Couple of L1's

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John Steele
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Couple of L1's

Post by John Steele » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:34 pm

Greetings from California!
I have been watching the site for a few weeks and after seeing all the interest in Ukes and small bodied guitars I thought I would post my latest two. Based on a 1926 L1, both have Mahogany back, sides & neck. One has a Mahogany top, while the other has a redwood top. 24.5" scale, 12 fret @ body. All Mahogany weighs in at 1500 grams total, the other 1360 grams. My first attempt at small bodied instruments. Lil' buggers really bounce when played! Already started #3 LOL. Great site, you all are a hoot!
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Nick
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Re: Couple of L1's

Post by Nick » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:53 pm

John Steele wrote:Lil' buggers really bounce when played!
:shock: Pete Townsend plays your guitars? :lol: :lol:

Firstly Welcome to the forum John, hope you have a sense of humour!
Your guitars are indeed little beauties, I particularly like your headstock design, small with a nice taper outwards which reminds me alot of Lutes e.t.c. Your pictures aren't close ups but your work looks well executed from what I can see. Nice job :cl :cl
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sebastiaan56
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Post by sebastiaan56 » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:19 pm

Welcome John,

Sweet looking instruments mate, can you get any more close up photos? Love them pickguards.
make mine fifths........
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Post by Allen » Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:07 pm

Welcome to the forum John.

I absolutely adore little guitars. But these are just teaser shots. You've got us interested, now common. Some close ups of the details. They look too good to not get the attention they deserve.
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Post by kiwigeo » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:42 pm

Welcome to the forum John. Nice work on those guitars....unique looking instruments.
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John Steele
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Post by John Steele » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:56 pm

Thanks all. I will try and post a few more pics. Just be 'gentle'... :wink:
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Mark McLean
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Post by Mark McLean » Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:09 am

There is lots of appeal in those guitars John. Welcome to the forum. Can't wait for some more detailed photos.

Where did you get your L1 plans from?
cheers, Mark
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Bob Connor
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Post by Bob Connor » Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:37 am

Nice work John. You've really captured the vintage essence in those guitars.
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PHANTOM
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Post by PHANTOM » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:25 am

Vintage is the word I was after I think they look gret well done mate.
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Post by Hesh1956 » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:28 pm

Welcome to the ANZLF John!

Your guitars look fantastic and they are pretty light weight too. I am a big fan of light weight guitars so yours caught my eye. I am also a big Gibson fan so this thread caught both of my eyes.... :D

Outstanding work John and great to have you here! :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl :cl
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John Steele
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Post by John Steele » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:29 pm

Thank you for the kind comments;
A few more pics as requested. Sorry about the poor photogragphy skills. (Chicken courtesy "Emma" from across the street).Someone asked where my plans were from. Drew them up myself. Found the best straight-away picture of an L1 I could find and blew it up to match known dimensions (scale length) Then just went into my CAD program and did the rest. As the pics will show, the binding job could have turned out better.... :oops:
While both have identical woods except for top wood, they each very different characters. Can't decide which I like more. The All Mahogany gets played more, tho... :wink:
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Post by Allen » Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:07 am

You gotta be very happy with the both of those. Really nice work. I so like the simple, vintage look to both these instruments.

If you get a chance, a shot of the headstock please.
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Post by Mark McLean » Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:54 am

You have put together a great package there John. I want to build one of those! They have a great classic Gibson vibe. Tell us a bit more about the finish, bracing, neck joint?
Mark
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John Steele
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Post by John Steele » Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:27 am

Mark;
Neck joint was typical dovetail. I've tried all the alternates (even straight epoxy to body via David Young's book of many moons ago) and keep staying with dovetail. Its a pain but I've gotten pretty decent at it. The finish is french polish which was my first attempt. I am pretty much sold on it right now because of it simplicity and I really like what it does to the wood. The bracing; well I looked high and low on that when I was drawing this up. Seems Gibson had about three (that I found) styles of bracing for the early L1's, Everything from simple ladder braced to 1/2 ladder+ 1/2 X brace to something similar to what you might find in an arch top. All seemed to have a slight arch somewhere in the 25' radius range. Mine has somewhat of a basterdization of the three. My wife called it "Arglyian" because it reminded her of Argyle socks! Body depth on mine is a little deeper than a standard L1 from what I found. Mine is 3.75" at the neck to 4.375" at the tail. Actual scale length is 24.5625" (24 9/16")
I'm hoping Robert Johnson would approve.
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Stephen Kinnaird
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Post by Stephen Kinnaird » Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:06 pm

John, very nice work.
I also like your guitar stand in the first pics.
I gotta get one of those.

Steve
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