Official Luthiers Forum!

I recently completed and setup the first of 3 that I started back in October. This one is a 000-12 Fret with the following specs:

...Top...Adirondack Spruce-- Very stiff but has some cosmetic flaws (much like it's builder).
...B&S...Quilted Sapele-- From The Zootman. Remember when I dropped and split the back and brace? Thanks to David Collins for the on-line tutorial as well as the Fish Glue and hardware to do the repair!
...Bracing...Adirondack Spruce (HHG)
...Bindings, Bridge & FB--BRW
...Rosette...Segmented and mitred Quilted Sapele
...Neck...5 piece laminate finished in Danish Oil
...Finish--French Polish using Robbie's method.
...Tuners--Grover gold
...Glues--HHG on everything except FB to neck (epoxy)

There are a few firsts on this one for me:
...Untucked lower X-Brace arms
...1/8" saddle with a 5* tilt
...M&T aligned and routed using the Woolson/Fox jig

This guitar is for my personal use since I have given away my first six to family members. As many of you know, I name all of my guitars. This one is dedicated to Bob Cefalu and is appropriately named, "Zootman". It honors his friendship as well as the help and advice that he has given me over 3 the past years. Thanks, Bob!

Here are some pics of "Zootman":














The sound is loud and sustains forever. I am very pleased with the results but need to have an unbiased player to fairly characterize its sound. I have a difficult time describing tone but it seems to have a very balanced voice. 12 Fretters are my personal favorites and this one is very responsive to my style of play. Thanks for looking!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

JJ,

You should be proud as should the Zootman. Lovely looking guitar and the FP really glows.

Looking forwards to some soundclips

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

JJ: Love everything about this one. The sapele is just stunning and I love the rosette. FP is so amazing in how the wood seems alive underneath. Cheers JJ - for this beauty.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Nice......real nice.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Great looking guitar JJ, ya done good. Nice rosette and matching headstock trim. What else ya hidin over there?

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Really really nice guitar, JJ. Love how present the grain looks through the FP.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Excellent work, JJ!
Coe

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Joining the Chorus, Way to Go JJ. I especially like the Rosette, it rocks. The headstock and your design inlay are top notch. The tuners are good looking, I have a set like that waiting on a luthier, ahem.

And last but not least, Bob Cefalu is a heck of a guy. He's a self-made zoot man, and deserves this kind of recognition. Plus, the fine sapele will draw comments until it passes from your hands and beyond. The likes of Rembrandt and Stradavari combined come to mind. JJ, now you've gone and done it. You've created a masterpiece.   

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Inspiring!!!

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

Stunning! What a great usage for such wonderful wood. Your work is spotless.

You should be proud and happy to finally own a quality instrument just for your own use! Several points I like, the wood is stunning and I like the way it comes out from the finish. Clinton

JJ, This is AWESOME my friend! I really think you outdid yourself on this one! WoW ! That rosette is beautiful! You should be proud of this one and cool that you named it after the Zootman! Yep,I do like it! Any chance of a sound clip? I would love to hear how it sounds.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

VERY nice JJ. The Sapele is STUNNING and the rosette is great and beyond my skills. I happen to LOVE 12 fretters too and yours is so classic and clean. SUPER good job. I'm going to string my 12 fret Redwood Bloowood this weekend. CANNOT wait and am very inspired by yours.

Awesome job and thanks for posting the pics.

Larry

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Thank You and Best To All

Great job JJ. nice miters on endgraft. You picked a great guy to dedicate this guitar to, don't get better than Bob. keep em coming

Excellent work!
As mentioned already, the quilted sapele is absolutely gorgeous and your
side purfling tasty and well executed.

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

http://www.yardsaleunderwear.com
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.cordle

JJ that is just beatiful. Looks like you are raising the bar these days.

I really admire the finish. How long did it take you to do that?

John

Awesome.
WOW SAPELE WOW!!!
I love your rosette!!!!!
One of the best we have seen posted in a long time, and we have seen some
stunning guitars!!!
Well done

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Thanks for the kind words, bros! The rare occasions where I actually have results to show are special to me as are your comments.

This is a special guitar for a lot of reasons, not the least of which were the accidents that happened along the way.

In addition to the guitar crash already posted, I had a disaster on the rosette. After spending the better part of a week to get all the miters and segments matched up, gluing it together and planing and scraping it smooth, I decided to touch up the rest of the top with a larger plane to smooth out the surface. Well, I snagged a few spots on the rosette and blew out 4 chunks. I had to rout out the chunk holes and replace them with matching plugs. Good thing I didn't have to match fine grain but it took many additional hours to restore the rosette. Sooo...see if you can spot the 3 repair plugs (The 4th is under the FB extension).

Sound clips...right now I have no knowledge, nor equipment to produce a sample clip. I'd love to know what is recommended.

As I said...Zootman is the 1st of three that I'm completing. In a few more days, I should have the 2nd ready for posting. The 3rd is in Nitro limbo for a month or so.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

WOW !!! I love this guitar, JJ!!!   The rosette is beautiful. The quilt on the
sides look like it's 3 inchs thick!!!   It must sparkle in person!

Can't wait to see the next two.

Long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

JJ, Did you do a burst on the neck??   It may just be the photo that makes
it look that way, but it looks great. Can ya tell us....How'd-ya-do-that??

thanks, Long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

John K...My bar might be getting higher but still a lot lower than that of the K-Bros!

I've FP'd 4 guitars now. I'm becoming more efficient and proficient with each one but I would say it takes me 15-20 hours over a 2 week period to do an entire body now. I've settled on the method that Robbie shows in his DVD...it's far simpler and just as effective as the Milburns' method. Rather than using the traditional pore filling method, I use Zpoxy. I also use de-waxed canned Zinnser shellac at a 1# cut. Both come highly recommended by our other resident experts, Michael P. and Colin.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Bob...It's not a burst on the neck...just a few coats of Danish oil. The headstock and body is FP'd and what you may be seeing is the contrast between the glossy and matte surfaces.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Well JJ I am both honored and overwhelmed with your
"Zootman" guitar. Your friendship means very much to me too bro' Very very beautiful instrument that you should be very proud of. I can't wait to see it in person. Thanks again for the HONOR my friend.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

No way I could have done any better JJ.

What do you think about the oil finished neck? Is it smooth and not sticky. Does the oil harden enough to withstand ware? Does that take a lot of time and a lot of coats? Do you recommend a particular brand of oil?

TIA
John