Happy New Year!

Well, it is the end of 2011. So it’s time for my annual Happy New Year blog post. It has been a really great year for Clay Conner Guitars. I feel very fortunate to be able to make a living doing what I love in such a rough economy. Many thanks go out to my friends at Guru Guitars. They continue to run a great shop and keep me buried in repair work! Check out their website at www.guruguitarshop.com. Better yet buy a vintage guitar or amp from them! You won’t be sad. As I sit here trying to catalog all of the news worthy items that have transpired this year, I’m finding it hard to sort through everything. So much has happened and so many ideas have floated through my head over the past year it seems like one big blur. The custom guitar side of Clay Conner Guitars has been growing slowly and steadily, but it has done so largely on its own. I have been so busy with the repair work for Guru that I haven’t had much time to work on promoting my own instruments. Somehow amidst all of the chaos, I’ve have managed to produce and sell a few guitars. One of the big highlights of 2011 was our very successful trip up to the Montreal Guitar Show. It was my first time exhibiting at a major international exposition. I was honored to be a part of it! My instruments got a lot of attention, I met a lot of great people, and sold a guitar! It was a great experience and definitely the kind of exposure I need. I’ve been invited back for the 2012 show, and I’m looking forward to the trip! Over the last couple of months, I have been thinking a bit about what goals to set for 2012. The obvious goal is more sales...but ideas of balance and sustainability have been rattling around my head for most of 2011. One of the down sides to doing repair work is that the thousands of guitars that cross my bench serve as constant reminders of just how many instruments already exist. There seems to be a never ending flood of guitar companies churning out product. I occasionally get to the point of wondering why I need to add my own screaming to the noise of it all. I recently watched a documentary about Ayrton Senna, one of the worlds greatest Formula One racing drivers. After winning his first world championship, he was asked by his mother when he was going to stop racing, he answered: “I can’t stop.” I’m paraphrasing, but I kind of feel the same way about my guitar building...I can’t stop. So the question for 2012 is: How do I grow this business into a company that I enjoy running, which creates thoughtful and meaningful products with minimal impact on the planet, and still be able to pay my bills? I don’t know that I will be able to figure all of this out in just one year...but 2012 will be all about moving in that direction. On a practical level, We’ve finally updated the website. www.clayconnerguitars.com The new site is much more dynamic and it is easy for me to make changes and updates so check back occasionally. The blog,www.projectsonthebench.blogspot.com has been moved over and included in the new site. This will be the last post here at blogger...So check for new posts on the blog button of the website. As always, many thanks go out to everybody who has bought a guitar, inquired about a guitar, sent us an email, joined us on Facebook or Twitter, told a friend about us, or sent us happy thoughts from afar. We are very grateful! Happy New Year! Clay www.clayconnerguitars.com www.facebook.com/clayconnerguitars

Old Guitars (and a new one) Update

Well, I told myself I wouldn't start this blog with a lament about how much time has past since my last post....so...er... let's just jump right into it. For those of you who follow the blog, you know that I have taken on a couple of major rebuilds lately. This past month has been all about reconstruction and restoration. Here is a progress report: After numerous patches and interior work that is hard to take pictures of, the 1956 Martin is about ready for finish. The old pearl ovals inlayed on the peghead are no more. I found some wood that matched pretty well and after some careful work it's looking pretty good...and I didn't screw up the logo. Hooray! Spraying the finish will be tricky though!

Removing and patching the extra fingerboard inlay was pretty straight forward. I had some nice ebony which matched pretty well. Here it is back to the original inlay pattern. After the new frets are installed it should look great!

The back is stripped, loose binding is glued. Everything is starting to look much better.

Here's the body and neck, ready for finish. The top is still pretty rough looking, Unfortunately the play-wear is pretty extensive. I didn't feel that I could clean it up completely without make the top too thin. With a new bridge and pickguard it should look good when it's all done.

Hotrodders have a term I remember from growing up...Resto-rod. As I recall a Resto-rod is a vintage car which looks from the outside to be original. On the inside however, many of the major components have been modernized for comfort and performance reasons. This is the idea which kept coming back to me as I worked on the old Henry L Mason Parlor guitar. Information on this guitar is pretty scarce. From what I can tell it was probably made around 1890 or so. What ever the manufacture date was, the old parlor guitar is very different now! Just for reference, here is the old top. The bracing pattern was designed before steel strings were popular. Even in good shape, it would not standup to the tension of modern acoustic guitar strings.

Here is the new top. I'm sure you can see the difference. In this photo the braces are rough...

To tune the top, I trim and shave the braces. Here the top is almost ready.

On the body, I had to fill in the areas where the old braces met the linings.

Once the linings were all patched and cleaned up, I re-notched them for the new bracing pattern.

Ready to glue the top on!

New top...ready for some finish.

A few coats of lacquer makes everything shiney.

After sanding and buffing, it was time to set the neck.

And then install the new bridge..

The neck was badly bowed. So I pulled the frets, trued up the fingerboard and..

Installed new frets. Then the it was the moment of truth...Strings!

The Henry L Mason lives again! I'm very happy with the way it turned out. It is a lovely little guitar...and it's for sale! Email me if you are interested (connerguitars@gmail) or contact the guys at Guru Guitars (www.guruguitarshop.com). I also finished up the new 504 Jazz jr. Here are a couple of photos. It's for sale as well.

Thanks for reading the blog! Talk to you all soon! Clay