My...ummm...first woodworking project

[beep]

Wow!!!! Beautiful first project.

[lcm1947]

Truely awesome. Come on now where did you buy it? Come on tell us. Man, that is just beautiful. Hard to believe but what a beautiful piece of work that is.

[John Hunter]

Fantastic! Love it.

[monte]

That is really nice work!

[jdoolitt]

Great job! The inlays look perfect, as does the finish. Yikes, I need to consider a different hobby. First project?? Wow!

[jhart]

Absolutely beautiful!!!

I'd hate to show my first project. Probably be laughed off the forum

[lrogers]

WOW! There aren't words to describe that!

[kyle.w]

looks great. good job!

[Westex93]

Perfect?!? Hardly. The flaws just don't show well in the pics. But they're there. I will say I'm extremely happy with the results, though.

The good news is that I made ALL my mistakes on this one, so the next one will HAVE to be perfect. Right?? Ain't that how it works?

[gfrenzel]

Great looking guitar. Will we see it in our local music stores one day? BTW, I sent you a PM.

[Westex93]

Well, Garth, you can rest assured THIS one will never be seen in a music store. Too many mistakes. Anyhow, this one's mine! But, God willing, who knows what the future will hold?

BTW, PM'ed you back.

[dale]

Does it sound as good as it looks? Having invested as much time and effort as you did, are you glad you did it?

[Tundra_Man]

The good news is that I made ALL my mistakes on this one, so the next one will HAVE to be perfect. Right?? Ain't that how it works?

I've heard quite a few people say that their second guitar turned out worse than their first. I think it's easy to let happen because you think "now I know what I'm doing" and let your guard down.

Myself, my second guitar was about equal to my first. I just had mistakes in different spots.

Guitar making: welcome to the woodworking version of crack...

[Westex93]

Sorry, Dale, just now got back to this thread.

So for the musicians among you, here's the scoop on the tone. It was built for bluegrass and loosely built around a pre-war herringbone plan. On initial string up it was a little bass heavy, but the trebles started coming in pretty good with a little playing time. Getting more and more balanced every day, it seems.

And this thing is LOUD! I took it Fri night to a local bluegrass jam for its public unveiling. Being the new guy, they stuck me between two banjos (to drown me out, I guess). But when I would hit a good bass run, the banjo players would turn around and look at me. That's a good sign for a guitar picker. Before long, people started noticing and the questions started coming. As I passed it around, I got statements like "Man, this thing's light!", "Wow, you can feel that bass in your chest, this whole thing vibrates!", and "Awesome tone and volume, when thing breaks in it's gonna be a Monster!". Had a mahogany Blueridge for lunch that night and at least hung with (really beat out, but I'm a little biased) a '50s D-28 Martin. And this one's still tight, hasn't even begun breaking in good yet!

Had an old D-35 for dessert yesterday. No contest...

Got a couple of commissions already from folks wanting me to build 'em one. I turned them down until I get a couple more under my belt. But after that, we'll see.

So, in other words, I'm pretty happy. Worth it? Well, #2 and #3 are already in the planning stages. And my other two guitars are up for sale...