Headstock pic

New Headstock design with a wash coat of finish. Thai rosewood on a Spanish cedar neck. Sloane tuners

Port Orfrd Cedar back and sides blanca with Red Cedar top Under construction now

ETA late August- I'll post more in progress shot when the back is glued on later this week.

A new rosette

A new moth pattern rosette. Moth pattern tile with green lines and red bars. This one will look nice under a finish.

Back to the blog

I've taken a break from blogging for about two months now. It was due to too much to do and a some back pain issues with typing at the computer. I decided to save my back for guitar work and the last two months have been under the excellent care of Eric Smith, a guitar playing chiropractor in El Cerrito CA.

I will be posting more blog entries now, perhaps two a week. Stay tuned.

Friday Afternoon with Igor

I was washing my clothes to day at the laundromat on Piedmont Ave. in Oakland California. I loaded my clothes in the cylinder, added the detergent and two dollars in coins. The coins fell into the slot and made a sound like a xylophone. Coin operated washing machines are really musical if you listen to them carefully.
After I listened to my round metal disks drop into the gears and guts of the washing machine making sounds like a few triangle strikes in an orchestra, I waited for the flood of water into the perforated metal barrel that my clothes were lumped into.

I walked up the avenue to pass time while my clothes spun in the water. I looked into the window of the nail salon five doors up from the laundry. It was kind of dark in there with a row of big cushy chairs in which women were sitting. At the foot of each chair was a big black rectangular basin of water. The women were soaking their bare feet the water, some with pants rolled up to mid calf. I did not want to stare so I decided to move on, but before I did I saw one man in the middle of two corpulent women. He was diminutive in stature, hunched forward with an intensity to his gaze that did not seem to fit in the indolent calm of the nail salon. He grasped at a magazine, and held in his mouth a cigarette holder in which was stuck a long unlighted white cigarette. He leaned back in his chair, but his gazed never relaxed, it was then that I was struck by how much he looked like Igor Stravinsky.

Two in progress- Uke and Guitar

In progress images of two instruments which will be done soon.

On the left a Concert Uke with Birds Eye Maple body and Port Orford Cedar top. the headstock veneers are made of slices of Ebony laminated together to create stripes from dark and light colored variations in the Ebony. Sometimes Ebony has light colored sap wood that can create dramatic stripes in the wood. I like to utilize the dark on light wood for detail work on instruments.

On the right is the back of a flamenco guitar made of Malaysian Blackwood. it also has naturally occurring light on dark striping.

Seven string Classical / Brazilian jazz guitar

A new 7 string classical and a link to a sound sample .

This guitar features a Western Red Cedar top with Indian Rosewood back and sides. It is designed with seven strings tuned BEADgbe.