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Bobby, are you gonna darken the color of the binding on those or leave it sparklingly white?

Yeah, that natural is a beauty. How much does the spraying and lacquering change the tone do you think? I love matte finished guitars, but I'm curious what the glossier finishing does to the sound. Thanks so much for posting all of this Bobby. So cool.

Yes I will be keeping the binding white. Over time the lacquer will slowly yellow and look aged.
I find it interesting how, for example, martin will spray an amber toner on their guitars...buuuuut what will that look like down the road?! It will be a strange super dark color. I want these to age like the old ones so they need to start the same way.
Regarding tone, it isn't whether the finish is glossy or not because you just add a flatting paste to lacquer to dull the sheen and that makes is satin.
Finish thickness can affect tone. Roger Siminoff has done some studies on that subject but I just don't know that I worry so much about it. I spray enough lacquer to get a nice build and to allow good leveling.
A lot of import guitars are sprayed with a polyester or polyurethane which can be sprayed as heavy as you want.
Couple that with poor materials and construction and you get terrible sounding instruments.
I don't want to make it sound like I have studied every aspect of guitars to the minute detail...I haven't. I have spent decent time collecting vintage instruments (a while back) and worked in a vintage store for 4 years so I have been able to play, study, and repair a LOT of vintage instruments. I have been able to see what works, what doesn't, and what is just empty hype.
I just build guitars the way my gut tells me they should be made and I haven't gone wrong yet! =-)

I still can't get over how amazing that natural one looks.

Aww shucks! Well thank you. For as dramatic a change as you see between white wood and having lacquer on it, you will see another huge change when the bridge and pickguard go on. It amazes me how much a pickguard changes the look!

Nelson Instruments wrote:...I just build guitars the way my gut tells me they should be made and I haven't gone wrong yet! =-)

Sounds like solid policy to me. Thanks for indulging the questions.

Always happy to answer questions!

The beginnings of some combo bass VI instruments and one special order coquette bass


It is always fun to uncover interesting coloring/grain patterns/knots/figure in a rough slab of wood. These aren't anything crazy but then again I prefer the subtle ones.

Just beautiful. To me, that's as attractive as acoustic guitars get.

As I have mentioned, that model is called the FT-75. It is my reproduction/interpretation of the Epiphone FT-75 that was made by the ORIGINAL Epiphone company in New York and was offered from abt 1935-1941.
I found on that I bought a couple years ago but returned it almost immediately because I discovered the neck had been shaved down, the top and back were replaced, it had been refinished, and a few other issues.
What WAS useful was that the sides were original which allowed me to make an accurate set of templates.
Not that there is anything wrong with Martins and Gibsons, but just as it gets so tiring that a million luthiers are making strats and les pauls, it is tiring that all acoustic lutheirs copy martins and gibsons.
I LOVE the aesthetic of the New York era Epiphones and so those designs are what will be filling out my acoustic line...with the execption of the FT20 and FT30 which I borrowed from Guild so I can have a tiny body.

In one other piece of news some of you might have read that I was having trouble thinking of a color scheme for the 4th bass VI.
I have the lavender one, a sunburst, pink with black accents and.....???
Today while at the lumber yard I was inspired by a wood I saw. I coupled this rustic wood with some ideas borrowed from vintage radios and have come up with a wood comination I will call rustic deco.
I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet but I MIGHT have photos of it by the weekend.
Intriqued???

^ Very interesting.

Nelson Instruments wrote: Today while at the lumber yard I was inspired by a wood I saw. I coupled this rustic wood with some ideas borrowed from vintage radios and have come up with a wood comination I will call rustic deco.
I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet but I MIGHT have photos of it by the weekend.
Intriqued???

SO intrigued!!!!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (yeah, you guys) I present to you...... RUSTIC DECO!
Tennessee cedar with wenge in the middle and binding around the edges. I might pull the multi ply binding and just do black so the lines are bolder.



Chambered to reduce weight.

Yeah, Bobby, definitely looks fantastic.

Acoustics moved into the basement to cure.


Headstock angle cut in.


Sometimes the shaper grabs when the grain is wavy and tears out, which requires a fix. So the affected area is cut out, smoothed out, and a new piece is glued on.


Cut out


And trimmed. The glue line won't be visible under paint.


Heating binding to bend around some tight corners


Mmmmmm tortoise shell!


Colors will be (left to right) shaded, natural for rustic deco (which now sports solid black binding), lavender, and pink!

Man, your house looks fun as hell Bobby. That stuff is looking great.