Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Well I've finally finished one of the Elsie's (pet name for the LC design I came up with for these) & will be delivering it to it's new owner at the end of the month. The owner of this one is a longtime friend of mine who is also a professional drummer for the NZ Navy band & also hits the skins in an up & coming NZ rock band (Black River Drive if any kiwi's here listen to "the Rock" or Hauraki radio stations). He's getting into writing songs & expressed how awkward it was writing songs on a drum kit! So he asked me to build him a guitar & not knowing too much about the nuts & bolts of these stringed things, gave me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted. I decided to build two at the same time & sell the other if I could, a guy saw/heard this one & has bought the second one sight unseen!
These two have taken me the longest time I think I've ever spent on building a guitar...12months! I have spent a bit of extra time 'getting it right' but also they are the first flatops I've made so I've had to build various new jigs & new body molds (plus a bit of downtime after various earthquakes!). The body shape is losely based around a OOO's dimensions, I tweaked the waist a little & cutaway area.
Ok so here are the specs:
Soundboard- 2A Adirondack from Bob at RC Tonewoods
Back & Sides- Californian Laurel (Umbellularia Californica) also from Bob at RC Tonewoods, also this has the double back system using a Curly Maple inner back.
Neck- Birdseye Maple/ Walnut laminate with Ebony Fingerboard, 24 EVO gold frets & 12" radius.
Neck Width at nut- 50mm, I decided to go wider (classical width) with the neck to make it easier to fret notes without muting others & it's also easier to 'finger pick' as the customer is just learning to play guitar.
Nut & Saddle- Bone, saddle is 5mm wide to allow the 'ramp off' area to be radiused for added string contact.
Tuners- Gotoh 510's
Scale Length- 25 1/2"
Pickup- LR Baggs Stage Pro Element system with onboard preamp.

I must add that once I got used to the wider neck/string spacing I think I prefer it, especially as I have fingers like pigs tits! And finally for a laugh I just thought I'd throw in my "arty" shot After building these I've made a few observations for future builds. I think I can probably lighten the bracing a bit more, this guitar still produces a good clear sound but I just got a "feeling" the top could be loosened a little more. Also with the Birdseye Maple neck it certainly is a little 'neck heavy' but does add to the aesthetics so it's a trade off.

That looks really nice Nick, I like the maple neck and everything else as well.

Nick O wrote:I decided to go wider (classical width) with the neck to make it easier to fret notes without muting others & it's also easier to 'finger pick' as the customer is just learning to play guitar.

I wonder how many peole learn to play guitar on something as awesome as that?

Sweeeeet..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Nick - beautiful job mate.

Your mate will be over the moon when he gets that in his hands - and hopefully it will inspire him to great things.

You have done a fantastic job as usual and the attention to detail is there for everyone to see.

Dave.

Nick, very nice work. I thought I had already commented on this but my message didn't seem to make for some strange reason. I love the rosette. Beautiful detail. In my mysteriously missing message i was keen to discuss the double back and your thoughts on it but suggested it could go in the main forum section. You up for it?
Cheers
Dom

Thanks Dave, Rod & Richard for your kind comments

seeaxe wrote:I wonder how many peole learn to play guitar on something as awesome as that?

Richard, there is method to the madness ( ), my friend has been hitting the skins for years & has played with & become friends to quite a few well known kiwi muso's so I'm hoping this will lead onto further 'higher profile' sales.

Dominic wrote: i was keen to discuss the double back and your thoughts on it but suggested it could go in the main forum section. You up for it?
Cheers
Dom

Thanks Dom, always willing to discuss methods & reasons. I have some info on my double backs on the forum here, from when I first tried the system on the Maccaferri but if you want to discuss it further I'll be up for it in the main area .

Hmmm, my earlier message didn't post either. That's a beauty!!! I love the rosette and the back purfling by the heel cap. Verrrrrry fine work.

Ron

Very clean work as always Nick and that rosette is a real stunner, beautiful stuff.

Cheers

Kim

Wit Wooooo!!!!, great display of craftsmanship Nick.

Jim

Another top shelf effort Nick.
No wonder the twin got sold sight unseen!

How did you go fitting the pickup element with the wider saddle.
Coincidently, I'm currently building my first OM's, also deciding to do 2 at the one time.
I'm also planning on using the wider saddle for them & would love a closer picture of the radiused "ramp off" area.

Craig Clancy wrote:How did you go fitting the pickup element with the wider saddle.

The saddle was 5mm wide & the element is about 2.4 wide from memory so I machined the 5mm groove for the saddle Craig then machined another groove (technically more of a pocket) at the front of the 5mm one, directly under the breakpoint of the saddle, that was 2.5mm wide & 0.5mm deep, the Element is 0.9mm thick so this leaves it 0.4mm proud so that the full string pressure on the saddle is providing good contact to the piezo. The saddle was a nice slide fit in the slot so this provides enough support to stop the saddle rocking on the Element but if it does, theres less than 0.5mm of allowable movement.
The back radius idea, I think I pinched off of Ervin Smogyi I seem to remember reading it somewhere & I think it was Ervin (but I could be wrong!). It made sense to me, the thinking is that you still have the breakpoint at the front of the saddle but the area behind it has the radius that drops away from the breakpoint so that the string doesn't leave the saddle immediately thereby providing a greater contact area for any sound transmission & downward pressure.
I don't have my camera handy but I'll try & get a closeup picture for you later.

Tasty stuff Nick. Whatever you are charging for these you should double it.

It's sure good to see that they didn't get flattened in the Quake.

There's just so much inspirational stuff going on there that it's all a bit much to take in at once. I'd love to be able to have this one around my shop for a while, just going over the details of it Nick.

Three Thumbs up mate.

That is really nice work mate, well done.

You're all Class Nick...

*vague memory ~ lime green commodore*

...well, indeed. Perhaps that was a little too broad a compliment. Erm, on second thoughts, your guitars are all class mate.

Stunner and that black binding was the perfect choice for this one. Attention to detail plus as to be expected. If the pricing on your website is anything to go by, your customers are laughing at your expense - a steal at twice the price.

Oh and hey, speaking of laughing, what do you mean "for a laugh, my arty shot"??? You having a go at me? I like your arty shot...

Cheers,

Jeremy.

I think it's time to give up your day job Nick.

J.F. Custom wrote:
Oh and hey, speaking of laughing, what do you mean "for a laugh, my arty shot"??? You having a go at me? I like your arty shot...

Cheers,

Jeremy.

Hey, I like your arty shot too. Has anyone seen any sign of that great tute that was around before the crash? It showed how to achieve shots like these by cutting out the background. I was keen to give it ago but it seemed to have disappeared before I got around to it.

Pete.

Well done Nick. Close enough to the aesthetic norm that it won't upset the traditionalists but every element has a slight twist that differentiates it from the crowd.
And, as others have said, plenty of fodder for inspiration. I'm off to the work bench.........

Great Guitar Nick, I like the fact that you have a very individual design style coupled with great execution.

John

Dominic, as you stated, I thought it would be a good idea to open the discussion for others to comment so I've shifted our double back discussion into the main forum.

Here's a quick audio of the guitar, you'll have to excuse the playing, I don't practice anywhere near as much as I should do..usually only pick the guitar up when the mood takes me these days but I wanted to cobble something together before it goes to it's new owner at the weekend
I recorded it just through my cannon camera (there was a video with it too but that was too ghastly to include! ) with it's 'one size fits all' microphones So I've 'tweaked' the EQ a little to get it sounding the same as what you would hear when in standing in front of it.

Looks fantastic and sounds sweet. He'll have a hard time putting it down.

Now you just need to update your website.

Lillian wrote:Looks fantastic and sounds sweet. He'll have a hard time putting it down.

Now you just need to update your website.

Thanks Lillian & good to have you back 'on air' so to speak. I will be updating the website but as the new owner hasn't seen the guitar in it's finished state (and he doesn't know about this place!), I didn't want to spoil the surprise because I know he looks on the site. So next week once he's got it in his mitts I will be updating.

Nick wrote: Thanks Lillian & good to have you back 'on air' so to speak. I will be updating the website but as the new owner hasn't seen the guitar in it's finished state (and he doesn't know about this place!), I didn't want to spoil the surprise because I know he looks on the site. So next week once he's got it in his mitts I will be updating.

Sounds like a plan. I'm sure he'll appreciate seeing it for the first time in person. Well done.


Well, I was sent out to play with you guys. The shop being in the state that it is in has made me a tad bit pissy . With everything being what it is and layoffs still happening at the county, dealing with it is on the bottom of the list of things to worry about, so the pissiness hasn't gone away. In fact I was recently informed that I've been grumpier since I stopped hanging out here. So, to keep harmony at home and the wife happy, you guys get to put up with me now.

Lillian wrote:Well, I was sent out to play with you guys. The shop being in the state that it is in has made me a tad bit pissy . With everything being what it is and layoffs still happening at the county, dealing with it is on the bottom of the list of things to worry about, so the pissiness hasn't gone away. In fact I was recently informed that I've been grumpier since I stopped hanging out here. So, to keep harmony at home and the wife happy, you guys get to put up with me now.

Glad we are of some use Lillian, even if it is only keeping the wife happy Couldn't be a more worthier cause The shop still not showing signs of drying out? & work....Think you could do with a meaningful "Kia Kaha" ("stay strong" in Maori) right about now.