 The first guitar that I
built was an OM Model. I was
inspired to build this
guitar by my wife. I have
worked with wood for over 30
years, building picture
frames and doing fine detail
work. Because of my
background and love for
woodworking, Marie convinced
me I could build a guitar.
Although I was apprehensive,
I found out that I really
could do it. The #1 Guitar
was built out of beeswing
mahogany, which has a
reddish color with brown
tones. The top was AAA Sitka
spruce, and the neck was
mahogany. The sides were
bent by hand, and the neck
was carved by hand. I did
all of the inlay work for
the head stock and around
the body, using real abalone
shell. The sound hole had a
koa rosette and with an
abalone trim on the outside
of the koa. All of the
bracing was handed carved to
create maximum tone. The
finish was water base
lacquer, hand polished to a
high gloss. This guitar
turned out to have a great
tone, which inspired me to
build others. To
view additional images of
this guitar,
click here...
 The second guitar was also an OM
model. It was made of Indian
rosewood on the back and sides.
The hand carved neck was made of
mahogany with an ebony fret
board. The top was made of
50-year old Sitka spruce wood,
given to me by a friend and
former guitar builder located in
the North Carolina mountains.
All braces were hand carved,
using the x-bracing method. I
used sycamore binding, with a
herringbone purfling around the
top edge of the Guitar. The
sound hole had a maple burl wood
rosette. The head plate was
ebony and the name “Caston” was
inlaid with abalone shell. The
neck was hand rubbed with Tung
oil and Varathane to a satin
finish. The body was sprayed
with lacquer and polished to a
high gloss. To view
additional images of this
guitar,
click here...
 The third guitar is a
Dreadnought model. The back
and sides are Australian
Blackwood (black acacia).
This wood is a member of the
koa family. The top is AAA
Sitka spruce and the neck is
mahogany. The bindings were
made of ebony, with abalone
trim. The sound hole has
burl and abalone shell
around it as well. All
braces were hand carved. The
neck was also hand carved
and hand finished with Tung
oil and Varathane. The body
was finished with lacquer
and hand polished to a high
gloss. To view
additional images of this
guitar,
click here...
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