This Is the second Orville Gibson inspired guitar I’ve made. This one was made mostly out of reclaimed old growth Douglas Fir, hence the name

Imagine my excitement when my brother-in-law told me my niece was interested in trying to learn guitar. I jumped at the opportunity and challenge of making an inexpensive, fun, versatile, and easy to play starter guitar. A dream first guitar and I’m incredibly pleased with how it all came out and she was thrilled to receive it.

edit** This guitar is Sold

This design is a bit of an exercise in imagining if Stromberg Voisinet/Kay Kraft had made it into the offset electric guitar era.

I restored an old harmony Bobkat years ago and was intrigued by it but there were lots of things I would have changed about its design. I really liked the mustache Dearmond/rowe pickups in particular and i was able to find these two relatively well matched ones for this project.

The body is made out of a mysterious wood reclaimed from Ecuadorian hotel doors from 100 years ago. When they demolished the hotel many years ago, a man from Portland saved the doors and they sat in storage for decades before before going to the local reclaim lumber yard here in town. I scooped up several and save them for special projects.

The neck is made of a particularly colorful piece tulip poplar again as a nod to Harmony/Regal/Kay who often used poplar for necks. The fretboard is birdseye maple with Mother of pearl inlays. I made the pickguard from laminate I veneered with some very beautiful old veneer from my stockpile. The pickup rings and cheeks of the headstock are Beetlekill blue pine which I put in every guitar I make, its sort of a signature.

As far as hardware goes the bridge is Schaller and the trem is made by Goldo out of Germany. Its basically a much better designed and very well made. The tuners are Grover sta-tites and the knobs are off an old Danelectro amp.

This is another “Guitarra Da Gamba” viol inspired guitar. This one with a carved reclaimed old growth Redwood top, Blue Pine and Fir from my Grandpa’s workbench for the body, and more old growth fir for the neck. It has a Benedetto pickup that I recovered to be more fitting aesthetically.

This guitar is influcened by Renissance viols, particularly ones by the luthier Ernst Busch. The top is reclaimed old growth Redwood, the body is Blue Pine and old growth Doug Fir laminated cutting board style , and the neck is flamed old growth fir. Custom “Woodfoil” made by Roadhouse pickups here in Portland. The knobs are old wooden Radio Knobs.

I try to sneak at least a little Blue Pine into all of my guitars. This one had a particularly nice particularly holey piece that i had been Saving for the top. The pickups are made by Dominger.

I made this out of scraps as a Christmas present for my Niece.

    I paint things that grow, die, cluster together, compete, deform, and cover the world with their abundance. 

    I like them to push up against that line of too much. Too loud, too ugly, too busy, too many, too pretty, too much. I like the paint to be thick and the colors to be bold enough so it seems like they would burn through anything you stacked against them. 

    I don't have a consistent method to my working process. I like it to be an improvisational journey in which I'm searching for a resolution. This let's my mind wander and allows for memories to be expressed in unexpected ways.

    A painting is successful when it goes beyond an idea or a method or a subject, and is able to make you really feel something. I try to make my paintings feel like some over-looked treasure you could have found if you walked into the right place. I make paintings that I can surround myself with. It's like they are all individuals that share an interest and have all just happened to meet here.

Some of my marquetry and other woodwork.