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Well, it's not quite finished but figured it was close enough to show some pics anyway. The finish is KTM-9, buffed with my new arbor....wow is that a joy to use. Oh yeah, what do you think of my bridge shape? Some specs of this guitar:

Cocobolo B/S
Lutz Top
Cocobolo bridge & fretboard
Lacewood headplate(front & back)
Lacewood rosette w/Macassar ebony surround
25.4 scale length
000 body shape
Flamed Maple/Ebony - binding/purfling
double X braced top
13 fret to the body

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Very nice NICE Greg!

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Just remembered these photos were taken before buffing, so it is shining a bit more now, I'll post final photos soon.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Very nice.

How did you decide on 13 frets?

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

The decision on 13 frets to the body came from reading comments from builders and players who all seemed to think that this arrangement produced some of the best sounding guitars. I don't know really, I've only built 2 and both are 13 fretters, they do sound good. I'm going to build a 14 fretter next it will be interesting for me to see/hear the differences, if any, between the designs.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Very nice! You bookmatched that Coco back so well it looks like a one piece back

Nice job Greg, That sure is a unique bridge!I like it.
I like flamed maple bindings too.Looks good. Excellant #2 build!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Excellant work Greg

Very clean, it's always great to see more L-00 type guitars! Good job.

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

Really, really nice.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Beautiful guitar Greg and i love that bridge!

I was wondering how the bridge would be received, it took me a while to come up with the design, trying to be unique without being too "out there". Really happy with the responses to it so far....Yehaaa!


Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Thanks Hesh,

I was looking/hoping for a signature bridge design, it certainly sounds like I've found one which makes me very happy indeed. And the sound of the guitar seems quite nice, so it appears that the bridge works tonally too.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Great looking instrument there Greg. I really like that flamed maple binding. Very very nice.

You bridge is really cool.

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Excellent work Greg. I'm quite impressed with your ability to keep the coco dust from migrating to the top and the maple bindings. Any secrets? Coco is my favorite wood, Koa is number two.

Greg,

That's a really nice guitar! For a "#2" it's outstanding! I like your distinctive bridge shape, too, but there's something about its proportions that looks a little off. I think you need a little more meat at the sides of the outer bridge pins, and the wings could be a little longer (or maybe just the lower point). Then again, maybe I'm just nuts!

Yeah that coco dust is a pain in the rear, it does want to stain everything it touches. I know I've read about putting a sealer coat of shellac on everything(binding and top) before sanding wood like cocobolo, I didn't do that. No secret at all, I just waited until all of the cocobolo was sanded(hard to do as the spruce and binding look horrible for a while) then I went back to the spruce top and binding, lightly sanded each and tadaaa, they were as clean and bright as new....perfect.


Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Thanks....I actually drilled the pins a tad too far back of the saddle, so on the next one there will be some more meat between the pins and the rear of the bridge, hope that helps. It is interesting how the pictures make the bridge look compared to the view in person, I think it looks really cool up close and in person.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

[QUOTE=GregG] It is interesting how the pictures make the bridge look compared to the view in person, I think it looks really cool up close and in person.

Greg[/QUOTE]
It looks cool in the pictures, too. It's just a proportional thing that bothered me, and it may well be a product of 2-D photography.

Very Very Nice.
Boy do I love the cocobolo.
your bridge design is very nice and original!!!
My 12 string was Lutz/Cocobolo and it turned out great. I think that you
will love this combination.

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

[QUOTE=GregG] Yeah that coco dust is a pain in the rear, it does want to stain everything it touches. I know I've read about putting a sealer coat of shellac on everything(binding and top) before sanding wood like cocobolo, I didn't do that. No secret at all, I just waited until all of the cocobolo was sanded(hard to do as the spruce and binding look horrible for a while) then I went back to the spruce top and binding, lightly sanded each and tadaaa, they were as clean and bright as new....perfect. Greg[/QUOTE]

Thanks Greg, that is an important tidbit of info there.

I like the minimalist bridge. Great design. I too wonder if it will hold, but you'd never know if you hadn't tried it.

What did you glue the cocobolo down with? A lot of folk get nervous when gluing cocobolo due to the resins and the literature.

I haven't had a problem with a cocobolo glue joints, knock on dalbergia.

There was a great thread a while back on small or limited mass bridges. Plus, I remember a great page or two by Frank Ford www.frets.com, he lightens the bridge on his mandolin with surprisingly positive results. I have a feeling when you fire this one up, your gonna grin from ear to ear.

Let us all know how the guitar sounds when you get it strung. Again, kudos on a fantasticly executed piece, very nice....

I used Titebond original to glue everything on this guitar. I've read so many different opinions on glueing coco that I just tried some sample pieces before doing the actual guitar, I settled on glueing without any special preparation as my sample pieces held great. One exception....I did have a glue failure early on, coco to mahogany neck block, but I reglued, and it is solid. I think I may have had poor execution on that particular joint so I'm very careful now.

I think the bridge will hold fine, I had a sample bridge(same size shown here) that I glued to a piece of spruce as an experiment because I wanted to know as best as possible whether it would hold....you couldn't pry that thing off with crowbar, I don't think it's going anywhere.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Love the shape, and love that wood.
Really nice!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com