Couple of L1's
- John Steele
- Blackwood
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:58 pm
- Location: Wilson, NY. 14172
- Contact:
Couple of L1's
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!
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!
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it"
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
- Nick
- Blackwood
- Posts: 3642
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:20 am
- Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
- Contact:
Re: Couple of L1's
Pete Townsend plays your guitars?John Steele wrote:Lil' buggers really bounce when played!
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
"Jesus Loves You."
Nice to hear in church but not in a Mexican prison.
Nice to hear in church but not in a Mexican prison.
- sebastiaan56
- Blackwood
- Posts: 1279
- Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:23 am
- Location: Blue Mountains
- John Steele
- Blackwood
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:58 pm
- Location: Wilson, NY. 14172
- Contact:
- Mark McLean
- Blackwood
- Posts: 1098
- Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:03 pm
- Location: Sydney
- Bob Connor
- Admin
- Posts: 3132
- Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:43 pm
- Location: Geelong, Australia
- Contact:
- John Steele
- Blackwood
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:58 pm
- Location: Wilson, NY. 14172
- Contact:
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....
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...
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....
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...
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it"
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
- Mark McLean
- Blackwood
- Posts: 1098
- Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:03 pm
- Location: Sydney
- John Steele
- Blackwood
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:58 pm
- Location: Wilson, NY. 14172
- Contact:
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.
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.
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it"
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
- Stephen Kinnaird
- Blackwood
- Posts: 287
- Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 1:45 pm
- Location: Texas, USA
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Google and 175 guests