Auction
of Dreadnought Guitar
hand crafted by
Michael Murray
Auction is closed
From Michael Murray:
I am building a dreadnought guitar for auction with proceeds going to the Idaho Bluegrass Association. This guitar is being built using hand tools, a few small power tools, glue, and a lot of sand paper. I custom build my instrument using wood that is hand selected and properly acclimated for the Idaho environment.
This guitar has a torrefied sitka spruce top, Indian rosewood sides and back, and sapele neck. Torrefaction is a heating process that accelerates the wood-aging process for better tone and stronger instruments (an environmentally safe process). This is my third guitar using this process and I feel it provides a guitar with an “vintage” tone. This guitar is designed for bluegrass!
I built my first guitar at age 17 under the guidance of luthier Bart Stein in Pittsburgh using only hand tools and following traditional methods. I built my second guitar about 10 years ago and have not stopped since. I average about 2 to 3 stringed instruments a year (the day job gets in the way sometimes).
I hope to have the guitar finished for Christmas time, so look for updates in the near future.
Best
Michael Murray, Boise Idaho October 20, 2018
This guitar has a torrefied sitka spruce top, Indian rosewood sides and back, and sapele neck. Torrefaction is a heating process that accelerates the wood-aging process for better tone and stronger instruments (an environmentally safe process). This is my third guitar using this process and I feel it provides a guitar with an “vintage” tone. This guitar is designed for bluegrass!
I built my first guitar at age 17 under the guidance of luthier Bart Stein in Pittsburgh using only hand tools and following traditional methods. I built my second guitar about 10 years ago and have not stopped since. I average about 2 to 3 stringed instruments a year (the day job gets in the way sometimes).
I hope to have the guitar finished for Christmas time, so look for updates in the near future.
Best
Michael Murray, Boise Idaho October 20, 2018
Update: I built this guitar using hand tools, a few small power tools, glue, a scraper, and a lot of sand paper. I custom build each instrument using wood that is hand selected and properly dried for the Idaho environment. This guitar was built to support a fund raiser for Idaho Bluegrass Association. The proceeds will be used to support bluegrass functions including scholarships for music camps. I truly hope you enjoy your guitar as much as I enjoyed building it.
Best Michael Murray, Boise Idaho October 26, 2018
Best Michael Murray, Boise Idaho October 26, 2018
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Guitar Care:
The woods for this guitar were air dried and also stored in my shop for about 1 year, in Boise, Idaho. My shop is subject to a relative humidity between 40 to 60 percent. When not playing your guitar, it is best to store the guitar in its case and keep it around 50 percent humidity. With that said, I like to keep my instruments out on stands for easy access and also for viewing. I have had some of my guitars on stands for years and so far have had no issues. Just use common sense (avoid putting next to heater vent in winter, etc.). The biggest killer of wood instruments is hot temperatures (avoid leaving your instrument in a hot car, which can easily get over 120 degrees F - this loosens glue and does very bad things to the instrument). Your guitar has a french polish finish, which is shellac dissolved in grain alcohol (I use Everclear), this is an all-natural (organic) finish (I dislike the nitrocellulose finishes used by most factory guitar makers, it’s highly toxic and to me takes away the intent of a hand-made instrument). Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, found in trees in the forest of India and Thailand (pretty wild right?). The technique is hundreds of years old. French polish is more susceptible to scratches, but that’s the tradeoff. Use a dry cotton cloth to clean the instrument. Avoid using water or any kind of solvent (especially alcohol) when cleaning. The good thing about French Polish it is easy to repair scratches. Finally, in my opinion, this finish allows a guitar to realize its greatest sound potential because it is very thin and very compatible with the acoustical qualities of wood when compared to other finishes. The guitar is set at a medium to a slightly high action (distance between the string and frets). I don’t like to lower the action until the guitar has “settled in” -in other words the guitar should be played for a few months and allowed to acclimate to its new surroundings. Furthermore, string action should be based on the players style. If you finger pick without picks, then a low action is appropriate, if you are a bluegrass picker and really hit the strings, then a high action might be appropriate in order to avoid string buzz. Action height can easily be adjusted (I’d be glad to do it or show you how to adjust the height of the nut and saddle). Also the guitar has a two-way adjustable neck rod, but I recommend using an experienced guitar repair shop and not mess with the rod yourself. I’m glad to make adjustments for you.
Bridge Pins - the string pins on the saddle are wood, so do not use pliers to remove the pins or you will scratch them and likely break them. I’ve included a pin puller in the guitar case with instructions - use the puller, will make life easier. Below are some pictures of your instrument being built
The woods for this guitar were air dried and also stored in my shop for about 1 year, in Boise, Idaho. My shop is subject to a relative humidity between 40 to 60 percent. When not playing your guitar, it is best to store the guitar in its case and keep it around 50 percent humidity. With that said, I like to keep my instruments out on stands for easy access and also for viewing. I have had some of my guitars on stands for years and so far have had no issues. Just use common sense (avoid putting next to heater vent in winter, etc.). The biggest killer of wood instruments is hot temperatures (avoid leaving your instrument in a hot car, which can easily get over 120 degrees F - this loosens glue and does very bad things to the instrument). Your guitar has a french polish finish, which is shellac dissolved in grain alcohol (I use Everclear), this is an all-natural (organic) finish (I dislike the nitrocellulose finishes used by most factory guitar makers, it’s highly toxic and to me takes away the intent of a hand-made instrument). Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, found in trees in the forest of India and Thailand (pretty wild right?). The technique is hundreds of years old. French polish is more susceptible to scratches, but that’s the tradeoff. Use a dry cotton cloth to clean the instrument. Avoid using water or any kind of solvent (especially alcohol) when cleaning. The good thing about French Polish it is easy to repair scratches. Finally, in my opinion, this finish allows a guitar to realize its greatest sound potential because it is very thin and very compatible with the acoustical qualities of wood when compared to other finishes. The guitar is set at a medium to a slightly high action (distance between the string and frets). I don’t like to lower the action until the guitar has “settled in” -in other words the guitar should be played for a few months and allowed to acclimate to its new surroundings. Furthermore, string action should be based on the players style. If you finger pick without picks, then a low action is appropriate, if you are a bluegrass picker and really hit the strings, then a high action might be appropriate in order to avoid string buzz. Action height can easily be adjusted (I’d be glad to do it or show you how to adjust the height of the nut and saddle). Also the guitar has a two-way adjustable neck rod, but I recommend using an experienced guitar repair shop and not mess with the rod yourself. I’m glad to make adjustments for you.
Bridge Pins - the string pins on the saddle are wood, so do not use pliers to remove the pins or you will scratch them and likely break them. I’ve included a pin puller in the guitar case with instructions - use the puller, will make life easier. Below are some pictures of your instrument being built
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Model: Construction: Date of Construction Body Size: Top: Rosette Top Bracing Pattern: Top Braces: Top radius Kerfling: Back Joint Reinforcement Strip: Back Material: Back Radius: Side Material: End piece: Endpiece Inlay: Binding: Perfling: Side Inlay |
D-Idaho Bluegrass Association Sapele Blocks/Mortise and Tenon Neck Joint Fall/winter 2018 Upper Bout: 11.5 (292 mm) Lower Bout: 15 5/8 Waist: 10 5/8 (270 mm) Body Depth: 4 7/8” Body Length: 20” Torrefied Sitka spruce Abalone X-Brace Solid Sitka Spruce 30 ft. Mahogany - regular Spruce Indian Rosewood 15’ Indian Rosewood Maple None Curly maple Herringbone None |