Hefner Walnut Guitar

Peghead completed, with gold Gotoh tuners, Walnut flowerpot, Abalone letters in name, leaves and heart shaped center of flower, and Pearl flower petals.

I would like to thank John Greven, Greven Guitars of Portland, Oregon for his support, help, and answering dozens of questions about building guitars, wood selection, and finishing. The guitar patterns that were used on this guitar are the Greven FX style that is one inch wider than an OM style, and the body joins the neck at the 12th fret instead of the 14th as on most guitars.

The Greven FX is a John Greven original body style.

Below are some pictures of the guitar in different stages.

       Black Walnut back                      Interior of back

At this point the Black Walnut has been cut, joined, sanded, and the Spruce bracing ( 25 foot radius arch ) has been glued to the back.

The Black Walnut that was used for the back, sides, neck block, end block, and neck, and the Spruce for the top and back bracing is from boards that Eric bought at a sawmill in Pennsylvania a few years ago.

Sitka Spruce top with bracing- scalloping of braces almost complete.

Sound hole has not been cut.

The Sitka Spruce wood for the top, block of Ebony to make the bridge and

peghead overlay, Grained Ivoroid and Tortoise binding, and finishing supplies were purchased from Stewart MacDonald Company in Ohio.

         Neck              Peghead inlay completed.

Square peghead.

Cutting pearl and Abalone with Jeweler's saw.

Inlaying Pearl and Abalone in peghead, bridge, and fingerboard.

                Abalone Hearts inlaid in the fingerboard.

Abalone and Pearl flower and Abalone name inlaid in peghead.

Black Walnut sides have been bent, placed in mold, Mahogany kerfing glued to top and bottom edges, and Black Walnut neck and end blocks have been glued in place.

              Gluing the back to the sides.

Black Walnut back with figure, grained Ivoroid binding, and Tortoise purfling.

Closeup of headstock.

Front view. Checking intonation prior to cutting the saddle slot. Frets installed to the 12th fret. The Greven "Tortis" pickguard will be installed next.

Back view.

The finish is 3 coats of shellac, and 3 coats of oil finish applied by hand.

Thanks, John for all your encouragement and advice.

We use Cedar Creek Custom Cases exclusively for our instruments. To see a few of the Cedar Creek cases click on the link TO CEDAR CREEK CASES

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