12 fret BRW small body

[Trevor Gore]

Some guitars are really hard photograph; like this one. The BRW turned out so dark it is almost black, so my feeble attempts to photograph it don't really do it justice. It's one of those guitars that you feel you should be pulling on the white gloves before you touch it. It started out with the prospective customer calling me to say he had some wood and could I make him a guitar. It was a tough negotiation! It's BRW back, sides, fretboard, bridge, bridgeplate, and rosette trim. The top is Lutz. The body shape is one that I use for both SS and CL, perhaps more often seen as my neo-classical. It's about 00 sized. It's got a magnetic arm rest and is fitted with K&Ks. The rest, I think, you'll be able to figure out.

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[56nortondomy]

Looks great Trevor. What's the neck and armrest made of? It all seems to match in really nice. Wayne

[EricDownunder]

Trevor that's a stunning guitar, your finish is truly superb, I have not seen a headstock done like that it really suits the guitar and I love it.

[steve roberts]

Hi Trevor
Wow ! simply stunning
Regards Steve

[charangohabsburg]

The first second before starting to read this thread I just thought "strange, why Trevor starts to paint his guitar backs black?"
Indeed amazing how dark a "non-black" wood can be!
Beautiful work as always.

For the pictures which don't show the top you could use a dark (not black) background, indirect light, and to avoid unwanted reflections photographing "through"* a black cloth sheet which has to be twice as big as the photographed area.
For the pictures showing very dark and very light coloured details (top/sides, etc.) the best solution would be to make an exposure series and later merge the different exposures accordingly (still not easy to make it look natural).
In any case, even lighting helps, which for a not highly specialised photos studio normally means less light and longer (I mean really long) exposure time. Although, sometimes modern cameras are not very helpful with exposure time longer than a few seconds.

*) that is, letting peep the camera lens through a hole in the centre of the sheet. Tripod needed, of course.

[Nick]

Now that's just a beauty Trevor, beautiful 'clean' looking guitar must have been a bugger when the customer gave you all that horrible timber to build with. You've done it justice.

[lauburu]

Magic. Beautiful work. Lucky customer!
Miguel

[Bruce McC]

Not bad Trev, how about a sound clip and some details of the frequency responses for the members of the "book club".

[rocket]

Beautiful guitar Trev, stunning finish.
Rod.

[Dave]

Fantastic looking guitar Trev

All the best
Dave

[Trevor Gore]

Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone.

Looks great Trevor. What's the neck and armrest made of? It all seems to match in really nice. Wayne

Wayne, the neck is NGR, armrest is EIR. The finish is nitro all over.

Markus, thanks for the photographic tips. Most of my issues revolve around the "studio" I have to work with. There's just about enough room for me, the camera and a guitar if I'm lucky! Not always easy to get to the angles I want!

Not bad Trev, how about a sound clip and some details of the frequency responses for the members of the "book club".

Sorry, can't do a sound clip, Bruce. Gone before I could get round to it. Another problem is capturing the nuances in the sound that makes guitars different. I can't capture that with my current (simple) set-up. This guitar's sound, in just a single word, is "imposing". I didn't make it super-sensitive because it is to be used as a stage guitar, so I backed off a bit so feedback wouldn't be so much of a problem. (It was always going to have a BRW bridge, which is heavier than I normally use, so I stiffened the top up to get back to a T(1,1)2 of ~180Hz, which, of course, reduces the monopole mobility). The Lutz gave nice trebles, similar to what I get with WRC (i.e. lots of them, going up high, which gives that airy sort of sound, but is not the usual comment about WRC) but the Lutz is a lot harder than WRC, which is nice. It's a 101, 181, 227Hz guitar and is mass loaded. Very much a small body masquerading as a larger guitar.

[H3ytm@n]

Beautiful looking guitar. Love it.
Can't work out whether it's satin on the back (pic 1) or something that you've done with photoshop?

[Trevor Gore]

Can't work out whether it's satin on the back (pic 1) or something that you've done with photoshop?

Neither! Oh that my Photoshop skills were that good! The back is high gloss, just like the sides that you can see in pic 1. What you're seeing is the reflection of the matt blue background in the high gloss back. With a photo of the back taken any other way (in my very constrained "studio") all I could get was pure reflection, as you can see in this picture of my "antique" Chateau Tanunda thermometer (which is about a metre tall, if you were wondering!)

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[PHANTOM]

that is all class

[Kamusur]

Surely couldn't get much better than that.

Steve

[H3ytm@n]

Can't work out whether it's satin on the back (pic 1) or something that you've done with photoshop?

Neither! Oh that my Photoshop skills were that good! The back is high gloss, just like the sides that you can see in pic 1. What you're seeing is the reflection of the matt blue background in the high gloss back. With a photo of the back taken any other way (in my very constrained "studio") all I could get was pure reflection, as you can see in this picture of my "antique" Chateau Tanunda thermometer (which is about a metre tall, if you were wondering!)

Yes quite the reflection!! There's so much gloss there I can't tell what type of wood you used.

[Kim]

A truly beautiful guitar in every possible way Trevor. Outstanding work

Cheers

Kim

[Trevor Gore]

Five years later (where did that go!) and in for a service. Gets frequently gigged, but well looked after. Fixed the pre-amp (the main reason for the visit), tap tested, tweaked the set-up, sorted some dings in the finish, a cut and buff and good for many more years.

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And if you ever wondered why Brazilian rosewood is Dalbergia nigra, here's a hint...

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...seriously dark and seriously reflective!

[Dave M]

That must have been very interesting; to see how your design has stood up to serious playing over a significant time period.

I imagine it was falcate braced with CF so the top probably didn't move much but I wonder if it continued to compress a little? Did the saddle positions need lengthening at all? Did the truss have to be used to counter movement in the neck?

As an aside I notice the position of the strap button at the body. Was that something the player wanted or a decision by yourself?
For my current Gore design SS I have repeated what I did before and have reinforced the side uphill of the heel ready to take the strap button there, but I don't have enough interaction with players to know if this is completely acceptable.

[Trevor Gore]

I imagine it was falcate braced with CF so the top probably didn't move much but I wonder if it continued to compress a little? Did the saddle positions need lengthening at all? Did the truss have to be used to counter movement in the neck?

The guitar looked pretty much in "as new" condition and yes, was falcate braced with CF. Just a tweak to the truss rod was required. This guitar was one of the first (if not the first) to have the double acting rod as shown in the 2nd edition of the book. The resonances had increased slightly in frequency, which is pretty normal on my guitars. I'll leave it to others to speculate as to why that is!

As an aside I notice the position of the strap button at the body. Was that something the player wanted or a decision by yourself?

Stewmac has a pic showing various strap button positions. Many players seem to prefer position 5, as they say it helps prevent the guitar rolling forward. I just ask the player and fix accordingly. Very important to get the right pilot hole size for the screw.

[kiwigeo]

... sorted some dings in the finish, a cut and buff and good for many more years.

Trevor, I assume the finish is hard shellac from Robert? You had no issues burning new shellac into the old finish?

[Trevor Gore]

Trevor, I assume the finish is hard shellac from Robert? You had no issues burning new shellac into the old finish?

This one was nitro all over, so no problems with drop fills.

[Fisherman]

Stunning! Definitely showcases that amazing BRW