Some New Studio Shots

I've updated the Grand Concert Model section of my website with some new studio shots of a very pretty guitar I've recently completed. Here's a high resolution image that really shows off the beautiful koa top I got from the friendly folks at Big Island Acoustic Koa. The tone of this instrument was outstanding as well. With regard to the tone of my Grand Concert, I follow one simple principle, that I'm always looking for more of everything. I want great volume, low lows, high highs, and a huge dynamic range. With this guitar the basses are very full and rich, but focused and never muddy. The midrange of the guitar is the real sweetspot of its timbre. A strong upper midrange provides a sweetness to the sound that gives the sustained tone a "cheery" sound, preventing it from having a nasal quality. Fat trebles with strong overtones and good sustain provide a bell-like response, avoiding the kind of modulated twang sound that comes from guitars with thin, simple treble response. Incidentally, by "overtones" I'm referring to high frequency partials of notes, not reverberation/echo-iness, a quality for which the term "overtones" is sometimes used. That reverberant quality, or its relative absense, is an aspect of tone which can be addressed with tonewood choices.

Another Grand Concert Ready for Lacquer!

Can't wait to get this one strung up! This European spruce/Honduran mahogany Grand Concert features some wildly grained cocobolo on its headstock and fingerboard. Visually, it kind of gives it a just-went-and-found-a-tree kind of quality that a like.

A Couple of Very Nice Visits

Friends Dave Hilyard and Doug Young paid me a visit this last weekend. Doug Young brought along his beautiful True North redwood/ziricote guitar...beautifully designed and impeccably made...truly a thing of great beauty! Dave and Doug each took a spin on MikeO's fan-fretted baritone, my friend Dave's Koa/Malaysian Blackwood Grand Concert and a zebrawood Concert Nylon I've recently completed. It's was a real treat to hear these guitars in their very musical hands. Thanks, guys! :)

Euro Spruce Mahogany GC All Bound Up

I've finished installing the cocobolo binding into the European spruce/Honduran mahogany Grand Concert I'm working on. As you can see I've picked out a lovely billet of cocobolo for the fingerboard, and I'll be starting on the neck tomorrow.

Take Two for MikeO

I sent MikeO his fan-fretted baritone guitar from California to Florida about three weeks ago, in the middle of the nationwide heatwave. During its journey the guitar got a little hot, and the finish got lightly embossed with the texture of the padding inside the case. Mike sent the guitar back and I brought it back to Addam Stark, an outstanding specialist who does the finishes on my guitars. Fortunately the texturing was very slight so that Addam was easily able to sand it down and re-buff it to it's original beautiful gloss shine. While I had it back here Mike asked to have a pickup system installed, and I always recommend the K&K Pure Western mini system. As always, the K&Ks sound absolutely beautiful. I'll be sending it to Mike tomorrow and he will have his brand new guitar, again, on Wednesday. Mike's been an absolutely lovely customer, encouraging me to take any time required to get it just right. I'm glad I was able to get this turned around quickly for him.

Ready for Binding

My current project, a Grand Concert cutaway of European spruce and quilted Honduran mahogany is now ready for binding. For this guitar I'm using some really beautiful cocobolo binding to match the bridge, fingerboard and headplates.

GC with European Spruce and Quilted Honduran Mahogany

Now I'm building a Grand Concert cutaway with a European spruce top quilted Honduran mahogany, sycamore rosette, and cocobolo bindings, headplates, fingerboard, and bridge. I wiped some naptha to show off the undulating grain of the mahogany back and sides. It's also very solid and dense...very easy to work with. No two ways about it, some beautiful wood! I found some beautiful flatsawn cocobolo boards that make for some beautiful swirly patterns on the binding. Closeups soon.

Another GC Comin' Up!

This morning I detailed this African mahogany Grand Concert and dropped it off to Addam Stark to get lacquer and, gosh darnit, I forgot to snap a picture of it for the blog! It's got just about the most beautiful spiderwebby cocobolo fingerboard you could ever imagine...no...it's prettier than that. Oh well, if you check back in a couple months you'll see I ain't lyin'. I think I might rest tomorrow...within the next few days I'll get started on a GC with European spruce and some really dazzling quilted Honduran maghogany.

Another Grand Concert in the Works

Progress has been pretty swift on my bearclaw Sitka spruce and African mahogany Grand Concert. Over the last two days I've glued the assembled rim to the braced up top, braced the back and glued it onto the rim, and installed the curly koa binding. This afternoon I'll be getting to work on the neck.

Bearclaw/African Mahogany Grand Concert Comin' Up

Number 36 is coming into view. I've got the African mahogany sides precisely bent to shape. The bearclaw Sitka spruce top is inlaid with a Thuya burl rosette and all braced up, and the back is jointed and thickessed. There's something very rustic about the gnarly, almost random figure in this African mahogany. Some figure is so lovely and organized that it seems beyond comprehension how it could have been produced, but with this set, it looks a little messy and a little organic, a little bit more like wood. It's one of my favorite sets. Next I'll be assembling the rim. More soon. :)