(May 2009)

Pair of Baritone Acoustic six-strings   New!  

    I don't make many acoustic instruments these days, but I had an order two of them which were built almost side by side.  I used almost the same materials on both instruments, but using Englemann Spruce on the guitar to the left, and Sitka Spruce on the one to the right. 

   Both bodies were made from the same piece of old Honduras Mahogany, and both necks were made from the same laminated block of Mahogany, Maple, and Blood Wood.  

   Both fingerboards are Indian Rosewood with Abalone line inlays.  The scale length on both is 27 1/2 inches.   The guitar on the right has an L.R. Baggs M1 Soundhole pickup.  Both guitars have Gold Grover Rotomatic tuners and are strung with La Bella acoustic baritone strings.  I have to say that they do sound tremendous...

(June 2009)

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   Custom Thru-neck, all Mahogany   New!  
          
    Although this guitar clearly borrows influence from a famous vintage instrument, it is a very unique and new shape (supplied for the most part by the customer).  The construction method is the same as the vintage guitar in order to achieve the same tonal response, which includes having tuners in the reverse position.  The neck pickup is a Kent Armstrong Vintage Firebird and the bridge pickup is also a Kent Armstrong but a PAF with a coil tap on the tone control.  I used a Pigtail Aluminum wraparound bridge and Steinberger Gearless tuners.   The guitar sounds great and sustains for days....                                                            

(May 2009)
(available at Terra Guitars shortly)

  Standard Hollow body, Figured Walnut top  
  
    Walnut is a highly decorative wood that I don't use very often, which is a pity because it looks amazing and is a very good tone-wood.   The Mahogany body and neck on this guitar was stained Walnut color to match the front which also looks great.  I may have to do another one like this.  It has an Ebony fingerboard with Abalone line inlays, and also an Ebony head veneer.  It has a Tonepros bridge and a set of Gotoh's super smooth 510 Delta tuners.  I used Lollar Imperial humbuckers with coil taps.  I also used a CAE Jangletone preamp and a Stellartone tone control.  The guitar has a great range of sounds using these systems.  

   Model T Deluxe, Gold top   
          
       Borrowing ideas from a classic vintage guitar, this Model T is a good blend of old and new.  The Amalfitano P90s give it that typical vintage sound that many players are looking for, and the TonePros bridge eliminates the tuning problems that the vintage guitars had.   It has a classic Gold top/Honey back finish, and the cream binding and cream plastic parts are true 50s style.  Sometimes it's fun to re-visit the past, after all, they got it right then, so why not now..
                 

                                                                        (available at Guitar Adoptions)

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(Feb 2009)

 5-string Medium Scale Bass, Oil&wax finish       
   
     Here is a rather nice and highly playable bass.  The 32 1/2 inch scale neck makes fingering a whole lot easier than the long scale basses - but without losing too much sustain.  Along with the pretty quilted Maple top, I used figured Honduras Mahogany for the body wings.  I used the same Mahogany for the thru neck along with some curly Maple and Blood-wood  for the laminates.  The fingerboard is Indian Rosewood with my standard Abalone line inlays.

     I used a pair of Bartolini Humbucking Jazz Bass pickups running through one of their 2-band EQ pre-amps.  It has Hipshot tuners, and instead of the usual Hipshot bridge, I used one of their individual string bridge systems.  This is a really neat bridge which allows for either string-thru body or top string mount.  It gives great sustain.  The finish is natural oil and wax which really brings out the wood grain nicely!  A very rich sounding bass!                 

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   Model T Deluxe, Burl/Curly Maple top              
    
This guitar looks great!  The Maple on the top is most odd, but in a nice way - a mixture of burl and curl.  The highly figured Black Limba body and neck are super light-weight and very, very resonant.   I used a pair of Seymour Duncan "Seth Lover" pickups which give it a wonderful vintage tone.  The fingerboard is Indian Rosewood and the head veneer is a piece of Maple, from the same piece as the body.  It has Grover tuners and a TonePros bridge.  The guitar is cream bound and finished in a clear natural gloss.  Great instrument. 
 (Please note: The protective plastic covering was still on the pickups when these pictures were taken)
                                        

 
(Dec 2008)

  Here is a very pretty Standard with a Black Limba body and neck.  The curly Maple top is quite gorgeous.  The Amalfitano pickups made this guitar sound really sweet.  I used Macassar Ebony for the fingerboard and the head veneer.  It has a TonePros bridge and Gold Grover tuners. The guitar is bound in cream and finished in a Caramel burst.

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   Standard six-string with pearl binding, Emerald top        
    
This custom ordered Standard has one of the nicest pieces of quilted Maple I've seen in a long time.  The Emerald green stain in the wood gives it a completely three dimensional appearance.  I waited for at least a couple of weeks for a bright but cloudy day to get some good outside shots, but this particular period was unfortunately sunny the whole time, and the guitar had to be shipped (..who said it's always raining in Oregon?), so the shots are not all perfect - the full front and back are a bit dark.  However, it's a beautiful looking instrument with cream/black and Abalone binding all around.  It has a 25 1/2 inch scale book-matched Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard and a matching book-matched piece for the head veneer.  I've used a Wilkinson bridge, Gotoh 510 machine heads and a pair of Voodoo 59 Humbuckers with a coil tap on the mini switch.  The back of the body and the neck are Honduras Mahogany which is finished in a clear, natural gloss.  This makes a very nice contrast to the Emerald Green top.  A very special guitar!

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(Dec 2008)

It took me a while to find this piece of Burl Maple.  I was searching for a particular look and this was the piece!  Burls present unique problems in that they always have holes and knots, but this is part of the character.  The end result is usually very pretty. 

This Standard is a hollow body without  F-holes which I sometimes prefer on a guitar that has a very busy figure in the wood.  I've used Lollar Imperial humbuckers with a coil tap on the mini switch.  They sound really sweet on single coil.  The guitar has Grover tuners and a TonePros bridge.  All the hardware is gold.  It's finished in a honey burst. 

(Dec 2008)
 

 Standard hollow body,Tiger Eye finish    

  Here is a hollow body without F-holes.  The Maple top on this guitar is quite dark and so lent itself very well to the Tiger Eye finish.  I think the result is pretty amazing.  The guitar has a very nice Gabon Ebony fingerboard, and also an Ebony head veneer. 

I used a pair of Jason Lollar Imperial humbuckers  which are great sounding pickups.  The controls on this guitar are a little different from my regular setup.  It has a CAE Jangletone preamp which can be switched in or out of the circuit with the mini switch on the front of the body, and the tone control is  a Stellartone ToneStyler.  This is a twelve-position rotary switch which steps down through a series of capacitors instead of a single capacitor rotary tone control.  Kind of interesting.  Really nice looking guitar!

Model T Deluxe, drop top-top  

Another very nice drop-top Model T, very similar specifications to the green one below, but with a more traditional warm, brown sunburst over a very pretty Chevron flamed Maple.   It has a Mahogany body and a laminated Mahogany neck with a Rosewood fingerboard. 

The guitar has a pair of Kent Armstrong PAF's, Grover tuners and a TonePros bridge.  A very tasteful looking instrument!
 

                                                                                              (available at Destroy All Guitars)

Model T Deluxe, drop-top  

   Green is not a color I do often, but after seeing how good this looks, there might just be some more like it.  This color is "Emerald Green" and the back is natural Mahogany.  The green stain really brought out the pencil stripes in this Maple top. 

 The fingerboard is Rosewood, and I used a Maple head veneer to match the front of the body.  I used a pair of Jason Lollar Imperial humbuckers which sound pretty darn good!
                                                                         
                                                                                                     (available at Destroy All Guitars)

(Nov 2008)

        Standard six-string with pearl binding             

This is a rather nice looking guitar, using Black Limba for the body and neck instead of Mahogany, and a one-piece curly Maple top.  It's finished in a Caramel burst on the front and back which looks great on the Limba and blends the front with the sides extremely well. I used a black outer binding to contrast with the pearl on the inside.  The wiring on this guitar is a little bit different from my usual system.  It has a pair of Kent Armstrong 12-pole tapped humbuckers which give the option of a high output or low output in humbucking mode.  This is controlled by the two mini switches on the front.  Both pickups can also be switched to single coil with a push/pull control on the tone.  It gives a very interesting mixture of sounds.  The Rosewood fingerboard has Abalone star inlays.  A very handsome looking guitar in my humble opinion :)

  Click on Thumbnails !