Once the two outside strings have been located, the remaining four strings are located laterally and notched. Spacing between strings must be uniform. After all six strings are positioned properly, their depth is set, saddle height is adjusted and all facets of the setup are given final check and any required adjustments are made.
Here we go! This is like being in the delivery room at the hospital and hearing your child for the first time. If we’ve really done our work well we should know exactly what she’ll sound like with that first note.
It’s a Froggy!
Later today we’ll take her to our friend Herve Pelletier for her first formal photo shoot and then Tucker Barrett will install her pickup. After all those who have had a hand in her creation have had a chance to try her out we’ll be ready to take her to L.A.C.E. on Sunday.
Everyone who has seen or played this guitar has just been blown away by her voice and her beauty. We’ll have a complete set of pictures for our next blog segment in a few days and another segment to follow from the festivities at L.A.C.E. on Sunday.
Raffle tickets are still available. If all are sold by Monday night, the drawing will go on as planned at the Jackson Browne concert. Any remaining tickets will be available that evening.
The body and neck of our SJ prototype have been completed. It’s time for finishing! Larry is applying lacquer topcoats to the body. There will be several rounds of spraying, with sanding between coats, followed by a period of curing, final sanding then buffing.
When we decided to create a new model and offer the prototype guitar to L.A.C.E. in Barre, VT for a
raffle, we also thought it would be fun to document the building of the guitar in a blog for the website. We hope you enjoy watching this exciting process unfold.
Andy smiling at the fret press, installing the frets in the fingerboard. The fret ends will be trimmed and beveled, but not given their final dressing until the last stages of set-up.
All necks are rough carved on the CNC router. Final carving and shaping is done by Michael with rasps, files and sandpaper, to order for each guitar. A few thousandths of an inch can make a significant difference in feel and playability.
The heel is carved first, then the headstock transition area, and finally the running length of the neck.
The binding channel on the headstock was routed and the trim of cellulose lines glued in and allowed to dry. Eric is removing the tape which holds this trim in place.
