baroque guitar

here is one of my very first instruments. i made this at red wing (luthier school) back in 1999. it is a baroque style guitar based on 1700 Stradivari plans which were at the school. the strings are in five pairs and tuned like the five highest strings on a modern guitar.

the top is red cedar. the fingerboard, bridge, tuners, and frets are ebony. the rest of the body and neck are maple with ebony and bloodwood trim.

the celtic knot design comes from the album cover art of Thunder and Consolation by the english band New Model Army. they were and are one of my favorite bands ever, but at the time they refused to play in the states. when i finished the guitar i jokingly told everyone that i would give it to justin the guitarist/singer as a bribe to bring the band over here.

well, word must've gotten over because in november 2003 they came to the u.s. for a short tour. so i lugged this thing all the way to chicago on dirtydog to hold up my end. justin was completely speechless aside from thanking me profusely.

the next september i got an e-mail from a local club saying that my band the Knotwells had been requested personally to open for New Model Army. it was worth the bribe to be able to say i played a show with my favorite band, even if the show itself was sorta suck. some are. apparently the guitar was in a NMA art exhibit with original album art, stage props, and fliers and stuff that toured europe a few years back. i am however still waiting to hear it on a recording of theirs. 

 

here's a look at the inside. i modified the bracing from the plans by adding the three fan braces. this picture is of my workbench at red wing. the maple for this guitar came from a huge 4 foot long 12"x6" log that me and a classmate, joe, bought together. there was enough wood for both our guitars plus a couple more.

the upper frets incorrectly taper down toward the bass side. i must have flipped my tracing over, not a big deal, it's my first guitar. i just wish i hadn't put that awful logo i used to use on the fingerboard. dumb logo. i also wish i had gotten some better pictures before sending it off to england.

resonator violin

here is my most recently completed instrument, the resonator, or Stroh violin.

i made this for a fellow named tommy. he and i sometimes play with the bare bones orchestra for their annual halloween puppet show. that's where he got the idea to be able to switch between string section and horns and to fill out both as needed.

it actually isn't all that brassy sounding. tommy described the sound as "silky". volume wise it as loud as or a little louder than an acoustic violin, but only in front of the bell.

 the bell is from a bought-as-is trombone. the neck came from a dismantled violin and was more or less in the scrap bin. the body and shoulder rest are from an oak railing banister. the resonator box is from an alarm clock.

for the resonator itself i had originally been using an aluminum speaker cone center. it was very similar in consistency  to cones used in resonator guitars. ultimately it was too fragile and not loud enough and i ended up using the lid to a mason jar. because of the ridge around the edge the center can act more like a membrane. this made the violin a lot louder and more able to withstand everyday use. 

 the tailpiece and knobs i carved from cocobolo, the chin rest i got online. the wings that the shoulder rest attaches to are hollowed out to reduce weight and to hold the pickup controls.

since the design was a solid body i figured it would be a good idea to make it electric as well. here is the piezo bridge pickup i built. it sounds pretty nice through an amp too, without the feedback an amplified acoustic can have.

tommy practices accupuncture here in town and is paying me in sessions to treat my sciatica.

(aka: luthier's leg, aka: pain in the ass)

  

dated 2012. the 1 is upside down to commemorate the magnetic pole reversal happening this year, really i meant to do it that way.

please, seriously, take a moment and check out some of the other instruments i've built and posted here. this is only one of many that are just as awesome. the list is over there on the right => go on, have a look!