Molter Guitars

It has been a long time since I have made a post here on my website but here goes. 2011 was a very strange and slow year for me and my guitar making. I completed 1 guitar for a customer and started 2 others. I am almost finished with my quilted mahogany DCS that I have been working on forever. It will be a spec guitar that doesn’t have an owner…Yet. The other guitar I started is an indian rosewood 8 string baritone model.

 I haven’t got very far with these guitars because’ I guess I am going through a midlife crisis. I bought 2 vintage motorcycles and I have been trying my hand at restoring  them. I have actually sold one of the bikes and have been concentrating on restoring the remaining bike , a 1964 Yamaha . I have also been restoring a 1990 Jeep Wrangler. I guess I have been watching to much “Orange County Choppers” and telling myself I can do just as good a job as they do .  I guess I figure that if I can build an acoustic guitar from a log I can tackle restoring a little motorcycle and a Jeep. We will see how they come out.

With all that said, I want to let everyone know that I still am in the guitar making business. It is my true passion. If you have always wanted a custom guitar please don’t hesitate to contact me and we can talk about how you want your dream guitar to be.

I finally have completed my new amp build. I copied the cabinet design from a Vintone Amp that I previously owned. I used mahogany for the cabinet and joined it with through dovetails. I stained the mahogany with a rich dark brown to match my bedroom furniture. I have a Jensen 10″ alnico speaker in the cabinet and have used oxblood speaker cloth to finish it. I have not been able to test the amp yet after about 1000 solder joints but I will soon see how it sounds. 

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I have decide to build myself an new amp. I used to own a Vintone boutique amp that I sold. It was a “Champ” model, constructed with black walnut and oxblood cloth. I was very impressed with the quality craftsmanship of this amp, and decided that I would try my hand at creating something similar to the Vintone.  I am going to use curly maple to construct the cabinet and use half blind  “cherry inlaid” dovetails to join it. I will also trim the cabinet with cherry adding to the “boutique” style of  the amp. I have purchased the wood and have begun putting together the chassis. I have a long way to go and many hours of soldering ahead of me but I can’t wait for the finished product.  I might even offer these amps / cabinets for sale depending on how it turns out. I will also offer speaker cabinets to match if someone is interested. Who knows, it’s a dream, but I still have 3 guitars going right now so it might take longer than I want. It’s only time!!!!!!!

Here are a few of the projects that I have been working on instead of guitars. I built a secretary desk for my Daughter . It came out nice but I wasn’t to happy with the finish. I used a poly and stain mix and did not get a very smooth finish. I am used to a mirror finish on my guitars and this is not close to any mirror. Oh well, I stick with guitars.

I also made some pistol grips for a friend of mine who had a vintage 22. I used Brazillian rosewood and engraved a fishscale patern on them. They came out really nice and dressed up the gun a little bit.

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If you haven’t noticed, I really love working with beautifully figured wood. Being a guitar builder that uses several different kinds of exotic woods, I am constantly looking for some of the most beautiful pieces. I have a pretty nice collection of wood that I have bought with a particular idea for a new guitar. Unfortunately, most of my “nice collection”  will most likely never be used for guitar making.

However, I do have other interest besides guitar building. I am an avid hunter and sportsman. I have used some of my woodworking skills, and leftover guitar wood, to make some boutique turkey calls.  I also have combined my woodworking passion and my love for hunting by learning how to engrave gunstocks. Hopefully, I will soon be able to duplicate gunstocks and then engrave the new stock to make an old gun look like a custom boutique firearm. I also make heirloom quality jewelry boxes for the non hunters.

So remember if you are interested in any of the items that I build don’t hesitate to ask. I also will consider bartering for certain items that relate to my interests.