Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: sjhoffma on March 31, 2009, 06:15:12 PM

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: sjhoffma on March 31, 2009, 06:15:12 PM

I believe we already had a section on chairs for Alembic owners here on this forum, but I thought I would post this up anyway...
 
We had to make half scale chairs for my 3D art class at UVM, and the instant I found out we were going to be working with wood, I already had some ideas. The tiger shaped back was a must!
 
The mandolin neck was added on later in the construction process, when my teacher saw my tiger idea and responded, wow it looks like a guitar! I'd really like to see you add a neck to this.  
 
So heres the final product... not big enough to sit on, but you get the idea...(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/63116.jpg)

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: sjhoffma on March 31, 2009, 06:17:07 PM

by the way, the laminate top is flamed koa, which I had actually bookmatched/ joined together earlier in the year, and just kinda had laying around.

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: David Houck on March 31, 2009, 08:41:17 PM

I looked at the picture before reading the text.  Looked like a guitar sitting in a chair.  Then noticed there were no strings; then noticed there were eight tuners.  Then decided I better read the text.

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: sjhoffma on March 31, 2009, 09:05:07 PM

Just for the hell of it, and in response to dave's post I thought I would share a pic with you all of an actual guitar that I've built. I love the flame on the back and the neck. The top is bearclaw spruce. I made this guitar back when I was 17, over a summer in Nazareth, PA.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/63122.jpg)

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/63123.jpg)

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: dadabass2001 on April 01, 2009, 05:31:48 AM

Excellent, Sam
I take it the mando neck is full size? That gives  me a sense of scale.
 
Mike

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: David Houck on April 01, 2009, 06:45:14 AM

Beautiful guitar!

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: gtrguy on April 01, 2009, 09:29:01 AM

That's too similar to playing on a tiny stage with the drum kit or another musician stuck up your backside for me!
 
Looks beautiful, though.
Dave

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: frank on April 01, 2009, 10:50:34 AM

sjhoffma, what kind of finish did you use (for the arch-top and the chair)? How did you apply it?

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: tdukes on April 01, 2009, 12:27:38 PM

That looks a lot like a Benedetto Manhattan. Very cool. I like the bearclaw in the top. Could you see it before the finish was applied?
 
Todd.

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: chrisalembic on April 01, 2009, 12:32:45 PM

wow you built this guitar?? its looking great!! how does it play?

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: sjhoffma on April 01, 2009, 01:47:41 PM

I used a light amber stain, a tung oil finish, and then i sprayed a few light of coats of lacquer on it. The pictures were taken before the lacquer was applied.
 
I could see some of the bearclaw before applying the finish, but the majority of it popped out after the stain. I was affraid to delve into finishing it at first, but the process was fairly simple.
 
The finished product sounds great! its really loud, and I play it mostly acoustic, although I did install a ken armstrong pickup right under the neck.
 
As for the chair, yes it doesn't look comfortable, it was more of a design sort of thing than a practicality. And for the chair, I just used a simple polyurethane finish, because it was purley for display, I would never touch a guitar with polyurethane. It really made the figure in the koa come out nicely though.

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: hydrargyrum on April 01, 2009, 03:00:06 PM

Very nice guitar!

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: frank on April 01, 2009, 05:48:34 PM

did you take a course to learn to build arch-tops?

Title: Tribute in a chair
Post by: sjhoffma on April 01, 2009, 08:22:55 PM

I did in fact take a class. I took one with Dale Unger from American Archtop guitars, who was actually the only apprentice of Bob Bennedetto. He offers classes in his workshop a few times each year, and walks you through the build process. It was very informative, and after we made a guitar together, I was able to make this one myself a year later, and since have worked on a handful of guitar projects, including a koa and bearclaw spruce flat top acoustic, that is currently in progress.