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Square Neck - Posted - 05/18/2009: 06:13:30
My line is cast, and in some time, I should reel in my Hook!!!!!
Yesterday, I drove down to Warsaw Ohio and met up with JD at his shop. I played one of the the ones he had on hand and it definitely had a very strong, full, "modern" sound that I have been looking for in my next reso.
We looked at a lot of nice looking wood. It was very cool to tone tap and hear how the different wood species sounded in their raw form.
I thought I would share a couple pictures with y'all............
Even the countryside, with the rolling hills, and the road leading up to his home/shop has a warm woody feel to it.......
Here is some of the wood that will become my Hook, Koa body and sides and American Chestnut for binding. The one piece that is bent is actually going on another reso he is building, but mine will look the same.
This will be my first custom build so I am no expert on these transactions, but JD sure has a great attitude and his love for wood and resos made the trip a great experience.
There are a couple ideas still pending and I will post some more pictures as these come to fruition.
JD also said he would try to send a few pics as she comes together.
Now the hard part.......the wait LOL!!!
<*)))>{
Edited by - Square Neck on 05/18/2009 20:19:52
drubin - Posted - 05/18/2009: 10:37:45
That is awesome news, Square Neck. And great photos. Congratulations. Starting a custom build relationship with a luthier is a wonderful process. I've heard only good things about JD's guitars, but have yet to play one myself. The koa and chestnut combo will look stunning. :)
SlimPickins - Posted - 05/18/2009: 13:00:49
Hey Square Neck!
Glad to hear you'll be joining the 'Hook club. I own Fishook #58 - a custom old growth black walnut (there are some pictures in my album). I put the order in to JD in January '07 and received it on July 17, 2007. The wait was tough, but well worth it. It's still the best sounding of any reso I've ever played personally, but I'm a bit biased. 
JD is definitely a luthier's luthier, no doubt about it. He enjoys his craft and is very appreciative of his customers. He's an all around good guy - very laid back and easy to talk to, whether it be about resos or not.
I think you'll enjoy the whole process Square Neck. It's a real thrill to go from picking out the options and laying out what you want at the beginning, then receiving the prize package at the end. Good luck and keep us posted.
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Life''s too short - sit back, relax, and enjoy the music!
-Brent
Arrowsmit - Posted - 05/18/2009: 15:06:31
Sounds like your visit w/JD went great & y'all laid out the foundation for your custom build. Way cool stuff Jim, CONGRATS! Man, I hope you know that many of us will be enjoying the experience along w/you as much as possible, so we'll be looking forward to each update as the process develops & your reso takes form. I gotta ask...did JD give any idea of start/completion dates?
Vic
The more I learn about playing this crazy thing the more I realize how very little I know about it...
John C. - Posted - 05/18/2009: 15:57:28
Congratulations on your Fishook order Square Neck ! I recently spent some time at JD's shop and spoke about it in by blog section. Fishook guitars are as good as anything I have seen and I have played about everything out there in the high end custom build catagory. He is an artist when it comes to wood and finish and does an amazing set-up job as to sound. His guitars have that modern open sound that alot of reso plays lust after. I would say that Fishook guitars are on the same plane as Scheerhorn and may one day take over as the most coveted resos. JD is a great dude as well. 
Square Neck - Posted - 05/18/2009: 18:34:40
Hey, thanks for all the comments everyone, I am stoked about all this!!
Yea that road/trail is only wide enough for 1.5 vehicles , it's good like that.
Slim, I have heard a lot of great things about walnut resos, you don't see em for sale too often do ya? I like the traditional look of yours. I am going to go with the same head stock shape on mine. As far as modern style resos go, the new style of JD's is very killer, but I am shooting for a more traditional look, including waverly open gear tuners.
Vic, I think he said somewhere around October but asked him to take all the time he needed to enjoy his work.
It is actually going to be a lot like the one in this thread. Same wood, binding, and headstock.........
reso-nation.org/forums/sponsor...ey-summit
Tom Jr. - Posted - 05/19/2009: 05:18:57
Very cool looking wood. I didn't know you could get any American Chestnut wood, the tree being killed off in the earlier part of the last century and all. This is all very inspiring. Makes me want to go out and accumulate exotic pieces of wood for future projects. If you can keep pictures coming as it progresses, that would be great.
Don''t squat with your spurs on.
Square Neck - Posted - 05/19/2009: 06:21:15
Thanks Tom!
Yes, you are correct about the Chestnut, it was wiped out around the great depression, not this one, the last one. If I remember, JD said that piece was given to him from a friend, milled from an old barn beam. The chestnut blight is very similar to the dutch elm disease in that you can still find chestnut living in the field, rare, but it dies before it gets to be of any size. Not sure but like 1" or 2" max diameter, sapling size, no good for lumber.
JD could definitely be described as wood monger, he's like a squirrel with a stash of acorns LOL, putting pieces big and small away to be used somewhere, someday on an instrument.
SlimPickins - Posted - 05/19/2009: 18:57:05
You're definitely right as far as JD and his "stash" of rare and hard to find tonewoods. I don't mean to push my guitar on you at all, but you should ask JD about the story of the old walnut used for my guitar. It has quite a history!
I'm glad you like the more traditional look JD offers on that particular guitar. Mine is actually of the second generation of JD's developments. The first had a squared off headstock with no overlay or Fishook inlay, then rounded off headstock with overlay, and then the new look - "A" shaped headstock and rounded fingerboard with Fishook inlay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Life''s too short - sit back, relax, and enjoy the music!
-Brent
Edited by - SlimPickins on 05/19/2009 18:57:41
Tom Jr. - Posted - 05/20/2009: 06:11:55
Tell us all the story of the old walnut in your guitar Slim. Inquiring minds want to know. I'll trade you the story of the black locust in my guitar.
Don''t squat with your spurs on.
Slideman1939 - Posted - 05/20/2009: 12:19:45
Chestnut will be coming back shortly as a result of crossbreeding by Penn State at a central Pa. agricultural lab.It's been worked on for 20 years and is almost ready. A "crossbreeding" takes 4-5 years, to get certain desired options, and then re-crossbreeding again with an alternative cross breed. The idea is to take the "good" characteristics of the AMERICAN chestnut (which was prone to blight ) and crossbreed it with CHINESE Chestnut (which resisted blight but was not as tall nor straight). All this 20 years worth of work is to get to tall, plus straight, but blight resistent, and also to yield a better salable NUT by product than the smaller more bitter Chinese chestnuts. The NEXT generation will have Chestnut for resophonics. "Google" the subject--it's a pretty interesting read about something that wood enthusiasts have been working on since the 1980's. BUT hardwoods grow slowly and crossbreeding can't be rushed. Soon this fine wood will return.
Tom Jr. - Posted - 05/20/2009: 14:50:10
I read about it. The latest version is 15/16 American Chestnut and 1/16 Chinese Chestnut. I haven't seen any seedlings available yet. I'd sure like to plant a couple acres in that, wait 35 years or so, cut a couple down, wait a couple years for them to dry out and have a nice chestnut dobro to be played at my funeral.
Don''t squat with your spurs on.
SlimPickins - Posted - 05/20/2009: 17:10:11
Well Tom, if nobody minds, I'll try to get my facts straight (that's why I told you to ask JD).
I can't remember the state it came from, but that's beside the point. Anyways, I believe JD actually found this walnut under an old tarp. There were walnut boards roughly 2" thick and very wide (3' or so, give or take), hiding under there. This stack of boards was laying behind a barn belonging to an elderly woman. The elderly woman explained to JD that her father cut down the walnut tree when she was a child some 70 years ago. She remembered riding on the boards tied to a horse as her father had them pulled down the mountain. He then stacked the boards behind the barn for future use and they have been there ever since.
Those are the bare bones of the story, but I hope it's enough to give you an idea. That must have been some tree, I've never seen walnut like this anywhere else. My guitar actually has a "brother" guitar built from the same boards, which belongs to a man named Tom Freridge. I don't believe he is a member here, but he hangs around Reso-Nation every now and then. His guitar has quite a bit more red in it, and has the old body style, with the squared off headstock and inlayed fish hook in the neck heel.
I hope I didn't bore you all, but I thought the history behind the guitar was really interesting when JD told me. Sure, there are more impressive histories out there, but this just seemed to make the guitar even more special.
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Life''s too short - sit back, relax, and enjoy the music!
-Brent
Edited by - SlimPickins on 05/21/2009 13:50:04
Tom Jr. - Posted - 05/21/2009: 05:46:52
Great story! That is the woodworker's equivalent to the urban myth of an old lady having a 54 Corvette sitting in the barn that her son bought before the war and it has just been sitting there ever since.
I finished my first dobro just in time for IBMA last year. About seven years ago, I was on a job where a landowner was clearing out some locust trees for a new house. I asked if I could cut them up for fenceposts and they said sure so I loaded them up and stacked them in the field in the post pile. They sat there for five years creating a happy home for countless snakes no doubt and all the bark just fell off like will happen with that tree over time. Black locust is very resistant to rot (as is black walnut to some extent) and there was no deterioration. It has always been one of my favorite types of wood and I wanted my first guitar to be different so I decided to use that locust. I grabbed a chainsaw and started hacking chunks off the bigger of the seasoned posts. I was able to cut fairly clean strips from 4"-6" wide about 1/4" thick and some neck blanks. I got right to roughing out the neck and let everything sit for a little over a year in the hayloft because even after five years in the field, the lumber was still substantially green after being cut out. Then I started cutting and scraping and glueing and learning a whole heck of a lot. I bent one set of sides and when taken off the clamps, they sprang back almost straight again. My dad called it a $30,000 guitar because he wouldn't work with that wood again for less than that amount.
For the soundboard in the back, I used an old soundboard given to me by a piano repairman that had been removed from a 100+ year old Steinway piano. I sanded that down to guitar thickness and left the Steinway crest exposed on the back. The wood was very soft and flexible, way softer than any guitar soundboards I have ever felt. I used the bracing wood from the old soundboard cut down to guitar dimensions also.
The headstock is a Classic OO horseshoe welded to a length of steel inlayed and screwed down the neck under the fingerboard. The nut is a monstrous affair that has its own story. My dad had a basset hound that would bury bones for six months to a year after chewing on them. Dad would then cut them down a little and save them. I used a big chunk and shaped it to follow the contours of the horseshoe in the rear so at its thickest point, it is nearly 5/8" thick at the bottom. After string it up, it sounds great and I'm a little scared to make another one thinking I probably won't have the success I had on this one. There are more pieces of wood drying in the hayloft though.
Don''t squat with your spurs on.
Square Neck - Posted - 05/23/2009: 09:21:01
Tom,
You can't write something like that without putting some pictures in your album. LOL..
Tom Jr. - Posted - 05/26/2009: 05:57:48
I have a pile of pictures. I'll get some more in my photo album. There are about a half dozen in-progress pictures in an album called Fencepost on my page. Fencepost is the name I have given this creation.
Don''t squat with your spurs on.
Square Neck - Posted - 05/26/2009: 06:16:42
Cool stuff Tom!! Looking forward to more!!
Now....
I know this is sort of like cheating but I could not resist
....
I used microsoft "paint" to cut and paste some pictures together to get a half ass preview of how the Koa and Chestnut might look next to the top purfling.....
Tom Jr. - Posted - 05/26/2009: 07:56:58
God bless computer pasting. That is a great look. The woods set each other off very nicely. I just looked up Warsaw Ohio. About three hours from me. I'd love to JD's shop and your new baby.
Don''t squat with your spurs on.
fbounds - Posted - 05/26/2009: 08:12:41
I can't wait to see pictures of the real one when you get it. JD does really fine work.
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."
--Mark Twain
Square Neck - Posted - 05/31/2009: 14:13:42
This is the one that give me inspiration for the Koa with Chestnut binding...
I ripped these pics off JD's posts and his "my space" (hope you don't mind JD). I just put them together to make it easier to see them all at one time..
fbounds - Posted - 05/31/2009: 15:38:39
Gorgeous guitar! Can't wait to see the pictures of yours.
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."
--Mark Twain
Tom Jr. - Posted - 06/02/2009: 05:27:45
Good looking guitar. I can't put my finger on it but JD's guitars look very classy in a simple way.
Don''t squat with your spurs on.
fishook - Posted - 06/07/2009: 17:15:03
Ya mean ,.kinda like this new Brazilian beauty ,.... LOL! I enjoy posting the candy ! My job is to keep you guy's up at night dreamin !
MitchC - Posted - 06/07/2009: 18:02:13
Give us some more eye candy JD !? Lotsa pics.... front, back, full shots. If yer gonna tease us, might as well go all out ? Oh yeah, and you might mention whether or not this beauty is spoken for ?
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virtualstudiosystems.com/artis...istID=137
fishook - Posted - 06/07/2009: 20:02:53
.
This guitar will be Availible after 6/17 ,.....interested players can IM me ,...
Edited by - fishook on 06/08/2009 16:27:33
Square Neck - Posted - 07/06/2009: 20:12:41
What about the Thursday, what??
Did someone say something?
alaya - Posted - 07/06/2009: 20:34:15
Warsaw? That's less than 20 miles from here.
Square Neck - Posted - 07/06/2009: 21:13:36
Mitch...
Hey no problem at all!! It is actually right on topic sort of??
I have to say congrats on your hook!!
You will have to post some more pictures when you get her.
Arrowsmit - Posted - 07/08/2009: 04:45:05
Gorgeous guitar Mitch, congrats! Post a full picture of the Brazilian RW back? Is the neck mohogany? - Very nice! Be sure & give us a full review after you get it.
Vic
The more I learn about playing this crazy thing the more I realize how very little I know about it...
fishook - Posted - 07/08/2009: 06:18:08
Vic ,..Its 100 + yr dry ,.... black walnut neck material with koa stripe . Found the walnut in an old corn crib under a rotted tarp ,...cross cut slabs 28" x 3" 10' long . The elderly woman (mid ninties) said her uncle cut it when she was 4 yrs old . I acquired it eight yrs ago .
SlimPickins - Posted - 07/08/2009: 07:09:20
So that walnut neck material is from the same batch as my black walnut Fishook! That is the story I was trying to remember. Thanks for clearing that up JD!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Life''s too short - sit back, relax, and enjoy the music!
-Brent
Arrowsmit - Posted - 07/08/2009: 10:12:42
Amazing story JD! What have you got, some kind of (antique wood) radar or something? 
Mitch, thats a heckova guitar & it's gotta be just just dripping w/MOJO...you lucky dawg!
Vic
The more I learn about playing this crazy thing the more I realize how very little I know about it...
Square Neck - Posted - 07/08/2009: 21:31:36
Hey all...
If I dissapear for a while (days/weeks) it is because I think my hard drive is about to go to hell.
Alaya.....I would already be divorced if I lived that close to a builder like JD!! I really don't think you have a choice in the matter LOL!!
alaya - Posted - 07/09/2009: 05:27:28
quote:
Originally posted by Square Neck
Alaya.....I would already be divorced if I lived that close to a builder like JD!!
That thought did cross my mind.
Square Neck - Posted - 07/28/2009: 21:21:12
No pics yet...
Last I heard, JD was bending up the sides....
How do you like yours?
bnorth - Posted - 08/31/2009: 19:08:48
Who was the lucky one to take this beauty home ?
bnorth
Square Neck - Posted - 11/09/2009: 18:04:31
quote:
Originally posted by MitchC
So Squarneck....how's that Koa Fishook comin' along ? Any pics yet ?
Yep!! Just got a couple of my un-finished neck blank....
The wait.......soon, soon to be done!
Arrowsmit - Posted - 11/09/2009: 18:30:43
My goodness that's nice Jim!
Vic
Square Neck - Posted - 11/09/2009: 18:50:34
Thanks bro, cant wait!!!
It's killing me!!
bris48 - Posted - 11/10/2009: 12:33:24
DANG!!!!!!!! Squarneck,,,,
I'm almost jealous
RedLine Resohead
retropicker - Posted - 11/20/2009: 00:38:21
Man, that's nice. He really knows how to work the grains.
Square Neck - Posted - 11/21/2009: 16:28:12
Thanks Retropicker!! JD does have a way wiht the woods.......
Just got a couple more!!!
Arrowsmit - Posted - 11/21/2009: 18:27:08
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a knock-out Jim, absolutely stunning!!
Vic
SlimPickins - Posted - 12/20/2009: 15:44:04
Congratulations Jim! That koa is unbelievable! I can only imagine how it sounds. You chose JD's more traditional body style with the rounded peghead and ebony overlay. Very classy! The only thing missing is the inlayed fish hook on the neck heel. I'm just kind of curious why JD quit doing that... I thought it was his trademark? Anyways, you've got yourself a killer reso, so get to pickin'!
-Brent
bris48 - Posted - 12/20/2009: 16:28:33
DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JIM
AWESOME RESO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you want me to break it in for a week or two just holler and I'll come and get it
NO CHARGE!!!!
NUFF SAID
Bobby
bris48 - Posted - 12/20/2009: 16:29:03
DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JIM
AWESOME RESO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you want me to break it in for a week or two just holler and I'll come and get it
NO CHARGE!!!!
NUFF SAID
Bobby
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Can't wait!!!!
