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See some of my work in progress from my Facebook feed.
Here is my latest Nautilus. This is the finish “off the gun”- in other words,
yet to be wet sanded and buffed to a super high gloss. This is made of rare-bear quartersawn Brazilian and a lovely set of Adirondack spruce. My client daringly and boldly requested red purfling, and I couldn’t be happier with the color and look. Subtle, yet potent. I love it!
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Today I will cut my neck joint and set the neck on this BRW and Adirondack Nautilus. It’s got epoxy pore filler on it now, and you can really see the beautiful grain of the wood.
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Building the Comma soundhole. There is no CNC in my shop, so each one I make, from deathly-scary-vulnerable spruce point, to carving the bevel, is unique and slightly different.
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Here is the guitar I have built for the 2025 LaConner guitar festival next weekend. I literally strung this up about an hour before I recorded, and it already sounds huge. I’ll be proud to have this on my table!
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This Nautilus is headed to my friends and Miki Gakki, one of Japan’s premier guitar dealers. It’s an honor to be represented by them, and exciting to be making inroads into the vibrant Japanese guitar scene. I hope this Adirondack and quartersawn Cocobolo powerhouse represents my work well. I’m very proud of it, anyway!
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A rare thing here: a used Arum in Lutz spruce and Madagascar rosewood, in absolutely immaculate condition. This instrument is available right now, or at the LaConner guitar festival 5/16-18/2025.
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Hot off the presses is this Nautilus for Miki Gakki in Japan. The woods are Adirondack over quartersawn Cocobolo, bound in ebony and red pressure dyed poplar purflings. This instrument is so powerful and easy to play. I’m a happy man.
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Diogo Novaes playing his beautiful composition To Have You in My Care and Behold You My Wake. I'm honored to hear one of my guitars being so well played.
He has many more videos on his YouTube channel. I recommend you check it out. www.youtube.com/@diogoandguitar
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A beautifully quartersawn cocobolo and Adirondack Nautilus for my friends at Miki Gakki in Japan. It’s shown here in a couple of coats of epoxy pore filler- I expect it will really shine under lacquer.
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Bill’s koa and Adirondack spruce Nautilus.
www.wilbornguitars.com
#Luthier #acousticguitar #boutiqueguitars
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Back to building…. Here’s the semi-built stage of an Arum. All my braces are oversized and ready to be trimmed down, and around, and over the reinforcement for the soundhole and the laminated maple bridge plate. Once that’s done, trimmed and smoothed, it will get glued in place on this cocobolo rim assembly. I haven’t built an Arum for awhile. This is good fun.
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I met my friend Tom Bowersox nearly ten years ago at the Woodstock show in NY. He’s been a great friend, client, and design patron to me, and I’m honored to have always been included in the lineup at his “Bowersox International Guitarapalooza” in New Braunfels TX for the last five years. I’ve done a lot of shows, and this one is very special. It’s a bit of an amazing piece of social diplomacy, in which Tom and his wife Kathy throw open the doors of their house to a large number of guests, people from all across the country, people of all manner of beliefs and political leanings, and create an environment where civility, decency and a love of the world of luthiery bring this diverse group into, for at least one weekend, a kind of miraculous harmony. There I hobnob and play music with many who may very well be diametrically opposed to my beliefs- but that is not an issue, because here, briefly, we are all in agreement about one lovely thing, and leave the rest at the door. This delicious interlude, a break from the ceaseless classification of enemies, reveling in misdeeds and outrageousness, is due to the work, generosity and equanimity of Tom and Kathy Bowersox. Where all of us may stand politically and religiously are irrelevant because, when all that frantic, ugly, tribal bullshit is stowed away, you can see the fundamental decency in almost anyone. Without common ground upon which to meet and perhaps cool the ferocity of our own biases, we humans haven’t the slightest chance of ever reconciling with one another. That’s why BIG is close to my heart, and why I wanted to write this in testament to my dear friend, who is currently being very unfairly depicted in another FB post.
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Koa and Adirondack Wilborn Nautilus, with ebony binding and delicious green purfling lines.
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I’ve begun work on this very special Arum for the B.I.G. Show in New Braunfels TX this September. I’ve been saving this incredible cocobolo set for, I don’t know…something SPECIAL! This is peak cocobolo in my opinion, and I’ll be matching it with an equally fine Adirondack top, as well as my crush-of-the-week green purfling.
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