L-27 completed

| October 20, 2014

Just finished up this L-27 and handed it off to its happy new owner.  The back and sides are quilted bubinga; the top is Sitka spruce; and the headcap and accents are spalted, curly maple.    

Rainy Sunday, and some heel carving.

| July 27, 2014

The workpiece, some tools, some of the subject to go by, and of course my knee.

Headcap inlay

| July 11, 2014

Just finished inlaying this headstock.  The headcap is spalted curly maple that came from a tree in our backyard.  (I’ve got a stack of them!) I hope the guy buying this guitar likes it!

Archtop guitar completed!

| January 8, 2014

Just recently completed an archtop guitar for a client.  In answer to his stated desire for a small-bodied, f-hole archtop with a strong bass, I produced this model.  The body shape is based on a Gibson L-1 (roughly 00 sized).  To enhance the low end, I made the back and sides from mahogany rather than […]

GRAYISH WEDNESDAY SPECIAL!

| December 4, 2013

Every guitarist, young or old, beginner or seasoned pro, wants the same thing: a custom guitar made just for them.  This Christmas, let the guitarist in your life find a card under the tree telling them that their dream is coming true — a custom guitar by Subterranean Music Works will be theirs.  They can […]

The “Church Guitar” completed! Pictures

| July 26, 2013

I’ve finally made time to post these pictures of the guitar I made for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick.  Troy Bennett of the Bangor Daily News took these pictures in my shop the day I delivered the guitar to its new (and still happy now, months later) owners. This guitar was made of wood […]

1931 Martin OM-28 Restoration

| July 26, 2013

This guitar came to me from a client in Portland in terrible shape: it had numerous badly-done repairs from its past, a gloppy-looking refinishing job (probably urethane, given how hard it was to remove), as well as some replacement pieces — notably the bridge — that didn’t look even remotely original. My task was to […]

Electric mandolin prototype

| May 9, 2013

Here’s a picture of an electric mandolin prototype I recently knocked together.  The body is pine, with a curly maple veneer cap.  The neck came off a cadaver instrument  (this is, after all, a prototype).  And the pickup is one that I wound, using a block magnet as its core.  I’m pleased with the sound […]

12-fret archtop

| May 9, 2013

Yes, you read that right — a twelve-fret archtop.  I am making an archtop guitar in the shape of a late-twenties L-1.  The back and sides are mahogany, and the top is Engelmann spruce.   Since the bridge is moved toward the tail of the instrument from where it would usually be located on an […]

OM I completed building last fall

| May 8, 2013

Thought I’d post a few more pictures. This is an OM I built and handed off to its new owner last fall. Engelmann spruce top, beeswing cocobolo back and sides. Enjoy!