Spent the day planing, starting to brace tops and gluing center strips on backs. Accidentally stayed up until two in the morning looking at new tools online...
Two New Guitars Off The Bench
Just strung up these two guitars yesterday. Very happy with how they turned out! Light, lively and balanced.
Both are Torres models and made with basically the same materials. The second has a custom 636mm scale length with a 50mm nut. The other is standard 650mm and 52mm. European spruce top, Indian rosewood back and sides, Spanish cedar neck, ebony fretboard, Hand engraved Alessi tuners on one and Gotoh premium tuners on the other.
New (ish) rosette
Newest rosette with the same theme, but a little more color from the Spanish cedar and walnut.
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!
Headstocks, Necks, Bindings and Rosettes
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??
