MLP/Bartlett Retrospec Giveaway!

[Sct13]

Well, I just read this thread and the MLP Bartlett les paul build thread in there entirety and am blown away by Tom's craftsmanship. Of course I've heard of Tom's amazing work but you have to see it to understand what people are talking about! What a gesture this is too. I mean.... Wow! I bought some tickets and might buy some more! Hey, I can dream can't I.... lol I am already envisioning my self playing this guitar. A little premature I know!

I am currently building a few koa acoustic guitars with a luthier friend of mine in Vermont and between all of the things he's taught me about building guitars these last 4 months and these two threads, I'm starting to understand how much goes into these instruments and my respect for builders like Tom only grows!

Good luck all! The purple name tag, pictures and knowledge are enough (but I still wouldn't mind owning the guitar!)

Thanks for everything Tom!

Alex B

Yes Thank you for sharing such a wonderful "Craft" truly a master and very generous. thank you. I missed this thread but now I am caught up!

Oh Burst it BTW and nice brown/red burst, with a warm amber undercoat.

Amazing work

 

[gtr-tek]

As far as pickups go, any of the ones you mentioned sound like good possibilities to me. I would defer to your judgement as you know the wood you are working with and what would compliment it. Keeping a vintage mindset is the key here.

Great thread! Keep up the good work!

 

[decoy205]

Hey Gary, you bet! Your guitar is all ready to go home with you. Here is the guitar i made after taking all the measurements from yours. I matched the paint work, and it came out perfect. could not have done it without your beautiful original '59 to use as reference.

That is great Tom!

 

[Mookakian]

Do you do blue burst by chance...that'd be alright

 

[Matty]

Do you do blue burst by chance...that'd be alright

 

[Udonitron]

Do you do blue burst by chance...that'd be alright

Oh loneliness & cheeseburgers....NOOOOO!

 

[Mookakian]

^Ha, I knew that'd slam someones wall fast

Id love a blue burst with chrome finish white binding and cable...my 1st acoustic was blue burst and sexy as hell, I thought maybe one slipped through the rack in this shop and wondered how it'd look

 

[alk-3]

Not so sure about the blue burst!
Update tomorrow guys, I've been super busy and away from the shop. Lots going on!

 

[Sct13]

no blue burst for my taste....but a Pelham blue with bright Nickle hardware......that would be nice.

 

[Mookakian]

Hey I am not saying to make this a blue burst, I know that'd never fly round these parts, this is a place for stubborn relics not fresh revolution (just being cheeky)

I wanted to see it done by a pro and thought you may have a nice pic, I have only seen 2 in real life

 

[alk-3]

Hey everyone! So I finally got settle back into a routine here, and so I have a new update

So after the headstock transition is complete, I need to add the taper, and do a final thickness of the headstock. I use the table saw again, and set it to take the headstock down to almost final dimension.

This is just basically a guide to show me how much material needs to be removed.

Now I sand it down on the big belt sander with a high grit paper

And then finesse everything by hand to finish it off.

Now I can finally glue around the headstock with black dye added to the glue.

I need to spend a little time on the truss rod cavity also.
You can see here there is a small hump in the holly edge in the cutout. The holly cut out also has rounded over corners where they should be sharp, so I need to clean that up.
This of course affects nothing except the overall aesthetics, and that is important.

Here you can see I have cleaned up the two corners to make they nice and sharp.

And here you can see I have smoothed out the one side so its nice and even.

Now with that out of the way, I'm about ready to finally glue the fretboard on.

[/IMG]

I start by laying the fretboard in place, and making sure everything is lining up just right.

The next few steps are very tricky. Its not easy to line everything up and glue it with hot hide glue and also take pictures, so I was unable to do so.

That’s it for today, but we are rolling along here..

 

[alk-3]

Hey I am not saying to make this a blue burst, I know that'd never fly round these parts, this is a place for stubborn relics not fresh revolution

Just wanted to see it done by a pro and thought you may have a nice pic, I have only seen 2 in real life

Sorry, I've never actually done a blue burst to see how it would look on this guitar.

 

[ExNihilo]

This looks wonderful Tom. Excellent, excellent work. You're the best.

 

[Mookakian]

Sorry, I've never actually done a blue burst to see how it would look on this guitar.

Very understandable That Burst relic you do is stunning

 

[Tangerine]

Looking great so far, that is some fine craftsmanship.

 

[12watt]

I love build posts, it's even more enjoyable when you might get the chance to play it as well. Lovely work so far.

 

[7gtop]

well done Tom

** I love your "new" M-69z , beautiful indeed

 

[Torren61]

I vote for burst finish. No aging or relicing. I'll take care of that.

 

[HeartString]

Hey Tom, Great couple of updates there! Thanks! I gotta know, since you make guitars, do you have a pic of one of the guitars you made for yourself that's a Fav?

Thanks!

 

[amused]

Tom, as summer is starting soon, I am planning my holidays, buy plane tickets and was wondering when I would receive this fantastic gift ahahhaha

The neck looks very good, I think it is good not to make it a baseball bat because it would be a pain to get a fabulous guitar on which someone couldn't be comfortable with playing...

BTW, The amber burst you finished a few days ago looks awesome