finally finished the first build

[Mark McLean]

Yesterday Jack (my 17 yo son) and I strung up the OM that we have been working on for about 10 months. Such a great feeling to get it done and find out that something that we built actually plays well and sounds great. Learned heaps along the way - much of it from you gentlemen.

It is EIR and Western Red Cedar that I got from LMI. I am particularly pleased with the cocobolo/maple bindings and the cocobolo rosette. I don't think our Taylor is going to get played so much now. I have already been out to buy the wood for number two - seems like I am hooked on this hobby now.

There were plenty of mistakes but we covered most of them up pretty well. We haven't fixed the alignment of the 6th string tuner yet, strung it backwards for now. The finish of the top also bugs me a bit - my first experience using shellac and it looked pretty good until we tried to get a satin look by finishing with wax applied with 0000 steel wool. It left an inconsistent look, still shiny in some places and cloudy looking in others. I intend to tinker with it a bit more. But overall we are well chuffed.....

[Bob Connor]

That looks great Mark.

You must have a great feeling of satisfaction after labouring so long over it to get it strung up and haer how it sounds.

I'm interested how you would compare the sound/feel of it against the Taylor.

[James Mc]

Hi Mark n Jack
Great job! I wish my first guitar had come up that well. Looks like you've taken your time and done a top job with the trimming (bindings and rosette). I wish I could give you some advise on getting a good satin look with shellac. I've tried scuffing it up using steel wool and abrasive powder on a soft buffing pad but wasn't happy with the results. I suspect that etching it with some kind of chemical treatment would work better.

Cheers
James

[Alfred J]

That's a lot better than my first attempt. The rosette is beautiful. Overall, a fine looking instrument. Isn't it good to know that on your first attempt you can build a guitar that sounds as good or better than a $2000 factory built number?

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Mark and Jack,

That's a beautiful guitar!! Congratulations! It is indeed a great sense of achievement finishing your first build.

So what's number two going to be?

Cheers

Alan

[Kim]

Fantastic work Mark and Jack, what a wonderful looking guitar and what a completely priceless experience for a father and son to share. No doubt a memory that shall live long and be recalled many times with pride by you both. Well done to the pair of you and thanks for sharing this with us.

Cheers

Kim

[sebastiaan56]

Well done guys! As has been said it is certainly a better job than my first attempts(s)! Sounds like you're hooked now but there are a lot worse activities in this world.

[Mark McLean]

Thanks for the encouragement.
I do find it amazing that 2 guys with no woodworking experience can manage to knock up a decent instrument in the garage on weekends. But I'm not planning to give up the day job and live off my lutherie skills just yet.

We tried to copy the neck profile and the setup measurements from the Taylor, and the overall feel and playability came out pretty similar. The action is still a bit high and it hasn't loosened up much yet, but with some more setup tweeking I think it will be good. Do you find that the feel and playability of a newly built guitar changes quickly? We have certainly noticed big changes (improvements) in the complexity of the sound just in the first 2 days.

One dilemma that I feel is how much I should try to correct the errors (like imperfect finish). I guess it is much more sensible to accept imperfections, learn and move on to the next build. A classic error is the slight malalighnment of the tuners which means that the 5th string runs into the 6th string tuner (curse that narrow Martin-style headstock design - no room for error there). We have put the 6th string in from the outside just so that we could get on and play it - but I'll probably want to go and move that 6th tuner some time.

Number 2 is going to be an all mahogany L-OO style. I got some nice mahogany last week from Gerard Gilet, and the plans are up on the wall of the workshop. Jack has his HSC coming up next year so he is not going to have so much time for this one.

[Craig]

Congratulations Mark. It's an incredible feeling ,stringing it up for the first time , isn't it ?

I wouldn't be too concerned about finish imperfections . Particularly as it's only your No. 1. Getting a good finish is one of the most difficult things to master .

Next time , try making a template for your headstock first . This will aid in drilling the tuner holes , and also give you an idea of how the strings will line up.
Hooked on making guitars ????? ,,,,,,, geez , I can't understand that !

Looking through the soundhole ,I can see some of your very neat and careful interior work too ! Great effort Mark .! I know you'll both get an enormous amount of pleasure and pride when playing it

P.S. I've just noticed your Avatar . One of the best I've seen

Cheers Craig

[Paul B]

Feels good, huh?

Congrats to you both, that's a fine first guitar.

I had a few areas that I wasn't happy with on my first that I wanted to address, and I did go back eventually, but you'd do better just jumping into #2 and keep moving. Learn from this one and move on. You're hooked now anyways.

[Hesh1956]

Mark and Jack you guys produced a great guitar!!!!

Isn't it amazing how good a guitar that you build yourself sounds? It makes us wonder what the factories have been passing off on us for ages.....

Congrats guys - very well done!

[Allen]

I'm a bit late, but none the less very impressed. And for me the bindings and rosette really show off the care to detail that you put into this instrument. They look fantastic.

I've stuffed up the alignment on tuners before too. It's not that hard to plug the hole with a hard wood dowel, then re-drill in hopefully the correct spot. It's amazing how even 1 mm off will draw your eye.

Enjoy number 2. And I bet you can't stop there.

[kiwigeo]

Nice work there Mark and Jack.

That back brace just south of the waist looks interesting. It looks very low...almost like a patch rather than a brace. What's going on there??

Cheers Martin

[Taffy Evans]

Great job guys, love the look of the guitar, and like others have said it looks better than my first guitar and if it sounds good its worth the effort. Your skills will grow as will the quality of your guitars, we all learn from our mistakes. Keep on keeping on.

[Mark McLean]

Thanks again for all of the help I have got from the forum. I will go back and move that tuner one day, but mainly I want to get on with the next one. I think my wife has some gardening tasks lined up for the next few weekends though

Martin, the back braces were according to a plan which copies the Martin-style. The top two back braces are tall and thin (13x6mm) and the lower two are short and wide (6x19mm). This seems common on Martins, including a D-18 that I have in front of me now. I don't know if it makes any difference? Probably makes it easier to retrieve dropped picks.

cheers

Mark