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Howdy,


I've been sourcing information for a few years. The following was an experiment as well as a labor of love and at times hate. It took a long time to complete and was not without some heated arguments along the way.

This is a 000 12 fret body with Venetian cutaway in curly ash and redwood.



- The sides and back are from a stick of rift-sawn ash stock that Jim Warwick gave me in 2010 which was used in making a chess board for my son. It was also used for binding stock on another guitar and I'm hoping to get one baritone ukulele set out of what's left. Despite ash’s reputation for rippling up on flat or rift stock when bending thin pieces, the sides bend dead flat across their width with SuperSoft II and minimal water during bending.

- The redwood top is from a billet obtained from Chris Verhoeven, and resawn into tops for - to date - four guitars. Thank you Chris



- The body and neck are both bound in Macassar ebony, with the birds eye maple fretboard and rosette sourced from a piece of stock provided by Filippo Morelli. Thank you Filippo. I love the light fretboard.



- The neck is some older Honduras mahogany stock, and is a single piece of wood.

- Bridge plate is rift-sawn Eastern hard maple

- Bracing is Adirondack spruce

- Neck block is H. mahogany; tail block is 12mm Baltic birch

- Linings are shop-milled H. mahogany; side tapes are bias-cut cotton/poly blend in hot hide and shellac’s.

- The head plate and all of the other Macassar stock comes from a single stick which was also used when my son built his own experimental guitar some years ago. It shows a nice bittersweet chocolate color.



- The pick guard is a non-laminated piece of .030” thick Macassar, left unfinished but buffed to a satin gloss to coordinate with the bridge.





- The finish on body, neck, and headstock is gloss Mohawk classic instrument lacquer over Platina dewaxed shellac and Z-Poxy finishing resin fill…the body took five separate coats. Unlike most other guitars coming from this shop, the top was filled with a single coat of Z-Poxy as sealer and to provide a more even color than these tops can show under shellac sealer.



- The fretboard was so hard that we omitted a planned step of sealing with CA and finished with gloss over and shellac sealer, and fretted with StewMac 50 x 100 nickel silver wire. I wanted the fretboard sealed and finished as to not stain the beautiful wood.

- Tuners are Schertler, special-ordered through Stewart MacDonald. When StewMac stopped carrying the satin chrome slot head steel string tuners, we searched worldwide for a source, and ended up buying an old stock set from the UK for nearly $200. A day or so later, Schertler’s people contacted us and arranged very quick delivery of a new set through StewMac…so hats off to both companies for their assistance. These tuners have great feel and minimal effort, plus nice aesthetics.

Some of the names I mentioned may sound familiar. This was a collaboration between Todd Stock and myself. For those of you who know or remember Todd you may know this guitar is a bit out of the norm for his shop. He and I had our disagreements which I'm sure is no surprise. I'd like to thank Todd for allowing me in his shop over the better part of the last decade. Last, but not least I'd like to thank his wife Kathy. If it were not for her I'm sure none of this would have been possible.






Gig'em


Pennie

WOW, interesting combinations but man, I do say, THEY COME TOGETHER GREAT!

Obviously well thought out.
Love it.

Pennie, I think it's outstanding! I think I understand your frustration on a long project. I build at my own pace and sometimes I need to get away from a project (sometimes for months at a time) and work on something else. I don't ever have arguments, though, because I'm nearly always alone in my shop. All that aside, I'm really glad you persevered. This looks like a wonderful outcome! I probably wouldn't have even considered a redwood top with a light colored body, but OMIGOSH you made it look great! I think the dark fret board binding is a very nice aesthetic choice, too. Congratulations.
Patrick

I have considered ash for a body - how do you like it?

Also, you said that the fingerboard was "finished with gloss over and shellac sealer". Does this mean you esed shellac for a sealer then shellac for a finish? Do you think this will wear well?

And, oh, by the way - fantastic looking guitar.

Ed

Gloss lacquer over shellac sealer...as durable as a well maintained maple board on a Strat or Tele. At least that's the plan.

Quite attractive!
I really like the Ebony bound fretboard.

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Just STUNNING - in all respects! A working work of art.

Beautiful! It's kind of a reverse color scheme. The normaly light areas are dark and the normaly dark areas are light colored. Very cool. The fingerboard and rosette look really nice. Well done.
Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

That is a very interesting back and side set. Never seen anything quite like it. I bet it sounds great. I love Redwood. That must have been a bit of a choir getting the FB finished and fretted. I hope it works out. Say hi to Todd. The place isn't quite the same.

Thanks everyone. I've been informed that I need a pic of the heel and neck joint. Sorry for the omission. Also, I am curious myself what this little beauty sounds like in the hands of a skilled player. I'm NOT that skilled player so I will see about getting a sound bite to share.

Well done Pennie, thanks for sharing!!
Definitely out of the norm, which I really like.
Really like the bridge shape and the look of the ash and maple fingerboard combo.

Rob

Excellent work Pennie, love it to bits. It so different with all great things in unexpected places you won't see another but it comes together brilliantly, very well done.

Steve

Awsome. Looks like what ever arguments you had they were well worth it in the end. Congrats!

Really outstanding look. Very we'll done!