Starting work on Martin Taylor’s guitar signed by Chet Atkins!
Jun 4, 2009 @ 11:29
The first task is to remove all the old parts – easy enough. After 1/2 an hour I was left with the skeleton of a guitar and a large pile of scrap. Now all I have to do is put it back together again!
I like to start with the hardest thing first – if you can get that out of the way then the rest should be easy- so I began with the lattice’s to cover the large holes left when I removed the cover plates.
It took a long time trying lots of different styles and a couple of emails before we finally decided on Celtic Knot work made from ebony for the lattice. I told Martin I would do some mock ups and send him some pics so he could have a look. First I made a paper mock-up then a couple of ebony test pieces. I was convinced ebony would look great – which it does – but when I tried to photograph them I noticed a problem. As you can see the detailed carving on the ebony kind of disappears – As ebony is black you can’t really see the holes which are also black. Close up it’s not so bad but a few feet away they just look like solid blocks. I think a change of materials is in order – I made a further test piece from Koa and sent the pics to Martin to see what he thought………