First off, let me say how much I have enjoyed lurking here. I've learned a good bit, and been inspired even more.
It's been a long time (almost 8 years) since I last built a guitar. I got involved in other things, and now I have a wonderful wife and a nice house. Last fall, my wife noted that her daughter was due to graduate in the spring, and I suggested we build her a guitar. We had given her a nice Yamaha for Christmas the previous year and she had really taken to it. My wife thought that was a great idea, so we went digging through my stash of wood and decided on a nice englemann spruce top and quilted maple back/sides.
Construction started last November, and we took lots of pictures as we went so we could show my stepdaughter the whole process. 382 pictures later we were done
It took us until the day before graduation to finish everything up well enough to hand it over, which meant I was filing nut slots and shaping the saddle in a motel room in New Mexico on our way to Utah. The end results, while a little rushed, were great!!
The guitar was given a hand-stained sunburst using water based stains, then 4 coats of wiped on shellac (Zinser sealer), then 8 coats of Tru Oil. The results were not bad for 4 days finish time, beginning to end.
We inlaid my stepdaughter's name (Teju, an old indian name) and her initials on the fretboard, and found a clipart pic of a quail on a rock (for Quail Rock Guitars) we adapted for the peghead inlay.
My wife was involved a great deal throughout the process, and was fascinated with everything. She is a great helper, and can't wait for the next one we build. She even came up with our label.
We inlaid square silver wire along the binding on the sides, and inside the purfling on the back. It was quite a chore because we decided to add it after the binding had been done. I used 2 craft blades glued together to cut the slot the wire was inlaid in, they were just the right distance apart. The wire was glued in with epoxy. Next time, I will try to incorporate it before we glue the binding on
The top was braced a bit differently from what I have done on other guitars - no scalloping. My stepdaughter is a fingerpicker, so I decided to try something that would give me more of an even tonal range. I used tapered braces, with a little *****bolic shaping thrown in. The results made me happy, the strings seemed to respond evenly, and it had pretty good volume. Can't wait to hear it in 6 months or a year. I know it's new owner is very happy with it - she's already written a couple of songs on it.
Overall I am very happy with how this guitar came out, especially since most of the work was done after February. We have some good ideas on how to improve our workspace and what tools and jigs will make our work better. I am pretty happy with the finish, for once. It would have been better had I had time to work on it more - next time, right?
I hope this isn't too many pictures...
Kevin Thomas
Quail Rock Guitars
Austin, Texas
