario (it grows in pre-cut strips). the sides are bent using a hot iron and your hands, lots of test fitting and patience. mahogany really compliments the sitka top with it's midrange tone. it can have a lot of low end when you dig into it over the sound hole, and as you play closer to the bridge, the treble notes manage to retain warmth while being able to cut through if you're playing with someone else. a really under rated hardwood.
the fingerboard, bridge and headstock veneer are all indian rosewood - rosewood being the most sought after wood amongst guitar makers, it literally sings when you tap two pieces together. it's incredible what difference in tone the choice in fingerboard wood can make (ebony being the popular alternative, which manages to sound brighter than rosewood). this guitar has a 150 year old bone nut and saddle, which adds to the touch sensitivity of the guitar (bone is denser than any man made alternative, so it can simply conduct sound better, which will let the woods speak clear for themselves instead of absorbing most of the sound, unlike corium or brass).
The People's Parlor
This guitar is kind of an oddity, and an experiment. It's a 7 string (octave d string) with a slotted peghead, on a parlor size body. This sized body is common amongst acoustic blues musicians who want a compact, comfortable guitar. These guitars are tailored for solo musicians, with all it's sound in the midrange thanks to it's tiny shape. Ebony binding, and all other ebony accents. Maple neck, maple back and sides, with an englemann spruce top as a part of my experiment - apparently englemann is popular amongst fingerstyle guitar players, so I thought I'd try it on my blues guitar. This guitar is getting the bridge glued on tuesday, so I'm anxious to hear how it roars.
Archie the Archtop (name in the works)
My professor gave me this highly flamed piece of maple because of how impressed he was with my work, and he thought he could trust me to not ruin this 200-300$ billet of wood. All of the arches and contours you see were carved using that little finger plane on the left side of the guitar. That means I had this little tool at the end of my finger, and meticulously carved for 9 hours during 3 days to get the exterior shape of the arch. This is going to be the cadillac of my guitars, and already it's turning out to be some of my best work. More to come...
Go handmade. Burn the factories.
To price a handmade guitar means we need to talk over coffee, because you can't just pick a number at random. Every little detail counts. If you have an interest in seeing what it would take to get a guitar built to your specifications, with whatever materials you please, shoot me a line, and I'll break it down for you. My main focus is acoustic instruments, but that's not to say I haven't dabbled in electrics. All the guitars I build are completely from scratch - no kits are used; I go to a lumber yard, and I choose what I want (or for really fancy wood, do some research and order from certain guitar-oriented retailers). Once you've built an acoustic guitar, other than the electronics, building an electric guitar becomes quite simple (and I've helped build a laminate neck through body bass with a neck angle, so even some of the more complicated techniques are not over my head). Here's 3 guitars that I've built so far, and a glimpse at my latest work - a copy of a bob benedetto archtop guitar (benedettoguitars.com/).
Telebastard (no. 1)
the ash billet roughly cut to the body shape of a tele, and a hand carved maple neck with maple fingerboard. the neck has some subtle flame on the back side.
binding on the tele body with all the cavities cut out and ready for some nitrocellulose lacquer
the pickups in this tele are hand wound by myself, have an insane amount of response and sensitivity to your string attack, and a warmth I've only heard in handwound pickups. made the crappy solid state amp in the repair shop sound like a crappy tube amp. it might also help that these are solid woods of pretty good quality.
Dreadnot the dreadnaught
sapele mahogany back and sides (back shown) with a sitka spruce top - british columbia has the largest stands of sitka spruce found on earth, which is the most widely used acoustic top tonewood, so lucky for us, we get first dibs on some of the best, at a crazy price (especially when you're connections are the people cutting down the trees).
curly maple binding, which probably grew somewhere in bc or ontario (it grows in pre-cut strips). the sides are bent using a hot iron and your hands, lots of test fitting and patience. mahogany really compliments the sitka top with it's midrange tone. it can have a lot of low end when you dig into it over the sound hole, and as you play closer to the bridge, the treble notes manage to retain warmth while being able to cut through if you're playing with someone else. a really under rated hardwood.
the fingerboard, bridge and headstock veneer are all indian rosewood - rosewood being the most sought after wood amongst guitar makers, it literally sings when you tap two pieces together. it's incredible what difference in tone the choice in fingerboard wood can make (ebony being the popular alternative, which manages to sound brighter than rosewood). this guitar has a 150 year old bone nut and saddle, which adds to the touch sensitivity of the guitar (bone is denser than any man made alternative, so it can simply conduct sound better, which will let the woods speak clear for themselves instead of absorbing most of the sound, unlike corium or brass).
The People's Parlor
This guitar is kind of an oddity, and an experiment. It's a 7 string (octave d string) with a slotted peghead, on a parlor size body. This sized body is common amongst acoustic blues musicians who want a compact, comfortable guitar. These guitars are tailored for solo musicians, with all it's sound in the midrange thanks to it's tiny shape. Ebony binding, and all other ebony accents. Maple neck, maple back and sides, with an englemann spruce top as a part of my experiment - apparently englemann is popular amongst fingerstyle guitar players, so I thought I'd try it on my blues guitar. This guitar is getting the bridge glued on tuesday, so I'm anxious to hear how it roars.
Archie the Archtop (name in the works)
My professor gave me this highly flamed piece of maple because of how impressed he was with my work, and he thought he could trust me to not ruin this 200-300$ billet of wood. All of the arches and contours you see were carved using that little finger plane on the left side of the guitar. That means I had this little tool at the end of my finger, and meticulously carved for 9 hours during 3 days to get the exterior shape of the arch. This is going to be the cadillac of my guitars, and already it's turning out to be some of my best work. More to come...
Go handmade. Burn the factories.
