Settling In

Finished up the final polish and strung up this guitar the other day. I've been letting the strings stretch out and settle in. I spent some time with it this morning while waiting for some glue to dry on another instrument; this is one of my favorite guitars to date. Elegant, lively, light and balanced. European spruce soundboard, Indian rosewood back and sides, Spanish cedar neck, East Indian ebony fret board, hand engraved Alessi tuners with ebony buttons.

Its Peruvian walnut counterpart is hot on its heels. Just waiting for tuners.

First Coats of Shellac

Finally started getting some finish on these two guitars the other day. The Peruvian walnut back is very striking! The figure popped even more than I imagined. Excited to show these two off at the GFA in Denver next month.

On and On and On...

Finally back in a groove after taking some much needed time off from the shop. These guys are getting closer every day. Excited to get some finish on them.

Finished Rosettes

Finally finished up the new Romanillos inspired rosette that I've been working on. Very happy with how it turned out. A lot of rosewood, maple, mahogany, birch, walnut and boxwood. I've admired this thing on Julian Bream's guitar since I was a little kid, so it was kind of fun to make one and see all of the work that goes into it. It's meant to depict the arches from the famous Alhambra in Granada, Spain.

Finished Guitars for NW Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibit

Got these two new guitars strung up and photographed for the show in Portland this weekend. A new Torres model and a standard Concert model, both with European spruce, Indian rosewood back and sides, Spanish cedar necks, ebony fingerboards, Gotoh premium tuners and new fancy labels letterpress printed by the lovely folks at Evolution Press in Ballard. Looking forward to the show!

For more info: http://www.nwmusicalinstrumentshow.org/

Romanillos Tribute Rosette

While I've been waiting for the finish on a couple of new guitars to fully dry, I've been messing around with ideas for the next few. I finally had to try my hand at a copy of the iconic arches designed by Jose Romanillos. I've admired this rosette since I was a teenager. I think that it is the most ingenious, relevant and still tasteful bit of inlay work of any living guitar builder. It's also very time consuming to recreat, but a fun challenge.

He recently published a book that details much of this and a whole host of other useful things regarding his approach to guitar building. I highly recommend ordering it:

http://www.romanillosguitarbooks.com/

Congratulations to 2016 Northwest Solo Classical Guitar Competition Winners

Congrats to all of the winners of this year's Northwest Solo Classical Guitar Competition and a special shout-out to Lucas Victor who won second place in the youth division using one of my guitars!

In other news, I got bridges glued on two guitars today for the upcoming Northwest Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibit. I still have a final French polishing session to do, but take great care in protecting the initial bodying layer so as to avoid as much unnecessary fussing as possible!

Guitars For NW Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibit and New Harpsichord!

Well on my way to finishing up two new guitars for the Northwest Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibit in Portland at the end of this month. Very excited to get out of town for a few days and see some old friends. Here is a link to their website:

http://www.nwmusicalinstrumentshow.org/

In other news, I impulsively got this harpsichord earlier this week. It's an old Zuckermann kit that a local guy put together. It has a few issues and isn't the prettiest thing to look at, but all in all is great sounding little instrument. Also, not everyone has the luxury of having a full-sized harpsichord in their bedroom!

Fingerboards and Neck Carves

Got the fingerboards glued on to the two newest guitars this week. Today is fretting and final sanding. Almost there!

Simpler Bindings and Gluing Up Neck Blanks

Moving along with a couple new guitars. Got the bindings and purlfings glued in. I'm going with a much simpler appeal than usual. Elegant and not too busy.