Members DeepEnd Posted October 12, 2015 Members Share Posted October 12, 2015 A-freaking-mazing! Truly a work of art. I've enjoyed following this and, like gardo, I'm sorry to see it end but also intrigued to see what you'll come up with next. As always, thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted October 12, 2015 Members Share Posted October 12, 2015 I'm fighting my way thru all the customs and CITES paperwork, with luck this will ship tomorrow Some glamour shots before it leaves. Happy Birthday, T_e_l_e You do some damn fine work there Keller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tom Mc1 Posted October 14, 2015 Members Share Posted October 14, 2015 Is it truly the end? I've been away for a while but have read all of your stories. All I can say is Wow. As a hobby builder, I always glean good tips from your posts. Once again a masterpiece with the FK label on the headstock. I'm sure that the new owner will have this on stage as soon as he gets it. You took on the challenge and created a winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted October 14, 2015 Members Share Posted October 14, 2015 Is that stand nitro-friendly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 14, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 14, 2015 Glenn, I think it was only the stands with the surgical rubber tubing that reacted with nitro, but that is a very good point. Either way I do not leave guitars out on stands, only when I'm playing them or taking pictures. I do have one guitar that the PO left on a stand and it did have the finish damaged on the back of the neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tom Mc1 Posted October 15, 2015 Members Share Posted October 15, 2015 All of my builds are nitro. This is a good question in that many high end guitars have nitro finishes. That is all I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 15, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 15, 2015 All of my builds are nitro. This is a good question in that many high end guitars have nitro finishes. That is all I use. According to Martin (which uses nitro on almost everything) - they specifically do NOT recommend lemon oil on fretboards, they say that it can also damage nitro finishes. Its somewhere in their FAQ and is included in the owners manual with each guitar. I've always been a believer that fretboards do not need "feeding" (the wood is long dead, pretty hard for it to get hungry) but lots of people like to oil their boards. No problem with a modern catalyzed finish, nothing will hurt them but if you own a vintage guitar or a boutique one with lacquer it might be wise to follow Martin's advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted October 19, 2015 Members Share Posted October 19, 2015 san francisco...waiting waiting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members papaschtroumpf Posted October 19, 2015 Members Share Posted October 19, 2015 Being a relatively new comer here, I don't get the hints and how I was supposed to know this was for t_e_l_e? Can someone enlighten me, I always like to know more about the community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted October 19, 2015 Members Share Posted October 19, 2015 I wasn't 100% sure who the owner would be either, but assumed it was going to him as it's a lefty & was for someone out of the U.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 20, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 20, 2015 Being a relatively new comer here' date=' I don't get the hints and how I was supposed to know this was for t_e_l_e? Can someone enlighten me, I always like to know more about the community.[/quote'] Most of us that post here very much leave bits of our persona behind. If you hang around much you'll learn about us (and we'll learn about you). There were three solid clues, we figured that someone would figure it out. I'm nervous as hell thinking about all the things that can go wrong in shipment and then worrying that he won't like it when it finally gets there. Other than that, this has been a pretty incredible experience on my part - certainly has pushed me to new limits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted October 20, 2015 Members Share Posted October 20, 2015 freeman already posted some info in his first post in this thread. anyhow, for me everything started out more than a year ago, with a fun comment in the es-175 built thread if he would build me an lefty es335 because of my admiration for his work. as long as i play guitar (more than 20 years now) and have seen the first picture of a cherry red es335 (i cannot remember was it a picture of bono/u2 holding one during rattle and hum time, or was it john lee hooker), i have put an cherry red es335 like guitar on my 10 guitar i want to have wish list. since then i was always in the search for a lefty es 335 guitar, but i never pulled the trigger on an epi dot, i played one once in person in a shop which setup was bad and condition not great (nobody takes care for a lefty in a shop, even less if it hangs there forever), i could play in a shop a real gibson es335, but it was the wrong color (walnut) and from a price point way out of my leaque at that time. but still it remained on the list, looking for cheaper alternatives, which are not cheapo guitars, but it seems nobody does make lefties in an affordable/reasonable price/quality range, i had a look at tokai and some others but nothing was showing up, not new nor used. so last year around this time was my 40th birthday and i haven't got a present for myself, but thomann.de (one of the biggest online music stores in europe) got a lefty es335 standard in stock. i was very very very close to pull the trigger. but somehow i did rethink it, what i really want is an es355, a custom with fancy inlays and all the stuff, but i never seen a lefty been made and asking gibson custom shop to build one.... i don't know what the final decision maker was, anyhow i didn't pull the trigger. some weeks later, when freeman finished the es175, i couldn't resist, i had to ask him via pm seriously, if he would consider such a project. the discussion quickly moved to email and went back and forth. a lot of details have been spoken, a lot of obstacles been discussed. i didn't want to put any pressure on it, cause this (with exports, customs, oversea shipping, being a lefty which cannot be sold if i would jump overboard, he claiming he is not a real builder who cannot give any guarantees etc...) is a really really huge thing. then for some time there was silence, last mail he sent me was, he needs to figure some stuff out and i waited patiently, after a couple of weeks without hearing anything, i thought for myself, ok it was a try and it will not happen, life goes on. when he finally came back with the "still interested" email, i thought hell yeah and he told me of his opportunity to get the pre made wood etc. since then we started to discuss every detail via email, this was somewhere in april. we agreed not to tell for whom this guitar is in this thread, maybe some people like to guess and get some hints, but not much guesses have been made anyhow seeing every single picture of the progress and seeing from the beginning that this will go the right direction, was a great pleasure for me the whole time. now i'm sitting on needles and waiting until i can see and hold and play it in person for the first time. usps tracking service said, it has left san francisco international airport yesterday i for sure will post a HNGD and some pictures of me with the guitar. maybe i will also do some clips, but thats only maybe, cause we have some trouble with our recording computer and on the other hand with two small kids my time is very limited. thx freeman to make this all happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members r0bo01 Posted October 20, 2015 Members Share Posted October 20, 2015 outstanding! always looked for new posts on this one. so cool.congrats to freeman and hingd to t_e_l_e! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 21, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 21, 2015 That's pretty much how it all happened. The fascinating thing to me is that it could have happened in the first place. Think about it, T_e_l_e and I have never met and probably won't (altho if we do go back to Europe I'll make sure to get to Vienna and make it happen). I don't speak his native language, fortunately he speaks mine fluently. This would not have happened if it wasn't for the Internet, Harmony Central, some pig headedness on both our parts, and a lot of blind silly luck. T_e_l_e has been patient, understanding and trusting with all my fiddling around with this project - its taken considerably longer than I estimated, I've never heard a word about that. Money has magically appeared in my Paypal account when it was needed, again, he had no idea other than a few pictures and this thread what he was paying for. In my disclaimer before we started I told him all the reasons this was a bad idea - he wanted to do it anyway. My only promise was that I would do the very best job I could, knowing that it would be far from what I wanted it to be. I came very close to pulling the plug on this a couple of times - frustrated at something (mostly dealing with the paint) I thought I'd just refund his deposit and make this a wall hanger - maybe a dart board. But there would be a breakthrough, things would go better, I'd look at it and say "darn, I like that" and I'd sleep better. When I look at the final product I see the flaws, oh god I see the flaws, but I'm still pretty satisfied with it. Its a hand made guitar, lovingly put together by someone trying to learn this craft and seeing how far he has yet to travel. By his confidence in me, T_e_l_e gave me an opportunity to push my self - I'm very grateful. It's been a wonderful experience getting to know T_e_l_e as we discussed this behind the scenes. Its interesting how really small the world is - he commented on seeing news coverage of our western US fires this summer, I watch his country trying to deal with the refugees streaming across its boarders. We've tried to keep politics out of the discussion (bad idea to talk politics with a customer LOL) but I would like to get more of his view of what is going on in Europe right now - it will impact the entire world. There are two more hurdles - the thing has to get there safely and I want T_e_l_e to like it (but if he doesn't there are two left handed players in my home town who said they would give it a home) Thanks T_e_l_e for allowing it to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted October 21, 2015 Members Share Posted October 21, 2015 anyhow seeing every single picture of the progress and seeing from the beginning that this will go the right direction, was a great pleasure for me the whole time. now i'm sitting on needles and waiting until i can see and hold and play it in person for the first time. usps tracking service said, it has left san francisco international airport yesterday i for sure will post a HNGD and some pictures of me with the guitar. maybe i will also do some clips, but thats only maybe, cause we have some trouble with our recording computer and on the other hand with two small kids my time is very limited. thx freeman to make this all happen This whole post was excellent. It must be amazing to have such a record of the build. I can't wait to see it in your hands.Thank you for the great story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted October 21, 2015 Members Share Posted October 21, 2015 Great story and a great thread. Congratulations and Happy (Pending) New Guitar Day to t_e_l_e and Congratulations on another amazing build to Freeman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted October 29, 2015 Members Share Posted October 29, 2015 it has arrived, can't wait to plug it in. more details later, just want to let you know i'm happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gp2112 Posted November 2, 2015 Members Share Posted November 2, 2015 Congrats on your NGD t_e_l_e. Freeman, nicely done. As one who appreciates (vicariously) the work and patience that goes into making guitars, I salute you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vibroluxman Posted November 15, 2015 Members Share Posted November 15, 2015 Beautiful guitar. I always love build threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted October 1, 2016 Members Share Posted October 1, 2016 Just read this from start to finish. Kind of thinking about doing my own experimental build this winter. Haven't been to HC in a long while and I'm a little disappointed that there aren't more build threads going on. I guess we all get busy with life and have less time to hang out on the internet. Glad to have seen this though, and hope to see some more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 1, 2016 Author Members Share Posted October 1, 2016 Thanks, this is an old thread and I've done a couple of more recent ones, including Another 335 which I just finished. If there is anything I can do to help let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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