I wanted to post some pics of my in-progress Joe Konkoly guitar and thought I would try to make it a full blown "build thread" since Joe has been
sending me some great shots. I should disclose that I am technically a dealer for Joe in that I will be representing him for this specific line of vintage
reproductions. That being said this is strictly my personal guitar so I hope its OK to post here. I figure there is no better place to find freaks like me
that really get excited over pale abalone and torch inlays.
So, after playing a friends to die for TJ Thompson OM-42 I decided I really wanted a dead on true vintage replica of the great 000-45. Although I am blessed to have an OM on order with TJ I could not swing the second guitar from him. I set out to find someone to build me the same kind of dead nuts vintage replica and found my way to Joe. He was trained by TJ years back when he took over the Elderly repair shop from him. For 20 some years he has had his hands inside vintage Martins and through conversations with him I realized he believes in the old "recipe". I knew I was on the right track when Joe told me he thought bar frets/ebony neck reinforcement imparted a certain sound. So we started talking about this guitar and eventually we decided to work together on future models of this type. So, this guitar will be a Brazilian/Adirondack 000-45 with bar frets, ebony rod neck reinforcement and all hide glue construction. Some cosmetic things Joe and I agreed on were pale, unfigured abalone for the back and side purfling and slightly more figured stuff for the top/rosette. It will have the small maple purfling lines and vintage style endgraft just like the old timers, pyramid bridge and no guard.
So, here are the shots so far. The Braz was obtained by Joe from TJ.
My red spruce top with plexi pattern
Sides in mold
Top with ruler
The bent sides in the mold with kerfed linings glued and clamped. Note the cloth tape side reinforcement strips.
Rosette inlayed
with teflon still attached.
So those are the best shots so far. I plan to update this as new info and photos come in. Joe scored some pale red abalone and some of the slothead tuners from antiqueacoustics.de (Rudi and Willi make these I believe?) so things are moving along. Right now I'm harassing Joe about "tanning" my top and doing a super thin finish. He is great to work with and enjoys the little details like me so we are having some fun in the process.
Til next time!
Andy
www.soultreeguitars.com
So, after playing a friends to die for TJ Thompson OM-42 I decided I really wanted a dead on true vintage replica of the great 000-45. Although I am blessed to have an OM on order with TJ I could not swing the second guitar from him. I set out to find someone to build me the same kind of dead nuts vintage replica and found my way to Joe. He was trained by TJ years back when he took over the Elderly repair shop from him. For 20 some years he has had his hands inside vintage Martins and through conversations with him I realized he believes in the old "recipe". I knew I was on the right track when Joe told me he thought bar frets/ebony neck reinforcement imparted a certain sound. So we started talking about this guitar and eventually we decided to work together on future models of this type. So, this guitar will be a Brazilian/Adirondack 000-45 with bar frets, ebony rod neck reinforcement and all hide glue construction. Some cosmetic things Joe and I agreed on were pale, unfigured abalone for the back and side purfling and slightly more figured stuff for the top/rosette. It will have the small maple purfling lines and vintage style endgraft just like the old timers, pyramid bridge and no guard.
So, here are the shots so far. The Braz was obtained by Joe from TJ.
My red spruce top with plexi pattern
Sides in mold
Top with ruler
The bent sides in the mold with kerfed linings glued and clamped. Note the cloth tape side reinforcement strips.
Rosette inlayed
with teflon still attached.
So those are the best shots so far. I plan to update this as new info and photos come in. Joe scored some pale red abalone and some of the slothead tuners from antiqueacoustics.de (Rudi and Willi make these I believe?) so things are moving along. Right now I'm harassing Joe about "tanning" my top and doing a super thin finish. He is great to work with and enjoys the little details like me so we are having some fun in the process.
Til next time!
Andy
www.soultreeguitars.com
