The Luthier Community

Wow, almost 3 1/2 years since my last post on this build.

Well as a short update, Patty has been in a nursing home about a year and a half now. She reached the point where she didn't know she was in our home where we've lived for 25 yrs. and didn't always know me, so we felt, (son Steve who had moved back here from Lake Tahoe to help me care for his mom), that we wouldn't be taking anything away from her at that point. We found a good home for her, downside, it's about 50 miles away, but I go see her usually every other day. She has settled in well there, isn't afraid and is doing pretty good.

So, needless to say it's still not easy and I haven't been able to get myself back into the shop other than keeping my old guitars functioning. So this is a shortcut/jumpstart to get going again.

I fit an old 12 fret Stella neck I collected some years ago onto this body. Used a bridge I had built but never used and strung it up in the white to see what I had. And low and behold, I believe it's gonna make a guitar!






I love the played in look of the old neck and wanted to see if I could save that. It's the old thin brass fretting and of course no truss rod. So that's one reason I strung it up in the white, and looks like it's gonna be playable as it is. Hurrah!


I had to add in some mahogany to get the neck to line up properly. This side had been buggered pretty good. The dovetail was messed up also so I converted it to a bolt-on.


The pickguard is an old one I had removed from another guitar. It still had a little sticky on it so it's just sitting there. I think it looks pretty good though, so it may have found a home.


Oak back and mahogany sides.




You might go up and check out the bracing pattern. Hanns Brentrup's X/ladder pattern, to give x braced stability with ladder braced sound. And looks like it's gonna work out well, I'm loving the sound after being strung up a couple of days.

Now I have to talk myself into breaking it down and applying some finish!
Thanks for watching....

You know, with the different sides and back with the orphaned neck it all seems to work together. Will look great with some finish.

Hey Joe, Really sorry to hear you had to move Patty to a nursing home. On one hand it has to be really hard but on the other it is probably a relief knowing she is getting good care. Funny how 50 miles gets much shorter after you have driven it a few time isn't it? I use to drive 45 miles one way to get to work and after a while it didn't seem like anything.

I love the way this guitar turned out, especially with that neck on it. I think I would consider doing a hand rubbed burst on it and a minimalist finish on it to match that beautiful neck. I am betting it sounds really good with no finish. A simple thin finish would only add to the mojo it already has.

Bob

Sorry to hear about your wife, Joe.

The guitar is looking great.

Pat

Thanks guys!
And yes Bob, that's exactly where my thoughts are in regard to the finish on this guitar.

....if, I could just stop playing it and break it back down....

Sorry to read about your wife's health issues. Good care is getting difficult but not impossible, and I'm glad to see you are handling the situation pretty well as it seems.

Your guitar here is a very cool thing! I always wondered (and still do wonder) why on one hand different woods for back and sides are so often considered as a sacrilege instead of a visually capturing feature (even amongst hobby builders), while on the other hand in the pro-builders world some really quirky designs emerge to catch the eye of potential customers.
Using this old - err - vintage neck definitely turns the guitar into a cult object... as soon as you attach a price tag with the right number to it!

Joe,
So glad your back in the shop.

You planning on bringing that baby to stringfest?

Not sure I can make it there to play it...but I know lots of others who would enjoy it... great job.

Thank you Markus and Stu!
And I like how you think.... "cult object"..... equals higher price, right?

Well I talked myself into breaking it down and trying to put some finish on it. Dang I forget how much I dislike pore filling and sanding!

Anyway, here she is.....










I used stew-macs black water based pore filler, stained with their color tone dyes, and finished with MinWax rub-on poly. Put on seven coats, just rubbed on with a piece of paper towel and rubbed with 0000 steel wool between coats. Did 2 coats a day, then rubbed down with rottenstone and water using a piece of felt.




I think the mahogany sides and oak back work well together.

This finish is very easy to apply and then rubbed out with the rottenstone, (thank you Colin for that trick) you wind up with a nice sheen and avoid the plastic poly look that most of us hate.

So yes, if you want to play a genuine "blues box", start making your plans to be at Stringfest and make this box sing!