Midwest Guitar Builders

07/01/2016

Here's an upcoming event that might be of interest to Midwest Guitar Builders! https://www.facebook.com/twincitiesacousticguitarshow/?fref=ts&__mref=message_bubble

An exhibition of hand made stringed instruments. Featuring acoustic guitars, archtop guitars, electr

02/02/2016

Details of our monthly 22-Feb meeting coming soon.... keep your eyes peeled for the FB Event!

12/24/2015

FYI there will be no Midwest Guitar Builders meeting for December, 2015. Meetings will resume in January, 2016 as usual on the fourth Monday. See you then!

10/28/2015

Jesse Revel came to talk about his custom pickups, but also shared his custom guitar and amp... plus is striking Vanna White modelling skills.

10/28/2015

Greg and Michael of G&S Custom Guitars brought in this model to the 26-Oct-2015 MGB meeting. Here's what they say about it....

"G&S Custom Guitars are two craftsmen dedicated to building and repairing custom guitars with quality, uniqueness, and real value in mind. We manufacture them in our workshop using the finest materials and the latest techniques. Our clients are full partners in the creation of the guitars and we strive to deliver their vision!! The guitar in the pictures is all hand made from body blank (our own custom design) to the shaping of the neck from a blank. We did all the routing, the binding, and the purfling. We did the truss rod and headstock. The painting of the sunburst to the clear coat was all us. The electronics include a Kent Armstrong OEM Humbucker 213K under the M series in the neck. Middle pickup is a single coil OEM Spitfire MP-112K. Bridge pickup is an OEM distortion humbucker called Tempest M214K. There is a Fender S-1 switch for the volume along with an OAK 5 way super switch. There are treble controls for each pickup and also a treble bleed capacitor on the volume for high end at low volume."

09/25/2015

The final product! Stan says he'll bring it to our next meeting (Monday, Sept 28th, 2015). Nice....

09/09/2015

MGB member Scott asks:

"I'm restoring a Joseph Bohmann parlor guitar from1891 and I'm in need of an 24.5 inch fret board scale as i have to replace the badly damaged fret board. Would there be a way to ask the regular attendees of the group if someone has one I could borrow?"

If someone has a scale he can use please message us, or send an email to the email reflector, and we'll get you Scott's email address.

09/04/2015

DanB says that this is a pine tele body. Given how fickle pine can be he decided not to stain it, but instead sprayed it.

It's been sealed with Zinsser dewaxed shellac, sprayed with bBehlen lacquer mixed with TransTint Orange with a Preval sprayer.

Overall DanB feels it turned out ok, but he's concerned about some splotchiness to the color when seen up close. Between that and some nasty dings from his dog knocking it over once it was "done"... he's decided to strip it and start over. He says -- "Take one" was a good learning experience though. -- We agree!

09/04/2015

This is Stan's first guitar, modeled after a Selmer n° 807 Gypsy Jazz Guitar.

Stan made several modifications to the Selmer design but in many ways it is still visually and dimensionally similar to the traditional design such as the body length and width, neck length, slotted head stock, oval sound hole, internal bracing and 670mm scale.

Stan says Thanks to the staff at Woodcraft and Midwest Guitar Builders for their guitar building tips!

Guitar Details:
Top Wood: Sitka Spruce, 2.5mm thick, Amber shellac French Polish finish

Back and Sides*: Orange Osage, back 2.42mm thick, sides 1.88mm. Blonde shellac French Polish finish. The Selmer design used 3 layer wood laminates. The Orange Osage is from air dried wood that I used for making primitive bows that my brother and I harvested in Iowa in 2005.

Top and Side Braces: Old Growth Western Red Cedar salvaged from an old home.

Top and Back Contour*: Arched, 15 ft radius. Shallower than the Selmer design

Bindings: Walnut stained with TransTint Red Mahogany

Neck Wood: Spanish Cedar, Stained with a mix of Varathane Golden Mahogany and TransTint Red Mahogany. Amber shellac French Polish finish. Finger Board: Granadillo

Neck Features*: Cantilevered fret board, Dual Action Truss Rod, “C” neck profile. I found the traditional “D” profile difficult to play, so I pulled out the spoke shave and whittled it down.

Scale: 670mm

Sound Hole Inlay Surround*: Big Leaf Maple Burl. The burl is also used on the front and back of the headstock

Tuner Style: Slotted Headstock

Tuners: Gotoh SS SLT OBG, brass open gear, singles (without plates).

Tail Piece: Brass Selmer Style

Strings: D’Addario EJ83L Gypsy Jazz Silver wound light.

08/26/2015

Cool inlays in this 5-string bass, plus a clever use of fiber optics to make the neck inlay dots glow in the dark (hopefully we'll get pix of that that aren't blurry!). Includes hand-wound custom pickups (which you can't see because of the carved wood covers).

08/14/2015

Only ten days until our next meeting... Who's got a new project? Bring it along! (FB event and email invites to be created soon.)

05/28/2015

A new mailing list has been set up. Details coming soon (as well as the first message). We'll use that as an alternative to those who don't have/use Facebook.