My Latest Effort

[Pete Brown]

This one is a gift to a musician mate in Melbourne. I'll deliver it in person next week which is the least I can do after promising it to him 18 months ago! It's been strung up for the past week and I'll carry out final adjustments to the nut, saddle and action over the weekend. It certainly hasn't been without its dramas and there's ample evidence that my finishing skills have a way to go, but overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Best of all, it's easily my best effort to date in terms of tone.

Soundboard: Engelmann spruce
Back and sides: East Indian rosewood
Neck: Queensland maple
Fretboard and bridge: ebony
Bindings and trim: koa
Rosette and fretboard inlay: green abalone
Tuners: Schaller mini
Fretwire: Gold "Evo"

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P4224548.jpg (215.79 KiB) Viewed 17412 times

Cheers
Pete

[Daniel_M]

great job Pete, among other things I really like the headstock-simple and elegant. Your finishing skills look great! Being a little more shallow how does it sound?

[ozwood]

Looks pretty bloody good to me , finish and all , It's good to strive for perfection ,but if you finish one better than that I will be impressed.

Awsome looking Guitar mate , Love it.

[Kim]

Lovely work Pete its all tied in beautifully and if the tone is your best yet you really have something to smile about.

Cheers

Kim

[Allen]

Very stylish Pete. I like the headstock design to go along with a cutaway.

[Nick]

Very tasty Pete (in fact I think it's that tasty that somebody's already taken a bite out of the headstock! ) . Nice clean lines & the Koa binding really works in well. I particularly like the purf line border of the headstock face, just gives it that extra touch of class. Do I detect a little 'homage' touch to Benedetto in the twelth fret inlay? Finish looks alright to me too, I'd say your mate is sure going to be happy with it & decide that it was well worth the wait.

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Pete,

Absolutely beautiful guitar mate and I think the finish looks great.

It is a great attribute to seek perfection but there is always something that goes wrong along the way!

Cheers

Alan

[Pete Brown]

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments.

Being a little more shallow how does it sound?

Daniel, while it's shallower than some, the upper bout depth of 95mm is actually 10mm deeper than the Martin specs I have. It certainly doesn't lack for bass response, which may be due in part to the rosewood back and sides.

Do I detect a little 'homage' touch to Benedetto in the twelth fret inlay?

Nick, I claim it as my own, but it's most definitely inspired by Benedetto's inlays. It's minimalist and easy to accomplish, both of which I view as positive attributes!

I finished the guitar with Grafted Coatings' KTM-SV which I'm pretty impressed with. The main problem was that it was my first attempt with that product and I was overly cautious when I level sanded; I wasn't thorough enough - particularly on the edges - for fear of sanding through. I also had a false start when it came to rubbing it out. I began rubbing out the finish by hand - with limited success - then pretty much started afresh once I'd given up and forked out the cash for a Shopfox buffing arbor. By that stage, I had even greater concerns about the finish thickness which further contributed to my tentative approach and the less-than-perfect finish.

While I'm in the mood for fessing up, the more astute observers among you will have noticed that the neck joins the body at fret 14 1/2! The guitar was intended to be an OM with its 25.4" scale, but after measuring for the bridge position not once, not twice, but three times, I managed to position it as if for the shorter 24.9" scale I'd always used to that point. By the time I'd realised my blunder, I'd removed the finish in the area of the bridge. The only solution was to make another OM neck with a 000 fretboard. Most importantly, it isn't a huge discrepancy and the bridge pins still pass through the bridge plate.

At the risk of sounding too negative, I do tend to put to one side any aspects of the guitar which I feel meet my standards and focus on the problem areas, first identifying areas for improvement, then figuring out methods which will (hopefully!) return better results next time around. Finishing is likely to be an area needing refinement of my techniques for some time to come!

Cheers
Pete

[kiwigeo]

Nice work Pete....

Would like to hear more about your experiences with the KTM-SV finish.

Cheers Martin

[Pete Brown]

Nice work Pete....

Would like to hear more about your experiences with the KTM-SV finish.

Cheers Martin

Thanks Martin.

I blogged about KTM-SV here:
http://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/201 ... tings.html

and here:
http://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/201 ... oblem.html

Cheers
Pete

[DarwinStrings]

That would be a pat on the back from me too. Nice work Pete and I look forward to getting around to your blogs when I get the chance.

Jim

[liam_fnq]

Classy look overall Pete. A bit of trim but not too much. well done

[Pete Brown]

Thanks guys!

Note to self: don't use MOP dots in koa fingerboard binding!

Cheers
Pete

[Lillian]

Pete, its looks grand. Simply understated elegance. I'm sure your friend will forgive you the wait just as soon as he sees it.

[seeaxe]

Pete, lovely guitar, very elegant indeed. Well done.

For your soundhole did you put any reinforcing on the inside of the ribs where you cut it out??.

Cheers

[Pete Brown]

Thanks Lillian and Richard!

Richard, to reinforce the area around the soundport, I laminated two layers of veneer (black and natural maple), waited for the glue to dry then sized them to wedge between the linings (they're pretty flexible if their grain runs in the same direction). They were glued in place with their grain at right angles to the grain of the sides.

The separate walnut piece, bent to a slightly smaller radius than that of the sides, acted as a clamp as I glued in the veneers. I applied glue to the veneer laminate which I slid into position between the linings, placed the walnut caul on top and clamped either end. The walnut caul was a bit of an experiment, the success of which was questionable, although it worked well enough. The port itself was cut out and side "braces" added at either end of the veneer once the glue had dried.

SoundportClamp.jpg (25.59 KiB) Viewed 17282 times

Cheers
Pete