Beautiful !!! I bet they sound as good as they look. No Chinee syndrome there.

Aren't they pretty?! Works of art.

You know,of course, about California's newly proposed porn tax? (I type with two hands, thank you very much)

OK, I gotta be honest. I don't like pickguards, especially exaggerated derivations on an Everly Brothers theme. IMO, pickguards should be minimalist, like the Martin OM design, if used at all. Skilled players don't need them, and the top will vibrate to its full potential without a piece of faux tortoise or exotic wood glued to it. The reversed bridge is kind of cool, but won't resonate with traditional Martin followers. The Brazilian rosewood guitar is gorgeous, the maple guitar is equally stunning, but the headstock shape on both is too '80s to be on a traditional dreadnought guitar. Also, the very bulky bridge on the non reversed examples is going to take some getting used too. Other than that.....

Mike,
you're missing the point.
For example, the dark guitar being held up in the barn was once a mahogony tree blown over during Hurricane Charlie.
He saw it by the side of the road, and had it brought home. Now it's a beautiful instument.
Likewise, the blonde one standing in the corner is over 30 years old. It was the first one he made. He saw the wood on the back of a crusher.
He said, "I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew I was going to make a guitar." It's electric, and he played it in a band for a decade.
He gives them away to friends and family.
One was pawned by an uncle that fell off the wagon.
And the ring is pure as an angel.

Unless he has some pretty good connections, I don't think that's actually Brazilian rosewood Mike..

Brazil has all but stopped all exotic exports.

It's walnut and purpleheart.

As a novice guitar player who'll probably never be able to afford a Martin or a Taylor and is very happy with his $200 Ibanez he picked up used many years ago, I have to clean up my keyboard after drooling so much over the photos of the guitars. I'd love to have one so nice. Oh well. Dreaming is free. I'm stuck with champaigne tastes on a Coca-Cola budget.

Anyone, I mean anyone would be proud to own one of those wonderful, handmade instruments! What a amazing talent! To be able to pick up scrap wood from a hurricane and create a guitar that will give pleasure to those who play itand listen to the music it creates for years to come! Wonderful, keep on building them!

I once carved a stick. Of course, I started with a stick....

Here's my latest. A Les Paul signed by Les Paul.

http://www.ohlstein.us/images/guitars/7bec_1.jpg

Beautiful instruments. Speaking of guitars, guess who is #9 on Rolling Stones 100 greatest Guitar songs of all time?

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/page/7

Duane was number 2 on the last RS list I read..

Nancy, I think a lot guitarists have a hankering to build a really cool instrument, but that and actually doing it are two different things.

The 'scrap' materials part reminds me of a guitar that Gruhn's had for sale that was made from the wood of a Mulberry tree that (I think...mulberry)
was on the old Carter homeplace.

Two were made if I recall..one for Johnny, and one for the Daddy of the Carter's whom I can't remember the name of just now..

Too much family reunion I guess...

Regardless..I am captured by the wood source on many of these killer axes, as that's what gives them that special mojo that is so desired.

Great collection of beautiful guitars.

Donnah Lee's guitar friends are great people.
Your comments are very nice.