First Build - Part 5...'The END!' *More Audio Added 03/23

[Mr_LV19E]

Very nice Jeremy, fine workmanship.  The finish looks beautiful, you have some real talent.

[jeremy3220]

  Jeremy, once you get the setup right how about a little video upload of you flatpicking with it?
               I am going to do at least an audio pretty soon, but I don't have a setup yet.      Danny

I don't have the video equipment. I'll post a soundclip though.

Very nice Jeremy, fine workmanship.  The finish looks beautiful, you have some real talent.

Thanks. I don't know about fine workmanship, there are plenty of imperfections. The one that really burned me up was the last one. I rounded over a corner of the bridge when matching it to the contour of the top. I can't believe I didn't see it before I glued the bridge on. Hopefully it won't matter structurally. I've got a long way to go before entering the fine workmanship realm.

[jeremy3220]

Here's the pickguard I was thinking of putting on.




It still has the white backing on it. Once it's acutally installed it will blend better because it's a very transpartent gaurd. Here's a shot from Bryan Kimsey's site of that type guard on a guitar.

[Danny]

  I like it. Looks very classy on that dred.

[Mr_LV19E]

Thanks. I don't know about fine workmanship, there are plenty of imperfections. The one that really burned me up was the last one. I rounded over a corner of the bridge when matching it to the contour of the top. I can't believe I didn't see it before I glued the bridge on. Hopefully it won't matter structurally. I've got a long way to go before entering the fine workmanship realm.

Okay, so the workmanship sucks.  Just kidding

The talent shows because you are aware of your mistakes and learned from them. Nobody is perfect at anything the first time they attempt it.

You deserve a lot of credit just for attempting it in the first place. I'm sure you won't make those same mistakes again, maybe others but you will learn from them too.

It still is a very nice looking guitar, and I challenge you to go to a music store and find a guitar that doesn't have something that you could complain about however minor it may be.

I love my Larrivee's but every one of them has flaws of some nature, gladly none of them effect sound.

Keep up the good work.

   

[jeremy3220]

Thanks Roger, I know what you mean.

[drathbun]

Wow beautiful guitar!

We need soundclips now! :)

[Danny]

   Roger is right, you are a bright minded person and very disciplined. That is the kind of person who learns from every mistake and progresses faster than the herd.
                    Plus you have a zeal for this. I'd hire you to work in my little business in a heartbeat. Good craftsmen are very hard to find these days. Plenty of warm bodies though. This economic climate may bring back the "Master and apprentice" way of on the job training.
                    I can see why so many promising young craftsmen go to work at Larrivee, so they can be trained to be luthiers while receiving a pay check. It's a good deal for all.
      If I was more independent financially I would like to go to work out at the Collings factory here in Austin for a year or so. I really have thought of it, just a daydream though.

[jeremy3220]

Thanks Danny  The ironic thing is I've been looking for a fulltime job and just can't seem to find anything in my field. The master and apprentice way would suit me well, plus my degree is nearly useless. I've been thinking about asking the university if I can return my degree for a refund 

[jeremy3220]

Ok, here's my sound review. I think it sounds great. It's pretty responsive and has a good balance for flatpicking. When I first strung it up it sounded a little dull but since I got the new saddle in, worked on the setup and it's had a few days to mature it's quiet the opposite. It has a lot of high end richness on all of the strings with a good amount of percussive snap to the attack. That woody snap is something I always look for in a guitar. It doesn't have it like a good prewar Martin dread does but maybe it will grow in that direction, that's a pretty tall order though. The high end richness that this guitar has is something that is lacking in my OM/PW and I wonder if it is due to the Adi top. I think tonewise it gives the OM/PW some competition, it's not as refined sounding though. I could just be crazy biased but I think it sounds fantastic. I got to hear someone else play it last night and that was a real treat. Yes, yes, I know you want soundclips. I'll see if I can work on it this week. Thanks everbody for the encouragement, it means a lot to me.








I think the guard will look better once it gets a tan.

[Blue in VT]

 

I knew it would sound great!!! and I'm Glad I was right!  nice work my friend!

Cheers,

Blue

[Danny]

    Glad to "hear" your report. And look forward to "hearing" your clip. 

[Safricanplayer]

Jeremy,

I think you've got a lot of us forumites living vicariously thru your build   If I was 10 years younger, I would have seriously considered having a go at building my own guitar. I live about 10 - 15 minutes from John Greven here in Portland, and everytime I drop by to visit him, I leave energized and wishing I did what he did for a living

Well done lad, you've got that 1st one under your belt and it should be blue skies from here As you're no doubt aware, there are some wonderful luthiers out there who are incredibly gracious with their time and help and I'm sure you've got a lot of collective wisdom out there that's available to you. Tim Mcknight is one such individual ~ a true gentleman and wonderful luthier. I look forward to following your progress..

~ Ray ~

[jwb]

Jeremy,

We've posted back and forth on this forum for some time now.  I've always liked that you're a straight shooter and confident about what you know.  Seeing this guitar, the first one you've attempted, is impressive.  Keep it up!  All you need is a web page and get the build list started....and you're off.  I know that's a little unrealistic, or at least you may think so anyway, but from what I know about you you can do it.  Keep on truckin!

Justin

[jeremy3220]

Thanks Justin, Ray, and Blue. It would be nice to build for a living since thinking about lutherie takes up about 85% of my limited brain space. Hopefully I'll get to start on the next ones before long and get some more practice in. I don't know if it will ever be more than a hobby but I do know I wouldn't want anyone to own a commissioned guitar from me where they say 'it has some flaws but I'm sure he's gotten better'.

[L-fan]

How do you like the gotoh tuners?

[jeremy3220]

They're nice, they seem smooth and don't have any play. The ratio does seem low. I had to look look up what it was (15:1) compared to my Gotohs (16:1), I wouldn't have thought that would have been a noticable difference.

[L-fan]

I've got those on my 12th fret OM-03R 2008 special edition and like them.  Very sharp looking, and they seem to work well so far.  I don't have any trouble with the 15:1 ratio, but then I don't tune too terribly precisely anyway.

[Danny]

Ok, here's my sound review. I think it sounds great. It's pretty responsive and has a good balance for flatpicking. When I first strung it up it sounded a little dull but since I got the new saddle in, worked on the setup and it's had a few days to mature it's quiet the opposite. It has a lot of high end richness on all of the strings with a good amount of percussive snap to the attack. That woody snap is something I always look for in a guitar. It doesn't have it like a good prewar Martin dread does but maybe it will grow in that direction, that's a pretty tall order though. The high end richness that this guitar has is something that is lacking in my OM/PW and I wonder if it is due to the Adi top. I think tonewise it gives the OM/PW some competition, it's not as refined sounding though. I could just be crazy biased but I think it sounds fantastic. I got to hear someone else play it last night and that was a real treat. Yes, yes, I know you want soundclips. I'll see if I can work on it this week. Thanks everbody for the encouragement, it means a lot to me.








I think the guard will look better once it gets a tan.

It will look better with a tan. But for those of us who followed your posts I think it looks very special as it sits right now. I doubt I will ever do this from scratch like you did. I might do one like GA_ME is doing after I see how my blue collar Gibson rebuild turns out. I haven't even looked at it in months. But I did fix a few others for friends recently.
           Just watching the Forum III guitar going thru it's build process is  making it feel more special to me. I couldn't imagine the satisfaction that must come when you stand back and look at a finished guitar that you did by yourself. You must be thinking seriously about another one. But probably down the line a ways.
                          Enjoy it.                       Danny

[Zohn]

  Nice one Jeremy, and congrats with a well finished project. I love the Coco headplate, and that organic top looks great!! a "homemade" D18GE!!!!