# 11

When I make guitars, I usually make at least two at a time. It doesn’t take twice as long, maybe half as long again as making two separately. I don’t have any inclinations to become a factory, but more then one at a time seems to work well for me. In 2018 I made four, two OM’s and two Weissenborn Hawaiian lap steel guitars. It ended up taking me more then a Winter to finish them, the Weiss’ were finished that Summer, but the OM’s were finished the following Winter. My building season is pretty much just the Winter, my wife and I have a small farm, which takes up most of our time Spring, Summer and Fall. We grow mostly tree fruit but also plenty of row crops as well, which we sell at a farmers market in Seattle all Summer & Fall. I can manage a little bit of shop time during the growing season, depending how a particular crop is and how hot it is in the afternoon.

The #11 is one of two I started last Winter and just finished a few weeks ago (still trying to catch up from 2018). Like #10, it is mostly all local wood, not quite as local as #10 is, but all the wood came from the Lake Chelan valley, not limited to 25 Mile Creek valley. Execpt for the soundboard, which is Port Orford Cedar from the southwestern coast of Oregon and the bridge pins, which are ebony.

The back, sides and neck are Cherry from a neighbors place, the fretboard is Black Locust from local homestead trees. The Walnut burl in the rosette and headstock veneer are from a old homestead in the town of Chelan, which has been developed into condos, that’s the reason the tree was removed. The bracing is from some straight pieces of Douglas Fir which we harvested for firewood in the woods in our valley. The linings are made from Chestnut wood also from local homesteads, I consider it a soft hardwood, strong but lightweight as well. The Maple bindings came from trees in Chelan as well, from Lakeside Park, the trees were cut down when a big hotel went in where a few homes were and the Maples had to go to make room for an expanded parking area. They are Bigleaf Maples.

The more I play these guitars with the side soundports, the more I really like extra sound which comes out of them, almost like a surround sound, and it’s a cool view into the instrument. This guitar has a lot of volume and well defined bass and treble, and plays very well. It is available, email if interested. Thanks.