Finished! A Guitar Bouzouki - yes, quite!

Rocker

Super build Andy.  Always a pleasure to read your 'build' posts.

PeteC

Another super build and a pleasure to follow and learn from.   

Andyjr1515

You're all very kind, folks. 

It's always very much appreciated and means a lot

TTony

Apologies Andy - I really wasn't around during the build of this one, so didn't get to comment during the process.

But I've just spent a very enjoyable half hour catching up on this thread and marvelling - once more - at your skills.

Obviously, the highlight (for me) was the re-appearance of the B&D workmate.  When I see that appear during a guitar build, I know we're getting a great build.

A close second to that highlight was the detailed illustrations and explanation of your fretting and fretboard binding process.  The result is stunning, really top quality, and thank you for showing how you achieve it.    I'll only ever admire (rather than attempt to emulate!) the approach.

And then all the subtle details.  The inlay on the bottom of the neck heel - genius.    The rosette is another  work of art.  Indeed, the whole instrument is a work of art.  It doesn't sound half-bad either.

I've said before, I'll say again.  You are a talented craftsman.

Andyjr1515

TTony said:

I've said before, I'll say again.  You are a talented craftsman.

And you, @TTony , are very kind   



It's all finished and ready to go.  Brace yourselves, all, for the inevitable gratuitous arty f**ty shots

Andyjr1515

Well - all finished and P picks it up on Sunday.  Normal nail-biting time as any builder will tell you, but I think he will be happy with it.

Here we go and thanks once more for the encouragement and kind words along the way






 

roberty

It's beautiful mate. Seriously impressive work

TTony

Andyjr1515 said:

but I think he will be happy with it.

If he's not ...

1.  He's mad
2.  I think it would find a very welcoming home in Norfolk

DartmoorHedgehog

TTony said:

Andyjr1515 said:

but I think he will be happy with it.

If he's not ...

1.  He's mad
2.  I think it would find a very welcoming home in Norfolk

If he's anything like most of my customers he'll turn up now it's finished and say "no, what I wanted is a guitar AND a bouzouki"

Seriously though, it looks superb @Andyjr1515 ;

Andyjr1515

And so, as a post-script.

P and his delightful wife arrived last weekend to pick up the Guitar Bouzouki.  And I think he would be happy in me saying he loves it        For me,  that is a great pleasure and relief in equal measure!

P was able to bring his standard Irish Bouzouki for me to have a look at and listen to and that was fascinating.  We both agreed that the Guitar Bouzouki has a much richer sound (which would be hoped and expected) and a strummed chord just goes on, beating sub-harmonics all the way, for a long, long time. 

The neck  between the two instruments was quite different, part designed and fully expected and part more of a surprise.  P had requested it to be wider and shallower than his original which will always change the curves and feel, but the thing I noticed straightaway was that the 'V' on the original felt distinctly V shaped to the hand further up the fretboard than my build.  It doesn't really show on the profile drawings but it does give it a different feel further up the board.  Not necessarily a bad feel, but certainly a different feel.  Changing that, if P's conclusion was that he wanted that tweaking, is actually a very easy fix and the sort of thing that can be done on a 'while you wait' basis.  And there's a crazy coincidence (that I won't go into detail on) that might mean that finding a convenient time to do that would not be too much of problem.

But, that said, even at first play, this is P showing how a Guitar Bouzouki should be played.  Glorious!  And particularly glorious through headphones

https://soundcloud.com/andy-rogers-6/ajr-guitar-bouzouki/s-nljO8ZK0Y9J

PeteC

Really nice Andy - that's a super sound from a super instrument. Congrats on another fine build and happy customer. 

Andyjr1515

PeteC said:

Really nice Andy - that's a super sound from a super instrument. Congrats on another fine build and happy customer. 

Thanks, Pete!
Andy

TTony

Andyjr1515 said:

And particularly glorious through headphones

Particularly.  Glorious.

I guess that's really the final test.  It may look like a beautiful instrument (OK, it *does* look like a beautiful instrument!).  It may have been put together with craftsman care (OK, it *was* put together, etc!!), and that craftsman may have used some great timbers ....

.... but if it doesn't do the job of sounding great - glorious - then all that effort is for nought.

Particularly, glorious.



Though I am a little disappointed that the customer also loved it, because I'd made space for it here.

Andyjr1515

TTony said:

Andyjr1515 said:

And particularly glorious through headphones

Particularly.  Glorious.

I guess that's really the final test.  It may look like a beautiful instrument (OK, it *does* look like a beautiful instrument!).  It may have been put together with craftsman care (OK, it *was* put together, etc!!), and that craftsman may have used some great timbers ....

.... but if it doesn't do the job of sounding great - glorious - then all that effort is for nought.

Particularly, glorious.



Though I am a little disappointed that the customer also loved it, because I'd made space for it here.

Well, @TTony ... for a mere king's ransom  

TTony

What about a pauper prince's pennies @Andyjr1515 ???

Seriously, there's no way that I would do justice to something like this.  Your builds should be played by people who can really play them, and make them sound as good as they look!

Andyjr1515

TTony said:

What about a pauper prince's pennies @Andyjr1515 ???

Seriously, there's no way that I would do justice to something like this.  Your builds should be played by people who can really play them, and make them sound as good as they look!

Thanks for the kind words @TTony ;