The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar

**Jehu** · 03-13-2015, 12:01 AM

If you've happened upon my build thread (It Begins...), you'll know that this has been a while coming. Over the past year or so, I have been using mostly hand tools to attempt to turn these:

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-1-wood-jpg

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-1-wood-jpg

Into one of these:
The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-full-front-jpg

As you can see, I made it through, dazed but alive. The result is a 17", 3" deep carved solid archtop; all of the light bits are Monterey Cypress and all of the darker bits are Puriri, which is sort of New Zealand's answer to ebony. (The shading in the picture above is a bit dark; in reality it is closer to the pics below.)

I will probably add a floating pickup at some point, but for the time being it's all acoustic, baby! The big question is, how does it sound? Surprisingly enough, it sounds pretty good for something that I made by myself in a stairwell. It's a bit tight and midrange-y, but I'm confident it will open up as I play it in. Soundclips are forthcoming after I get a chance to do the final setup. (I am going let it cope with being under full string tension for a few days before adjusting the truss rod, which I will need to do before I set the action.) Stay tuned!

It is certainly not perfect, but I have learned a lot from this project and the next one will be better.

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-full-back-2-jpg

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-bridge-1-jpg

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-fb-jpg

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-hs-3-jpg

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-hs-rear-jpg

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-tp-2-jpg

The Hard Way - Building a Jazz Guitar-short-front-2-jpg

**fritz jones** · 03-13-2015, 12:18 AM

looks very classy.
congrats!

**cgratham** · 03-13-2015, 01:07 AM

That's gorgeous! Kudos.

**Scot Tremblay** · 03-13-2015, 01:16 AM

Wow! Looks great...but in good conscience, I must be honest with you, I detect one very obvious major flaw...I do not see, anywhere in those photos, a shipping label with my address on it. What's up with that???

Well done buddy. I like the aesthetics of it a lot. Now, cannot wait for the debut recording.

**Frank67** · 03-13-2015, 01:34 AM

It looks awesome and everything is so tastefully put together. I admire your work Jehu! Enjoy the gem!

**Teddyfm** · 03-13-2015, 01:42 AM

Great work. Looks bloody nice. Also, its been very fun following your progress.
So, just one question.
Do you make lefties?

**Bluedawg** · 03-13-2015, 02:06 AM

Beautiful!!

**IbanezAS100** · 03-13-2015, 02:23 AM

Wonderful, great finish and elegant lines. Congrats!

**xuoham** · 03-13-2015, 02:26 AM

Great taste and skills !

Congratulations !

The whole process in the other post was really fun and interesting, thank you for sharing.

**ninjasan** · 03-13-2015, 02:54 AM

Outstanding beautiful guitar !
Finish is marvelous.

We all wait for the pick-up making of thread now :-)

christophe

**fws6** · 03-13-2015, 03:06 AM

Great

I wish...one day..... I will also find the time to take an attempt at building a jazz guitar

very inspirational

I hope you ll have a s much fun playing as you did building

**339 in june** · 03-13-2015, 04:14 AM

What a great work you've done Jehu !

I just wonder what is your feeling when you hit the first note on your own built ???

Can't wait to hear how it sounds, now

"Si votre ramage ressemble à votre plumage ..."

Now that you have finished it, you'll have time to play it. Enjoy !

and again, thanks for sharing this great experience

**iim7V7IM7** · 03-13-2015, 05:33 AM

An accomplishment to be very proud of...

Kudos

**Para** · 03-13-2015, 05:44 AM

Outstanding.

**mangotango** · 03-13-2015, 05:49 AM

Wow. One of the most interesting and compelling threads of recent years on this forum finally bears fruit...and it's a peach.

Well done. You should be very proud of what you've achieved.

**Jabberwocky** · 03-13-2015, 06:40 AM

That's amazing for a first effort, Jehu.

Very well done. Congrats.

**Woody Sound** · 03-13-2015, 08:49 AM

Beautiful! Great colors, and cool position markers.

My one addition would be a fingerrest that matches the tp and fb.

**ninjasan** · 03-13-2015, 08:56 AM

May I Add something:
you're actually the only owner being sure not to have a fake !

what do you think it weights ?

christophe

**JSanta** · 03-13-2015, 11:20 AM

Outstanding work!

**vinlander** · 03-13-2015, 11:44 AM

awesome

**OldGuitarPlayer** · 03-13-2015, 11:58 AM

**marshall** · 03-13-2015, 01:47 PM

What a beautiful guitar! It brings joy to these old eyes.

**Jehu** · 03-13-2015, 05:00 PM

Thanks everybody, I appreciate all of the kind comments!

Christophe -- I don't have a scale so I'm not certain, but just going by feel it seems about the same or maybe slightly lighter than my Kingpin, which has two pickups. According to the Internet, the Kingpin weighs in at 5lb 5oz (2.4kg).

Woody -- I don't use a fingerrest, so it's not crucial at this point... but I agree that aesthetically it would be a nice addition. And if I add a pickup, I will definitely need a fingerrest.