Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Finished making a guitar

I made a guitar, started in November 2019 during my retirement and made good progress for a few months before going back to work. Then finally got it finished over the Christmas break.

The back and sides are Camphor Laurel, the front Cedar and the neck New Guinea Rosewood. I am really happy with how it turned out and it plays and sounds great. The fret dots are star signs - Libra near the nut, Scorpio in the Middle and Capricorn close to the sound hole. I am Libra, my son Scorpio and wife Capricorn. I don't really looks at the fret dots when playing so thought might as well do something different.

Wow, your self made guitar really looks fantastic. I wish I had your patient and skills. Congratulations, Chris. If you like give us a short sound file or a you tube video playing this very professionally looking instrument. The wood is a top selection, the back, sides and top are very beautiful. Did you install a truss rod, or did you manage to adjust the neck to your string gauge without this tool? What kind of varnish did you use?

Lovely job Chris, the binding is particularly nice, Does it smell of Camphor?

Very nice indeed !! Looks extremely well made. Do you have any in progress shots?
I made an electric guitar but couldn't tackle anything like an acoustic.

There is a guy who lives near me who is a luthier and make very nice guitars. I went to his house and paid for lessons and to use the equipment. I am sure it would not have worked out so well without him. I had made an electric guitar before on my own but this was a lot harder.

The guitar has a 2 way truss rod bought from StewMac. The price difference is not that much so I might as well have the 2 way one, however it didn't really need any adjustment.

I French polished the guitar which took for ever. The Luthier that lives near me also French polishes furniture and gave me a lot of advice. The guitar has a bolt on neck so all the polishing was done with the neck off which made it easier, I also had a patch of tape over where the Bride is glued on and the Bridge was glued on after the French polishing.

While making the guitar the camphor smell was very strong which I really liked, I can smell it a bit when putting my nose to the sound hole but it is not that obvious.

Yes I really should make a video of me playing the guitar.

That looks a classy piece of work, well done. Even better that you're happy with the sound as well.
A video to hear it would be great.

My son plays and wanted me to make an electric, I said we'd make one each alongside each other, bought plans and shaped the bodies but that's as far as his interest went. Both are in a cupboard somewhere, at least the wood will be well seasoned if we do ever finish them.

Beautiful, a lovely shape, complimented by the Abalone. I just noticed the very classy sound hole treatment, that is really well designed

Wow, that looks stunning and I love the star sign idea, it looks great. Well done.

Does it sound as impressive as it looks ?

Great craftsmanship there .

Lovely guitar and great work .... I'm also looking forward to hearing it

I used to play a lot and still have a couple of accoustics lying about the house ... sadly I managed to damage the same finger twice in quick succession so it gets sore to play for any length of time ..... practice and skill levels have dropped drastically as a result ... still have the odd tune or two, but miss playing properly.

That really is a beautiful thing ..... seems unlikely you just built that out of the blue, so is it joining a personal guitar collection?

K