Official Luthiers Forum!

Parlor loosely based on Antes plan, sort of a modern take.
Eurospruce top, Bubinga back & sides + rosette. ABW bridge, tortoiseshell bindings. Gotoh tuners for the slothead, Ebony headplate, clear pickguard. Mahogany neck with Wenge centre strip. Finished with Liberon Finishing Oil.
Mainly built from "reject" pieces.
Top was scarred by planer (tear out, as supplied), and ended up too thin to build anything bigger at 2mm in the middle, 1.7mm around edges of bottom bout. (Heavy and stiff as nails that particular set - bracing similar, with X bracing 13mm x 6mm.)
Back was as supplied tapered out to about 1.1mm in one corner, (final thickness before finish sanding 2.0mm) AND sides were not bookmatched - these were both replaced by the supplier.
Special thanks to Terence Kennedy for suggestions and a photo log of his Parlor builds, and also to all the others who helped along the way.
Thanks for looking.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin: Nice one. Looked at your pictures and then read your write-up. I was surprised to read there was a pick guard, very hard to see , great work. I wonder what you used for the guard and what did you use to install it? I have used mismatched mahogany sides on a guitar, a give away for a family member. I hate to throw good wood away.
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Looks great Colin!

_________________
Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Pretty guitar Colin! Nice work.

Slick! I love the shape of the headstock Colin. Fine work.

Do you like the way it sounds?

Terry

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Very nice! Do tell, how's it sound?

That looks good. Great work as always.

Nice!

Great looking guitar. I like the head stock shape, the bridge and the rosette. Of course the rest of the guitar looks great as well.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

A real looker, Colin! Nicely done!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Thanks for the kind words everyone.
Pickguard is just SM's self adhesive clear material, applied pretty much as per instructions - tape in place at bottom end, hinge back on tape, peel backing, slightly soapy water sprayed on the top and back of the pickguard. Remove excess water with an eraser as a squeegee.
How does it sound?
It's not long strung up, but sounds pretty good to my ear.
Clear trebles, plenty bass for such a small body. Has that slightly "scooped" sound in the middle registers I've come to expect with scalloped bracing.
The big surprise for me was it's quite a bit louder than I had any right to expect it to be, and it seems quite difficult to overdrive the top, despite severely thrashing it with a pick.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Very nice. Love the headstock design.

Modernist, yes, but it somehow looks a bit like a modernist guitar from 1935. I mean that in a good way.

Taken in a good way Greg, thanks.
Thought I'd show the miss-match in the ribs.
Side views are OK, looks good.


But a different story from the butt end!

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Nice work Colin. The design is great. No one ever looks at the butt anyway and they certainly can't look at both sides at once.

Cheers,
Danny

Looking very nice.might have to pop along amd test it out, got another pair of reclaimed cuban mahogany sides to try bending if you fancy tackling them too...

Very nice looking parlor Colin. Even with the mismatched sides it looks great! Quite attractive headstock and bridge shapes also.



Interesting explanation of how it sounds, I would have to say that describes the sound of my parlor pretty well. Also the Antes plan.

Very nice job from spare parts!

Cheers
Bob

Mike, you'd be more than welcome, with or without the Mahogany, but East Sussex?
Quite a ways to pop along I would have thought.
As to the reclaimed Cuban Mahogany, I already scorched, and badly cracked, a Bubinga set very similar to these sides.
But these ones were soaked for a couple or three days in Supersoft II and then bent on an home made bending iron so I could feel them relax.
This was my first attempt with an iron, and they weren't really that perfect, so I then used a bending machine to finish them off.

Thanks for the comments Bob, I really liked your "Romantic Era" guitar.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

nice one Colin! Really like that headstock, sort of reminds me of a squared Maccaferri.

_________________
member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Very nice Colin!
I too really like the headstock shape.
Well done!
Dan

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Sorry Colin, I confused you with the other Colin who I also spoke to about bending cuban but he lives in Kent! Do you think the ABW bridge has much of an effect on the sound relative to lighter rosewood?

Wonderful! The sides are unique. I like that.

_________________
George :-)

Colin, it is excellent to my eyes. In particular, I think the headstock design is exquisite. The only visual part of it that doesn't speak to me in the bridge shape...but that's just me. That's just a personal preference for me. In no way is that a criticism of this guitar. It's not mine. It's yours. And I think it is excellent!

Thanks again guys.
Yes Mike, I think it has an effect on the sound of the guitar.
Normally I use EIR for bridges, but I used ABW for the bridge because parlours have a reputation for maybe being "trebly" and I wanted to balance the sound, but didn't want to use Ebony because of it's damping. I like a good sustain in a guitar, and didn't want to loose that.
The ABW I have has a nice tap tone, so I thought I'd try it, but keep the weight to a minimum, hence the "Spitfire" shape and the wings are only 2mm thick - weight is about 26/27g. (I weigh the (flat) bridge before fitting (easier to clamp), then shape the backslope and the front of the bridge and weight the shavings/sanding dust)
I may take it down another 1 or 1.5 g when I do the final set up and frequency testing/trimming.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Great looking parlor guitar Colin!
As far as volume is concerned, parlors prove that size does not matter.
If builders would build them, these could re-claim the world, I think.
A shout-out to the Martin Size-1 parlor size and shape, it hits the "sweet spot" for volume & tone. I'm going to keep building this one over and over.

_________________
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008907949110

Thanks David.
Parlors rule!
Love the FB pic by the way https://www.facebook.com/davidnewtonguitars/photos/a.212225875475475.59508.106305429400854/746086732089384/?type=1&theater

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.