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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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I bet this set of coco would also look really snazzy with brown rosewood/coco binding (like the guitar in your FB wallpaper photo) and golden/amber colored micro purfling lines, especially if it were paired with a warmer-colored sitka top.
Looking great! The green goes amazingly well with that Coco.
Ben, are the green purflings dyed pear?
Here’s how I shape the curve of the heel and tail blocks. I made a little subtable with a projecting lip which mounts on a disk sander. Then I made several jigs that securely hold the blocks, and a series of different shaped cauls to match the curvature of the inside of my various model’s sides. These cauls screw onto the bottom of the sanding jig, and ride against the projecting lip of the subtable, thereby imparting the curve onto the block. A funny thing is that I’ve made hundreds of these at this point and I’ve never had to change the 80 grit disc! I just go slowly, and it seems that mahogany will never wear it out.
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I'm at this stage in my build. Can I drop by with my heal and tail blocks? Looks a lot faster than double sticky taping sandpaper to the inside of the mold and doing it that way.
As a non-luthier guitar guy, I am blown away by what you know and I don't. As I scratch my head trying to understand this, I've decided it's one more thing in life I don't comprehend but appreciate its contribution to the final product. I've often thought it would be cool to watch you through a complete build process, but I would ask so many questions it would take you a year to complete that guitar! Impressive work, Ben, even though I have no idea what's going on.
Nice tooling, in my stint making solid body instruments for Phil Kubicki I ended up making a lot of the tooling which I found more rewarding than making the instruments.
Next up, a cocobolo and Adirondack Nautilus for my friends at Miki Gakki in Japan. This is some pretty rare, perfectly straight and quartered coco.
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Wow. what did you put on that Cocobolo? It's stunning.
Awesome! Can I ask where you get your colored purfling/binding from?
I don't think I have ever seen Cocobolo that straight. Love the dark strips in the center. That is going to be a very nice color palate. Looks like all the pieces are there, glue that up and be done with it, 2-3 days if you work at it.
One last photo before this baby goes into the spray booth.
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That’s a weird looking dovetail. 😜
Looks great! Hope you show the finished product.
Wow. Koa?
With the completion of each phase of the building, one gets a chance to sit back and admire what had been done. Little milestone rewards for a luthier. This koa and Adirondack Nautilus is complete except for the frets and finish, but I can see that it is going to be lovely. Honestly, the trees get a major share of the credit.
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You’re killing me with koa! I started my career at the Kamaka ukulele factory and went on to have my own shop, mostly repairing but some building. But my love for koa has never diminished. Your work is exquisite and beautiful!
That looks great! One thing I never get is why have all this beautiful wood on the sides and back, but the front is spruce. I get that it has better resonance, but I just want someone to go all out with only beautiful wood. There has to be a way to get great sound out of other woods.
Stunning.
Fake swag! My friend ordered a shirt and mug from one of those parasitic profiles that attaches itself to the real profile of a small business- and actually received a real shirt and mug.
I guess it’s worth somebody’s time to one-off such paltry merchandise. If you are wondering how to discern the false from the real thing, a good indication is the eagle wings; I will never employ anything eagle-related in my designs. Nor the tagline “The Best Ever”. Sheesh.
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it is embarrassingly ugly for sure
What do you have against eagle wings?
That’s WILD I assumed it was always just about stealing money/info, not actually shipping items?!
A tune from our soon to be released 4th album! www.frogandtoadmusic.com
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I'm a builder.( Luthier)on guitar #25. I strive to build instruments like yours. Stellar music makers!
Wilborn Guitars: What a great piece of music and played so well, with nice dynamics and beautiful interplay!! Wow!! Thanks for sharing!! (The guitars sounded spectacular, too!!).
Looking forward to the new tunes!
European maple, Carpathian spruce, ebony bound 3 ingredient Nautilus.
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Just amazing, of course... every build is simply a beautiful build... this one is no exception... that's one thing I've noticed, Ben, is the absolute consistency with which you create these little masterpieces... and the wonderful sound emanating from these instruments... such richness of tone, such clarity and sustain, such elegance in form... (except for these few words, we are, once again, left speechless...)
I listened to your playing again this afternoon on real speakers, as opposed to the speaker on my phone. Lord have mercy, but that guitar sings; wondrous. You have excelled yourself, yet again.
Beautiful guitar, I love it, do you ever put electronics in your guitars?
Here is a bridge ready to be glued to the top. I shoot my lacquer with a thin mask of frisket tape covering the bridge area. This tape is cut 1/32” smaller all around than the footprint of the bridge. To compensate for the thickness of the finish (~.005”), I cut a very delicate rabbet around the perimeter of the bridge. It is my goal that the fit between these two surfaces should be as exact as possible. The second photo shows the bridge lying dry-fit on the top. There are no gaps, and that means that there is no forcing of this fit with clamps, and no weird extraneous tensions are incorporated into the top. I want the only tension in the whole guitar to come from the strings.
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Gorgeous top. Adirondack I'm guessing. Is this for a multi scale set up?
I’m enjoying your educational tutorials on how you craft these beauties! Truly a master at work!
I'd still clamp it when I glue that bridge in
To coat, or not to coat? The outside of a guitar is finished, but traditionally the inside is not. On the one hand, finishing the interior adds weight, is time consuming, and makes future repairs like cleating more difficult. On the other hand interior finishing makes the wood less subject to uneven humidity-change reactions, looks lovely and keeps porous woods from wicking exterior finish through the pores to the inside. I let the latter be my guide, and only finish the inside if it is likely to become blotchy from bleed-through. Since my design allows you to see right in, I don’t want it to be unsightly. Very vain, I’m sure, but I want it to look nice in there. I use Rubio monocoat these days, which can be applied so thinly that the added weight is negligible, and as far as future repairs go, well, that can be addressed in the future.
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Rubio for the win. As always, spectacular work my friend.
That is THE most beautiful slab of koa I’ve seen!
Ben! There is nothing vain about making something as beautiful and perfect as it can be! It's the pleasure we receive in a job well done!
Green!
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Ooo reconstituted turquoise??
That green really complements the (is it mahogany?); it’s impressive to me when someone finds a color that compliments the build when it isn’t an undertone in the other components of the build.
Beautiful!! Curious, have you ever had a client request a guitar made from myrtle wood? How do you feel about it as a tone wood?
I’m making a couple guitars bound in green and ebony. These are the little pre-bent, pre-laminated parts I make to bind the fingerboard and headstock.
I also make the purfling and bindings for the body.
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Wait. Green ebony?
I've used green and black before and it looks sharp. Good work!
I can’t wait to see the finished results! That’s going to be beautiful!
A complete rim assembly for the current Nautilus. This is the skeleton of the guitar, and, ideally, I’ve configured it so that large portions of the torque from the neck is dissipated into this structure, rather than into the top of the instrument. This is a koa model, and the laminated sides are composed of three parts: the beautiful curly koa exterior, a maple core at 90 degrees to the face, and a humble unfigured ply of koa on the inside. This sandwich is by no means indestructible, but it’s worlds stronger than a traditional single ply side.
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Ben, do you resaw the veneers for the sides yourself or purchase them in a veneer thickness from somewhere?
Is the hard maple inner layer quarter sawn with the grain perpendicular to the grain of the outside and inside layers? Sounds like it. Where do you find maple long enough with the grain going this way for a side?
Nice. I laminate my sides too, but I only use two layers. I also make solid (laminated) linings. I find that using solid linings makes a huge difference in stiffness.
Gluing the blocks into a Nautilus body. Many clamps, but strategically placed. I use the inside of the body to make a go-bar press to glue in the difficult triangular block in the cutaway point.
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Are they double or triple laminated sides?
I’d like to see inside the mind of yours. ❤️
such a beautiful shape to that instrument!
Clean as a bean! About halfway through the lacquering process on this European maple and Carpathian spruce Nautilus. I actually have to go over the whole critter with a jeweler’s loupe to make sure there is no ebony imbedded in the pores, but the results are worth it. This one will meet the dress code.
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Is that clear packaging tape you use over the area for the bridge, and if so do you place the bridge on top of it and trace it with a razor?
I mean, it’s ok, I guess. (I’m just trying to keep you grounded after all the accolades this post earned you. The piece is absolutely gorgeous.) ♥️
OMG. Always been jealous of your tone,build quality,desgin n clean work. 😁😁😁. Sir really love your work
Life is too short for dinking around measuring frets. I made this adjustable jig so that I could adapt to various fretboard widths, and cut the frets to just the right length where my fret nippers cut the tang just inside the binding. Note that the holes have to be spaced using the same math that is used to determine fret spacing. It is close enough to use for various scale lengths as well. Today I’m using it for approximately the 225th time. It works!
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How does this work with a multi scale fretboard?
Oh my gosh this is brilliant!! Thanks for sharing!! Super grateful to see this simple and brilliant jig
That’s the sharpest idea I have seen in a long time.