Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Here are some of my favorite photos of some of the guitars that I have built:

















































Thanks for Looking

Far out!
I'm sitting here with my sunday morning coffee and you give me that as a wake up message.

Hesh, that is one eye-popping collection of guitar flesh. You do stunning work mate. A match of beautiful woods to great classic designs.

What is that dark coloured top (no, not the black one) - is it sinker redwood?

Lovely start to my day (Father's Day here in Oz) - thanks for the present!

Mark

Y'ain't too bad at this building lark are you? Another 3-4 years and I reckon you'll be just about building some decent guitars....if you keep it up.

Nice work Hesh, some beauties there and I'm sure some others that you aren't showing because you didn't think them good enough. Got a real soft spot (or should that be a hard spot?:shock: ) for the two Blackwood beauties, nice quiet burst on the one top too Well done young man & thanks for sharing.

By the way, I think your bird bath has sprung a leak!

Some great looking guitars in that lot mate. Thanks for sharing.

Sweet stuff Hesh. Clean, tidy, and gorgeous.
That is very high quality stuff by anyone's standards. Thank you for sharing.
J

Hesh,

They are really wonderful looking guitars - very distinctive. I am sure they sound great too. Thanks for showing these.

cheers, jb

Hesh, I always like looking at your guitars.

Nice work.

Many thanks my friends!

I had a good day in the shop, so far..., and was able to join a top, thickness it, cut out a simple wood rosette, and inlay the sucker with some of my new purflings (B/Koa/B) and it looks cool to me. It's a holiday weekend here in the states, Labor day, when I guess we celebrate all the women in labor...

Nick my friend the blackwood ones are actually Koa but they are related so no biggie... The burst kind of sucks and this is the one that I am stuck playing these days too...

Two things are wrong with it IMO. First it was my first attempt at parabolic/tapered braces and I WAY over braced it. Add this to a super stiff Adi top and it took a very long time to open up, which it has now, but it still does not sound as open as my current bracing seems to produce...

The second thing that I really don't care for with this guitar is the burst. I wanted more of a rootbeer colored or tobacco colored burst and this one looks fine in normal light. But in bright light or with a camera flash it looks red as hell.... I hate Red!!!!! It is my least favorite color so perhaps this is poetic justice that I got stuck with the thing...

Anyway many thanks again everyone.

I never tire of looking at pics of your instruments Hesh. They truly are inspirational.

I've played a couple of these and the play and sound as goos as they look.

bob wrote: I've played a couple of these and the play and sound as goos as they look.

I don't think they look goose at all Bob. Don't listen to him Hesh we all love your guitars (You could work a little on your choice of cowboy suits though.)
Any how, thanks for adding your fine work to the gallery.

Cheers

Kim

Thank You gentlemens!

Hesh1956 wrote:Nick my friend the blackwood ones are actually Koa but they are related so no biggie...

Still look horny IMO

Here is a Blackwood geetar for ya Nick bro. This was the second guitar that I ever made.



Here is what the burst looks like in normal light.



Here is a Ricky Recardo Mahogany OM:



Here is what an over braced parabolic/tapered/what-ever-you-want-to-call-it top looks like: Cool picture though.



Here is a d*ead that I made that now belongs to a retired prof and pianist.



Still looking for more...

Cheers Hesh, You sure know how to turn a boys head with all that Zoot.
The burst does look better in the lower light environment.I detect a nice Fender amp in the background too

Your guitars have always been an inspiration as well as eye candy. I'm sure that they always will be, unless you turn the shop over to Sony.

You know, if that burst really bothers you that much, you could do what Kim did and be another Henry Higgins. Find a beater and make it a beauty with a voice for days.

Or just build yourself another guitar.

Hesh, Thats what I was hoping for when I suggested a gallery forum - instant guitar gratification. Stunning work.

Can I ask about the black top/myrtle guitar - what kind of finish is that?

BTW if your burst is giving you so much pain, then feel free to swap over to left hand and post it down here to Kiwi land. I'll happily put you out of your stinkin' misery .

Thanks folks!

Richard that was a great idea that you had to have a Luthier's Gallery and I am certainly having fun with it seeing all the guitar porn that others are putting up here.

The idea of a Luthier's Showcase had been requested many times for 5 years or so now on another forum but it just never happened. I think that we owe a lot of thanks to Bob for first the ANZLF and second being very responsive to our requests. This is a GREAT forum!!!

The finish on the "Black Tiger" is cat urethane and it was professionally finished by Tony Ferguson who happens to live on the west side of my state Michigan.

Joe White, also a pro finisher who uses Poly finishes lives in northern Indiana and is only a couple hour's drive from me too. I seem to be fortunate to live near these guys since I don't have to ship guitars to them for finishing. The Cuban OM and the shot of the Hog back are two guitars that Joe has done a superb finish for me on.

I used to spray my own nitro finishes but then I got very sick... and even though I have no idea if spraying nitro in my bathroom shop without proper precautions contributed to me getting sick I am scared to death these days about introducing toxic chemicals into my living environment...

So I outsource my finishing now and since I am selling my guitars these days the cash generated by the folks who purchase them helps me to defray the added cost of having them professionally finished.

Thanks again.

Great stuff Hesh, very inspirational for me, a very well thought out and executed bunch of quality guitars.