MIMF

New pups are a great idea. The wiring options available with these pups allow a (sort-of) single coil experience in one pup with a full humbucker in the other. Push-pull volume or tone knobs give you access to all this variety.

Low-cost and likely to really provide a payoff.

Greg

Nice guitar, really nice. I would consider it a great success if my guitar sounded like that when I finished it.

That is stunning!

You tease us. More (much more) information, please! Any shots of the interior? That treble-side lower bout is a jaw-dropper. Any information on bracing that (inside shots, narrative, etc.) ?

Just...Wow.

Greg

Thank you. I have not worked with venner on curved surfaces before, nor with multiple layers. I was not expecting an answer with a "5" in it. Do I line up all five layers in the Fox bender? Soak them on the form one at a time? I can't imagine these going on a pipe, due to their thinness. i...

I have gone through trials, tribulations, and more than a few sticks of purpleheart trying to bend a-335 shape. I have built a Fox-style bender (with a blanket, not bulbs), and have used a heating iron. The PH alwaya cracked on the upper horns in the bender, and I could not get the bend tight enough...

Interesting ideas, all. This opens up a new question. Do you crank down the waist first, or the bouts then the waist?

I have bent cherry and purpleheart, but mahogany is kicking back at me. I use a blanket on a Fox-style bender; the sandwich is blue steel strip, paper soaked in water, mahogany, soaked paper, heater, and blue steel strip. The mahogany is quartersawn, grains running perfectly up and down, just like a...

David's question is of interest to me, too. why would you use a Spanish Heel here?

I, too, would love to see what you do with the ukulele genre. Your work is inspiration for many of us, so please keep us informed on what you are doing.

How's Norma Jean, by the way?

Greg

Mark, any interest in either sharing the tone circuit, the "Q" of it, or commercializing it? I envision a little circuit board glued to the end of a pot for retrofits, or pushing forward a clean guitar front view, a la, on a two pup system, volume, blend, and this "Q". Clean line...

That is a beautiful instrument. It is work like this that motivates us day laborers to stay up late, or not go out on Saturday, and stay in our shop to hone our craft. If my first archtop looks like this one, I'll be grinning for a month. Absolutely well-done. Please get a hardshell case for that ge...

Norma Jean?!? That stunning model of intelligence, grace and style that had me slack-jawed when you introduced her to us?!? Sorry, but based on my many years of experience (staring at pictures wishing I could just touch whatever guitar was in the picture), ...your guitar is beyond help. Send her to ...

Buy a dedicated router for the table. I use a Porter Cable 690; it was $100+ (new) well spent. Easy to get the router out; easy to change bits. I've not looked back since doing that.

Greg

That is your first build? I should be so lucky on my fifth or tenth build! Absolutely beautiful in execution!

How was ending the walnut? Did you soak it at all? Or just a spritz before applying heat?

All right; I'll bite. What's a "TS" binding?

Greg

I have access to a lathe and am thinking of turning simple all-wood knobs for the V and T controls on my solid-body. Attachment is the issue. LMII and others have a brass sleeve insert with a tiny, really tiny, set screw. Not sure where to buy those inserts and no way I'm making them. Why can't I us...

This is my first acoustic build. It is my understanding we glue the back seam reinforcement first, before the back lateral braces. We mark where the laterals will go, and chisel out the seam brace at the intersection. It is not notched, but chiseled away (down to the bare back wood). Why? Why not gl...

I will echo the above: beautiful. One question: Did you use the "standard" X-bracing or did you modify the bracing due to the oval hole? If you did modify it, what considerations did you ... (uhm)... consider?

Greg

Two more shots (from my crummy camera...) It sounds great through a Fender! The P-90s are a really balanced pair with the neck being 10% underwound, about 700 less ohms (6.3 neck vs 7K on the bridge). Tone caps are supplied with Fralin sending .022s. I used locking bridge posts for maximum sustain. ...

Here is my most recent finish:

Sapele and purpleheart neck
Zebrawood fingerboard
Mahogany "wings"
Spalted cherry cap
Purpleheart and Zebrawood backstrap
Spalted cherry headstock cap
Gotoh Vintage tuners
Lindy Fralin P-90s set (neck -10% underwound)
StewMac wraparound bridge