French Polishing

Took about a week off to do some camping and backpacking. Now, I'm back in the shop and plugging away at these two guitars and getting ready to start a couple more. Here are some photos of the messy residue from pore filling and French polishing as well as the two guitars a few days away from bridges and final polishing.

New Michael Partington Video

Thought I would share this great new video of Michael Partington performing a new piece by Stephen Goss. It's a very cool composition and beautifully played. I'm a big time fan of Mahler's ninth symphony which is prominently quoted in it. Make sure to watch in in HD.

Surprise Magazine Appearances

Got the current issues of Soundboard and Gendai Guitar and was surprised to find my guitar in one, a huge picture of me on the back of the other and a feature article on my old buddy and classmate Keisuke Sakaba. Kind of funny, but also very cool.

Thanks to Shotaro at Rokkomann and Rich at Savage Classical for putting me in there!

New Cedar Concert Model

Strung up the new cedar concert model last week and just shipped it out to Savage Classical. Very happy with how it turned out. It's very lively, present and balanced. Loose basses and lyrical trebles. Just enough high end frequency response to provide clarity and projection, but not so much as to be harsh.

Bracing, Carving and Making a Mess

Spent the last two days bracing up and carving two tops and backs and making a big mess of wood shavings and glue in the process. Everything is sharp and clean now though.

More Rosettes and Engraved Alessi Tuners

Got these beautifully engraved Alessi tuners in the mail the other day from Rich at Savage Classical. Excited to put them on a custom 636mm scale length guitar that I'm building for a client.

Spent the last several days making more Romanillos rosettes. It's a lot of work and there are many steps to the process; I've also noticed that these little tiles start showing up all over the place! I found one at home on the dining room table this morning when I went to sit down for breakfast... How did it get there??

Rosettes, Purflings and Gluing Up A Bunch of Stuff

Been moving along in the shop and getting started on a handful of new guitars. As tedious as it is, I love making these rosettes. The first is my version of the Torres guitar owned by Tarrega and the second of the one owned by Llobet. I've included pictures of the originals for reference. The wedges are, of course, for a Romanillos rosette.

Other than that, I just joined a bunch of spruce and rosewood and glued up some purflings, bindings, and Spanish cedar neck blanks.

Back In The Shop and wandering around the old continent

I'm back in the shop and plugging along after the GFA convention and the first real vacation that I've taken in years. Three weeks wandering around Austria, Germany, France and Italy. Visited my old house in France, swam in as many lakes as possible, did a little nostalgic hiking around the Puy de Dome and slept on a Volcano.

Now, I'm picking up where I left off with this cedar concert model and starting a new batch of custom Torres models for various clients and hopefully one for myself. Finally!