Mary designed this MacNaught guitar around the gold Mother of Pearl Tim inlayed into the fretboard. The back and double sides are Honduran Mahogany with a beautiful Appalachian Adirondack Red Spruce top. The simple rosette is Curly Maple and Ebony.
Mary designed this guitar around the mythical and playful Kokopelli guitar player that Tim inlayed into the fretboard. The Slope MacNaught body is E. Indian Rosewood with a Appalachian Adirondack Red Spruce top.
Tim’s father had given him a Black Walnut board that was given to his him in the early 1940’s by a local cabinet maker from a nearby town. Tim decided to re-saw that board to build a guitar of and when he was milling the wood something shiny caught his eye and he was immediately disappointed thinking he had hit a nail and ruined his expensive band saw blade. Upon closer examination Tim discovered it was not a nail but rather a lead bullet. It seems someone had shot the tree which he thinks was sometime in the late 1800’s since the tree had grown around the bullet and there was no sign of an entry hole in the wood. Tim was going to throw the wood away when Mary had the brilliant idea that he use the wood and she would design a theme around the bullet feature so he reluctantly agreed.
Tim took the board, with the encased bullet, to a professional ammunition reloader and he took several measurements of the bullet and determined it was a 25-20 from a cartridge that Marlin designed in 1889. It got its name of 25-20 because it was a 25 caliber bullet loaded over 20 grains of black powder. Tim was given a few empty brass cases by the reloader and Tim used those case heads for position marker inlayed in the fretboard. Tim used a MacNaught body style and a unique Alaskan Yellow Cedar top that was reclaimed driftwood that had washed up on the beach in north west British Columbia. That top was likely from the same time period as the Black Walnut that Tim used for the back and sides of the guitar.
Our customer Teri has been friends with Mary since their elementary and high school days. Teri comes from a family of musicians and she wanted us to build her Deacon guitar with a theme in mind in remembrance of her grandfather who was a very accomplished pianist. Teri had fond memories of her grandfather making joyful music on his piano but as in all things in life his piano had seen better days and was beyond repair. Teri had the foresight to remove the ivory piano key caps before the piano was disposed of with hopes of doing something special with the ivory at a later point in time.
Teri and Mary got their creative minds together to use “Gramps” ivory as inlays in the rosette and fret board. Teri chose Pau Rosa for the back and sides and 1950 Redwood for the soundboard. Teri has a fondness for angels so we incorporated those design elements into the design of her very special guitar she affectionately calls “My Angel”.
The origin of the SSD (Skinny Slope Dred) was an accident turned into an opportunity. As I was bending the Madagascar Rosewood sides they horrifically split so Mary stopped me just before I was about to toss the sides into the wood stove. She optimistically said why don’t you build a “skinny” version but I was reluctant thinking the bass response would be anemic. As it turned out the guitar sounded fantastic.
Several years later the owner of the first SSD brought it to a McJam which generated an order for this particular guitar. Our customer was amazed that the 3″ body depth didn’t hurt the base response but rather made it much clearer and focused. The body is made of figured African Sapele with a 1959 Sitka top. Pau Abalone inlays abound.
The MacNaught body uses a very unusual set of Cocobolo Rosewood back and double sides and a Torrefied Adirondack Red Spruce top. Our customer chose a side sound port that girds his deep faith in our Lord showing a man kneeling and praying “At The Cross”. It brings a smile to our hearts every time we see him playing this guitar in his church and I hope his guitar has initiated a few opportunities for him to be a witness of our savior Jesus Christ.
This guitar was designed for a customer’s grandson with hopes that he would one day learn to play guitar and that grandpa could pass it down to his grandson. It started out with our MacNaught body using the best set of Brazilian Rosewood that I have ever had the pleasure of building with then topped with a unique set of bear claw figured Adirondack Red Spruce top. Grandpa also chose white Mother Of Pearl top purflings and rosette which is quite beautiful and more elegantly understated than the usually colorful Pau Abalone shell. And its finally finished off with a one off Tor-Tis laser engraved pickguard to The Dominator.
