Thursday, November 18, 2010



These are pictures of the first guitar I built, called "First Attempt", completed in 2005. The top is Sitka Spruce, back and sides are Indian Rosewood. I originally built it with a Bouchet bar; a year or so later I decided it was overbuilt so I took off the back and removed the bar. The guitar sounded much better but had a wolf tone on the 7th fret B on the high e string so I added a smaller sort of Bouchet bar back in, working through the soundhole, glued on top of the braces. This mostly got rid of the wolf note and also helped the treble response. The interior picture shows the current bracing. I am now nearly done with my third guitar. You can see my faithful Takamine C132s in the background of some of the pictures.






2 comments:

Bobman said...

Hello. I was curious as to how your expirament went with Tried & True Varnish Oil went. I've already sealed a violin with Vernice Bianca and I'm wondering if it would work for a varnish.

Jeremy said...

It works but takes a long time to dry, about 2 weeks between each coat. I finished my 3rd guitar this way and then french polished over that. That guitar is rather quiet but has a beautiful tone, and actually seems to project pretty well; it just sounds quiet to the player. Not sure if the lower apparent volume is due to the oil deadening a little because it's not quite dry (in that case after 10 years I would expect it to be a lot better!) or other reasons. For one thing the top is resawn from a Hemlock board I got at Home Depot, and that may also be a factor!