Molter Guitars

I was in my shop working on a guitar when I heard an advertisement on the TV. I was not paying to much attention to the add until I heard what was being said. I heard “My name is Dale and my aha moment came when I was playing my guitar”. This wasn’t exactly what was said but that’s what I heard and it caught my attention.  I stopped what I was doing and looked up and realized that the Dale on the commercial was Dale Cockley. Dale is a good friend of mine, that I have made 4 guitars for. He is the inspiration in my DCS model. His story on that commercial was about how he was playing his guitar “baby” at The Ronald Mcdonald House and a little girl came up to him and listened to him play. The little girl had just had a cochlear implant and his guitar playing was the first music she ever heard. Dale was very emotional in the video and when I realized it was one of my guitars that  made the first music that little girl ever heard, I got very emotional myself. It really made me think that my gift, for making guitars, is really a gift from God, that he has given me, to glorify him. I am not much of a guitar player. I consider myself more of a woodworker than a guitarist. There is definately a reason I make guitars. God knows what that reason is, and the more I realize his plan in my life, the more it makes sense. Maybe that is the reason I decided to make a guitar for Chris Tomlin. It also might be the reason I finished constructing the guitar the  day before his concert, that just so happened to be in my city at my Church.

Check out Dale’s Aha Moment that has his testimonial . http//www.ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/13742

I finally got to deliver the benign cutaway to my favorite performing artist “Chris Tomlin”. Myself and my family were so excited to be able to meet Chris and give him this guitar. He really inspires me with his music and hopefully this guitar will inspire him to keep writing unbelievable songs and performing all over the world.

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Well I have put the first coats of lacquer on the benign cutaway. The lacquer on the Macassar Ebony  really reveals the black and brown stripes beautifully. The curly Koa bindings really match the ebony nicely. The Mahogany, Curly Maple, and Bubinga 5 piece neck looks really nice. I have put a  Walnut burl headstock , to match the Walnut burl armrest, and bound it with curly Koa and inlayed a brass peace dove with an abalone olive branch. I also am very happy with the figure in the bearclaw Sitka top. If everything works out this guitar will be playing all over the world.

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I have bound the benign cutaway with curly Koa. It has awesome figure that is a really nice contrast against the striped Macassar Ebony. I have also installed a WBW underside purfling with the binding and under the Walnut burl armrest.

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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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I have glued the back on the benign cutaway. I have also laminated the burl walnut onto the armrest. Just look at the figure on the ebony. This should be a beautiful guitar. I have also selected the mahogany for the neck.

Well it’s been a long time since I made a post. I have been trying my hand at furniture making. I have made a small secretary desk for my daughter. It came out pretty nice but I think I will stick to guitar making. I have begun construction on 2 spec guitars to display in a local art gallery/guitar shop. One guitar is a DCS bent sides model that will have quilted mahogany back and sides and a quilted maple top. I will most likely put a sunburst on this guitar but I will wait and see when I get to that point. The other spec. guitar will have rosewood back and sides and either a western red cedar top or 30+ year old redwood. This guitar will be 000 cutaway 8 string.  I am incorporating a beveled armrest in the benign cutaway model and depending on how it turns out I will most likely install armrests on the two spec. guitars.

Here are some amazing pictures of John’s guitar taken by my friend who is also a “Molter Guitar” owner. If you think his pictures are fantastic you should hear him play guitar. He is a very talented man.

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Well John finally here are some pics of the guitar with strings . You should be playing the guitar by sometime next week.