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Here is my latest ladder braced guitar.
13.5" wide, 24.9" scale, 12 fret dovetail neck joint, honduran mahogany with red spruce, ladder braced for lots of midrange funk, built very light. The back and sides are .070" thick and the top is about .095" thick. I should weight these to see how they are coming out. Anyway here is a picture and a link to some more pics.
Thanks for looking.
LBCG

John How38996.0482175926

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

John,

That's just about the sweeeeetest guitar I've ever laid eyes on! Finish, binding? Case?

Thanks for the pics!burbank38996.0522569444

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

great looking guitar john, i love the shape. Funky cool bridge too. Is this another in your stella repro line?
play us a tune and send a link.. Would love to hear it..
Mike

Very Nice!

What tuners did you put on it?

Very pretty! The bridge looks a bit like the one on the first guitar I made, which was a copy of an old parlor.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

John,

That's a fabulous guitar. Have you any pictures of the top bracing you used? What gauge strings do you have on it?

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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

Very pretty little guitar John, tell us more about the finish please!

John,
I think you posted the wrong pic there, that guitar looks 100 years old. In perfect condition, but 100 years old.


Very groovy...

I'm really liking that mahogany. I think Colin has had a great influence on us here.
The appointments on this guitar are perfect. The purfling is fantastic, and the aging of the top looks great. It's not too often that a guitar really makes an impression on me the way this one has.
She's a rare beauty.Don Williams38996.4008449074

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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."

John, another really cool guitar.

As I said recently John How is a very wise man, not only that he has skill and most importantly taste. John that is one very special guitar! You know that I love the old ladder braced Stellas, and their predecessors, and then you go and post a picture of that very special little guitar. Love the moustaches on the bridge. I like ladder bracing, all my lutes are ladder braced, just because Martin put X-braces in doesn't mean we all have to, all of the time.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

A knockout John ! Beautiful work


   Craig Lawrence

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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WOW, John!!! Ever since you took in that orphaned and busted up Stella and repaired her, you seem to have acquired an obsession with this style.

The attention you've given to the ladder-braced parlors has definitely placed you on a new plain. I really, really like this one, John and wish I could at least play it if not own one.

I can't wait to hear more...and perhaps a sound clip?

Congratulations!!!

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

I love it!!!!

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I love it too!Man,that is just so cool John!!!
I would love to hear what she sounds like

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

John,
Very nice, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cool.

Thanks for all the nice comments. Yes JJ I seem to be a little infatuated with these things but they are fun. below is a shot of the bracing on the first one I did. I didn't take many pics while building this one.
The finish is nitro and the staining on the the guitar box is a water based gel stain that SMac used to sell. Now it's only available thru some hardware store down on Geoergia I think. But I wipe it on & off and it doesn't soak in so much as it builds layers of diferent colors, then I took a piece of 0000 steel wool and rubbed in the center creating a sort of mild burst effect around the bridge.
The tuners are sold by the National Resophonic comapny here in California and the strings a light guage.
The fingerboard and bridge are madagascar rosewood but it does look brazilian no?
I do plan to try and get a recording of it as soon as I can so I will post that when I am able.
Thanks for looking.
John How38996.4386226852

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

Wow John!
Like Don said, great to see a brand new/old looking guitar. You got to love it!
I would love to hear it as well!
Thanks,
Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

John that is just stunning. Very very nice indeed

This is what you call excelent craftsmanship



Very good.

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Man that is old school, and I love it. Would love to hear it, too.

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

Beautiful as always. I too would like to hear a sound clip if you get the chance.

[QUOTE=John How] The finish is nitro... [/QUOTE] So does this mean you're not using the Behlen's Rock Hard anymore?

[QUOTE=Roy O] Beautiful as always. I too would like to hear a sound clip if you get the chance.

[QUOTE=John How] The finish is nitro... [/QUOTE] So does this mean you're not using the Behlen's Rock Hard anymore?[/QUOTE]

Thanks Roy. One of my goals for trhis guitar is to be able to produce them quickly and nitro is just simpler and easy to do, just spray it on and rub it. But I still like that Varnish too.

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

John,

This one is especially nice in just about every parameter I can think of. It begs to be played.

Some guitars are beautiful. This guitar is beautiful and FUN to look at! An interesting combinination. I'm bowing in the general direction of Cool, California.

You've definately got that old, cool vibe there, John.
And those tuners are perfect for that guitar!
Really well executed.

Steve

Oh yes--did you make that purfling yourself?
If so, out of....?Steve Kinnaird38996.5516435185

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

For those of you that have played them, how would you characterize the sound of a ladder braced guitar relative to the more standard x-braced approach?

Weren’t many of the 1920’s blues recordings played on ladder braced instruments?

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois