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It's not asthetically perfect. there are lots of mistakes but it sounds great. The bass notes have an great sustain and tone. It's much better than the classical I play now. I am happy to play it.

specs

8 strings

top: 4 piece spruce
bracing: striped ebony
Back: 5 piece striped ebony from a wall molding
Neck: huang hua li (yellow rosewood) and ironwood center
Fret board: Ironwood
Bridge: Yellow rosewood
Bridge cap: ironwood
frets: brass welder's bar
nut and saddle: bone
finish: tung oil and wax









billb38647.0626851852

Hey Bill, I love that guitar!!! The shape is great, the back is beautifull and the top has a ton of character, I just wish those cool braces could be on the outside so they could be seen. That striped ebony is about the best I've seen, it is very bold and you've really done it justice. It looks great with the binding of the same as well. Keep it up and show us some more.

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

Thanks John.

Great Job, Bill. The 1st one is so exciting. Mine sits down in my workshop, and when I get tired of building, I pull it out and "play the blues". It didn't come out anywhere near as nice as your. You should be proud. It quite an accomplishment to build a guitar. Just ask anyone who hasen't.

Very nice! And a VERY ambitious first effort! Nothing like jumping in with both feet!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Congratulations Bill,
                        I bet you can't stop playing it!
That striped ebony sets it off.
   Your ingenuity too, is to be admired. What's next?

Regards , KiwiCraig

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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Wow, Very cool looking guitar Bill

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Congrats! For someone who had limited access to parts and had to make their own frets and stuff, that really looks cool! The wood is really cool. Build another!
So how does it sound?

_________________
"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."

Bill,
You have a wonderful & interesting aesthetic sense. The design details & the body shape & your choices of bold wood grain ... all just beautiful. You should be very happy.

Skip

Thanks guys.

Hey Kiwi.

I played it most of the day today. It sounds great. That was my whole reason for building it. I'm thinking about building something with cypress B/S next because I love that bright yellow colour with a black ebony contrast.

I think I've made every possible mistake with this guitar. I had to glue the back on twice ha ha. The kerfing and the binding (that was a nightmare) etc...etc... but it sounds great. That's what counts.

My next one should be a lot better.

Hey skip
thanks I am.

Hey Don.

It sounds great. It's only been a week since it's been finished. I compared it with the classical I play now. The one I play now has a very tin like sound to it. This one is a lot warmer. The sustain is the same. The bass is more prominent which is what I found my other guitar was lacking and the tone is..well...great.

The intonation is off after the 14 fret, so I'll have to move the frets. That's no big deal because they are just super glued on the fingerboard.
billb38647.402349537

Nice guitar. Feels pretty good doesn't it? Too many strings for me on that one tho, I'm flat-out making six strings sound bad .

How did you make your own fret wire? That's a fairly major accomplishment by itself, and one that is probably beond me unless you tell me how.

Hey Todd.

Yeah they have a lot of exotic woods here. In China the way businesses are set up in a city is: all the computer store will be on one street and all the clothing stores on another and all the wood suppliers on another etc.. so it's pretty convenient.

I just found out after I made the back that I could have gotten larger pieces. oh well.

Hey Paul.

The fret wire is brass welders bar. I had a couple options of what I could do with it. First I could shape a tang on it using a jig I made, or I could leave the bottom circular and file a round crevice for it like a Boaz Elkayam design.

I found this to be very time consuming and difficult, so what I did was I filed the bottom flat and just super glued it to the fretboard, and then shaped it. I read about a luthier before that does the same thing with stainless steel frets. I've been playing it for more than a week now and have had no problems. During the shaping I pulled up on a few of the fret ends with the file and they came loose at the end, but it was easy to reglue them. The brass sticks really good.billb38647.9950462963