Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello folks, it's been a while since I've posted but last year has been
extremely busy with setting up a new shop and building 8 guitars. I also
started to work as part of Dana Bourgeois crew at Pantheon guitars here
in Lewiston, ME. Here are some pics of an OM I completed last October,
specs are German bearclaw spruce top, Indian rosewood back & sides, red
spruce bracing, mahogany neck, ebony fb, Madagascar RW bridge,
headplate and heel cap, bloodwood, flamed koa and maple trim, 25.7"
scale length, 1 3/4 nut width, 2 3/8 bridge string spacing, hand-applied
oil varnish.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Glad to see you back posting again Laurent, what a nice surprise bud! Hey you been quite busy!!!

WOW, what a lovely looking guitar, i love that german top and the bloodwood , flamed koa and maple trim, very very nice!

That bridge ain't too shabby either!

Thanks for spoiling us this morning!

Serge

Mighty Nice Laurent. Great job. I bet you are learning a lot at Bourgeois' shop. Thanks for the great shots of your guitar. Excellent.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Laurent good to see you back. Lovely guitar. I really like the bridge a lot. Beautiful work.

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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

Laurent, great work. I too am really drawn to your bridge design. Also the finish is really nice. I've been tossing around the idea of going varnish. I love it's vintage "softness" while still looking fresh and clean. Are you using rock hard?
Thanks for posting!

I'd sure like to hear more about the varnish finish and application!

Welcome back Laurent and congrats on a fine,Beautiful OM
Also congratulations on the job at Pantheon. I'd love to see some of your other 8 guitars you finished.
That bearclaw is awesome!Cool bridge too!
Great photos ! DaveAndy39090.3807175926

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Good to see you back Laurent! That is a beautiful guitar you've built. I agree with others who said your bridge design is really nice. The oil varnish reall pops the grain in all the woods. Excellent job!

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

beautiful OM!!
also wondering about the finish you used and your technique with it. please say more. also tell us about the affects of the slightly longer scale length on the OM. does it translate to more volume in standard tuning, or just bigger sound in lowered alternate tunings? and did you find yourself adjusting the bracing at all due to the slight increase in string tension or did you leave that the same to maximize the benefits of the extra length?
thanks,
phil

great job.... I really like that top!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Woah! Incredible!

Wonderful to see you again, Laurent. We thought you'd been abducted by the beer drinking alien.


That is a magnificient looking guitar. Stunning top and great bridge design. Come tease us more often.


Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

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

Thanks all for the kind comments, you guys are too nice around here…
The bridge design is somewhat inspired by Stefan Sobell, also I thought
the larger wings would provide more support and contact with the x-
braces beneath. The bracing and top, although stiff, are very, very light…
Hersh the binding is "normal" thickness, meaning probably around .060".
The purfling is bloodwood line/koa/maple/koa/bloodwood binding.
For the oil varnish I used Behlen Rockhard out of the can for the first coat
over the shellac primer, and loosely mixed it with 1/4 turpentine, 5%
acetone and a drop or two of kerosene until if felt "right" for the
subsequent coats. I used a 2 1/2" hardware store brush suspended in
50/50 turpentine/mineral spirits solution between applications. I hand
sanded with a felt block and 320 grit sandpaper between coats. I ended
with between .002/.004 thickness. The most difficult is to work in a dust
free area (hard to do in a wood shop…), the varnish dries so slowly that
the brush strokes diseappear and even out, one has to work on a
technique to apply the varnish and avoid runs and sags at all cost though.
It is a very pleasnt process that I thoroughly enjoy. I loosely followed
Bruce Sexauer and Al Carruth descriptions of their varnish technique and
thank them for sharing. Final coat is wet sanded with 600 and 1000 grit
and buffed with fine and super-fine compound on my drill press.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Maybe you could start another thread and tell us about your experience working in Dana's shop. That has to be a great experience for you.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

[QUOTE=Dave Rector] Maybe you could start another thread and tell us
about your experience working in Dana's shop. That has to be a great
experience for you.[/QUOTE]

It is indeed a great experience, being self-taught like many it is both
exhilarating and humbling for me to learn from (and watch) talented
people who have been doing this, and very well, for years and decades.
Dana has very specific artistic and aesthetic tastes and is very generous
with his knowledge. Many great guitars come out of the shop every week,
it is also invaluable to see, touch and hear so much tonewood. The shop
is production-oriented, many jigs, tools and so on, whereas in my small
medieval shop I tend to do many menial tasks by hand, both by aesthetic
and personal choice. But it gives me many ideas to do things better, be
much more meticulous and demanding of my poor craftmanship, the
shop standards are indeed high…

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

[QUOTE=phil c-e]also tell us about the affects of the slightly longer scale
length on the OM. does it translate to more volume in standard tuning,
or just bigger sound in lowered alternate tunings? and did you find
yourself adjusting the bracing at all due to the slight increase in string
tension or did you leave that the same to maximize the benefits of the
extra length?
thanks,
phil[/QUOTE]

The slightly longer scale is mostly to accomodate slacked tunings with
light/medium gauge strings and still feel enough tension on the low E (or
D or C) and keep a good string to string balance. I tend to adjust the
bracing and thickness depending on top and braces material (stifness)
rather than scale length. I do not have a similar enough guitar with a
shorter scale to judge the effect on sound but, generally, I find longer
scales tend to give more of a "piano" quality to the tone with sharper
attack and a tad more sustain, but that also depends on a million other
factors so…

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Laurent,

The depth in the finish is fantastic. I've done varnish finishes on several old Chris-Craft runabout boats. I haven't tried it on guitars yet, but it looks like I need to try it. Your guitar is beautiful . How many coats did you do, and did you do less on the soundboard to keep it thinner (and since spruce doesn't need as much pore filling).

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Beauuutiful! Love the Varnish finish! Great to have you back Laurent, I have missed your input

Mike

Laurent,
Thanks for posting, and also describing your finish schedule. You answered my questions before I could ask them. But I will ask this, did you coat the entire instrument in one session, or rather paint a section, let it dry, then move on? I was thinking of doing this, and suspending the freshly varnished area upside down to further reduce the dust accumulation. But that's impossible to do, if the whole instrument is coated in one session, right?
Anyway, your method worked beautifully. It looks fantastic.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Laurent,
Thanks for posting, and also describing your finish schedule. You
answered my questions before I could ask them. But I will ask this, did
you coat the entire instrument in one session, or rather paint a section,
let it dry, then move on? I was thinking of doing this, and suspending the
freshly varnished area upside down to further reduce the dust
accumulation. But that's impossible to do, if the whole instrument is
coated in one session, right?
Anyway, your method worked beautifully. It looks fantastic.

Steve[/QUOTE]

Steve, I did between 8 and 10 coats (roughly, I didn't count…) and did the
whole instrument each session, starting with the sides, top, back and
then evening out the sides and corners. I suspended the guitars for
drying. The dust is not such an issue -it sands out easily- if you don't get
big blobs, or worse, bugs… I was able to do 2 sessions a day most days
but would let it dry one day before the final coat. That also depends on
weather conditions. I did 8 guitars like this last summer so I sort of fell
into a routine. I think you could easily spray the varnish if you dilute it
with at least 1/3 turpentine and some acetone, it would certainly build
faster. I enjoy the brushing process myself and do not intend to build a
spray booth. I ended with .002 /.004 finish thickness on all guitars. It
buffs easily and does not melt or burn like lacquer does so buffer speed
can go up to 1400rpm.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Beautiful Beautiful guitar Laurent. The binding and bridge seem to add a great sense of sophistication and the bear claw is unreal. Nice work.

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Thank You and Best To All

Laurent! Nice to see you back!

Fantastic looking instrument! How's she sound?

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

[QUOTE=Alain Desforges]How's she sound?[/QUOTE]

A quick'n dirty recording of the guitar is here:

German/IRW OM

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Sounds great! I really dig the mids... Very nice!

Thanks for the soundbite... One of your compositions?

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