#12 Parlor Time — tyson hand-did

#12 Parlor Time | At this point, other people have most of my best guitars! Time to make one for me. Been saving a few pieces of wood for something special and at last I had a little build time for me-self. Just wish I had remembered to put a sound hole in it...

My goal for this guitar was to see if I could make a smaller bodied instrument that sounded like a larger guitar. I took my basic design and made is smaller based on a parlor design from the 1800s.

You can see that it looks like a I forgot something. This design is based around a radial bracing pattern which means I can use more of the wood on the top for sound. Instead of having a typical sound hole on the front, this design just uses a larger sound port on the side.

The top is figured spanish cedar that was meant to be a "drop top" for an electric body. After listening to it, I decided to just try it on an acoustic. If nothing else, it would look cool. Sound wise, it actually turned out very nice; the guitar is very punchy and bassy and right "in your face" as one might expect with the design.

The back and sides are Indian Rosewood with prominent red streaks.

Been diggin' the bloodwood binding lately and thought it pared very well with the reds in the rosewood.

Just found a new veneer supplier (www.veneersupplies.com) and ordered several new wood types that I am excited about. For this one, I used a figured mahogany on the arm bevel for a more complimentary color scheme.

I am back to my "drag and drop" pinless bridge design. With some new tooling, I am finally able to make that with the precision I want. I love the simplicity of it in both looks and functionality.

The fretboard is a new wood to me - Indian Laurel. Looks fantastic finished; will be using more of this as it is a good sustainable alternative to more traditional woods. A new design for my custom maple position markers as well.

This one also has my adjustable, cantilevered neck design with elevated fingerboard that I have been developing over the last several builds.

I made this one a slot head in keeping with the "old style" feel. Even though there is a lot more work involved, I think the slot head is a more visually interesting design.

After I had cut the fingerboard on this one, I ran across some discussions of zero-fret fingerboards. With this design, instead of having a nut at the "zero" fret position, you place an actual fret. Although there is a lot of debate about the pros and cons of this design, without question is allows me to set up the action as low as possible with minimal work. This may become a standard feature from here on out.

This one far exceeded my expectations. And the best part is, I get to keep it. It is one you have to play in order to get the full experience. If you are in town and would like to check it out, let me know...