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I
hand-craft quality, one-of-a-kind Dreadnought and OM size guitars, solid
body electrics, and
high-end Tenor/Baritone/Bass ukuleles for the discriminating musician. All tone
woods are carefully selected for the best possible qualities. The hallmark
of my instruments is an uncompromising attention to fit and finish and
innovative use of a variety of unusual materials, including salvaged and
seasoned old growth woods found here on the farm. I also build instruments
to my own specifications that will be available for direct sale.
My craftsmanship,
quality, and designs are inspired by a lifetime association with music and
stringed instruments. I play them and know what I like. My hope is that you
like the same things I do. Please be sure to read ALL of my website to
get to know me and what I do before you decide to place an order.
Jeff Bosworth
Luthier and Owner
Proudly
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What's New
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I accept
Exclusively!
I do not have the ability to directly process credit cards. It
is more costly to do that and would increase my prices. PayPal allows me
to safely accept virtually any financial instrument, anywhere in the world, for
a very low cost and I can pass those savings on to you. |
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1/3/12
- Coming Soon!
Lanikai Ukulele!
I have been asked by the Hohner
company to become an internet dealer for their superb line of Lanikai
ukulele. They have a great selection of ukes in a variety of sizes and
tonewoods that rival the very best ukulele brands out there. And, most
importantly, their inventory and availability is exceptional. I'll be
creating a new page soon displaying all the ukes I will be able to
offer. Stop back in the near future to browse it.
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3/11/11 -
New! Custom Rosette Decals.
Five new designs to choose from and three sizes. See my
Rosettes page... Samples:
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1/21/11 -
Custom-made Cigar Box
Ukulele! As a result of a collaboration between Charles
Zuber, Kala Ukulele, and me, I am now offering custom-made,
 one-of-a-kind cigar box ukulele. Charles is a very talented
uke customer of mine who works in one of the
Barclay-Rex
tobacco shops in Manhattan, NYC.
These are his idea. He's sent me some very cool cigar boxes - the good
kind, made of mahogany and other quality wood with excellent joinery and
interesting designs. By special arrangement
with Kala, I am acquiring their well-crafted mahogany necks,
rosewood fretboards, and quality geared tuning machines to assemble to the cigar boxes
along with polished rosewood bridges from Stewart MacDonald
Luthier's supply. Stainless steel bridge screws are hidden by paua
abalone dots from Australia. Saddles are genuine bone. The headstock can
be
overlaid with hand-selected exotic wood veneers such as Carpathian
elm burl, padauk, and bloodwood. Your choice of Aquila
or Worth strings. High-end Gotoh tuners are also available
for additional cost. The ukes will be
principally sold at the Manhattan tobacco stores and are available direct from
me on a limited basis.
For prices, see my
Custom Orders page. Note
that prices may vary depending on the quality and rarity of the cigar
box. It takes a while for Charles to collect and send me just the right
cigar boxes and then I build each uke by hand. So be prepared for a wait
(though not as long as a scratch built instrument). A current project
involves building a custom uke from an antique cigar box a customer has
had for quite some time. You may want to convert that old cigar box into
a uke, too.
Contact me to place an order and be sure
to read the custom order page to
understand the process for my custom creations. |
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4/1/10 -
J.W. Bosworth Custom Guitars is
now an authorized dealer for the super high-quality line of
Mi-Si Electronics Design
battery-less preamps and accessories.
A web page with product pictures, descriptions, technical data,
and competitive prices will be posted on this site soon. Check back
frequently. |
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3/26/10 -
Prices on K&K Sound
Pickups and Accessories have been slashed 10%!
See the K&K Sound page for details. |
October 20, 2009. I am now an
authorized dealer for K&K Sound acoustic pickups, preamps,
and accessories. See the list of K&K Sound products
and my special prices by clicking here or the logo to the right.
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Sept. 23, 2008 - By request, I will now
be adding a "Gray Squirrel" brand of fretted mountain dulcimers
to my line of hand-made instruments. Look for some interesting designs
and tone wood options. Note: I have a pet gray squirrel named Chipper
who I rescued as a tiny baby 2 years ago. After many failed attempts to
release him back into the wild (he refused to be left out in the woods),
he has taken up residence in my office in a huge multilevel ferret cage.
He's my buddy and I am the only one who can handle him without gloves.
There's more to the story, just ask me if you want to know.
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Sept. 10, 2008
- J. W. Bosworth Custom Guitars is now an authorized
Kala Brand Music Company Dealer in the
Midwest and online! The Kala Ukulele catalog and my price list is
available here. |
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Sapele/Englemann Spruce Tenor Ukulele Now Under Construction
(click pictures for larger image):
This uke will have nicely ribboned sapele
sides, back and neck, neck is hand-carved; a hand-picked
Englemann spruce top; custom designed spruce top bracing; hand-laid
Australian Paua abalone rosette with bloodwood accents; Martin-style
backstripe, rosewood fretboard and
hand-carved bridge; Paua abalone fretboard dots; ebony bridge pins with
abalone dots; bloodwood headstock veneer; bone nut and saddle; bloodwood
bindings; gold Gotoh enclosed geared tuners with amber knobs;
hand-rubbed gloss lacquer finish, and many other features. The uke's design
is based on an original plan by
Hana Lima 'Ia
of Honolulu, HI, but adds features of the early C. F. Martin ukuleles. See
my custom instrument information
here.
- Overall length: 27-1/8"
- Scale length: 17"
- Total frets: 18
- Frets to the body: 14
A K&K
Sound pickup and preamp is installed.
Gluing neck scarf joint |
Neck and sides being
fitted |
Neck joint fitting. This method of joining the neck to the body is
called Spanish style. It ensures a very strong joint |
Edge gluing bookmatched halves of the Englemann spruce top. The edges
have been jointed and then sanded to perfectly join together with no
visible seam |
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Update, July 27, 2009: |
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Here, the Paua abalone rosette pieces have been edge matched and glued in place on the spruce
soundboard. Under it is the sapele back that has been bookmatched and
edge glued with a Martin-style marquetry backstripe.
It's not easy to see it, but
inside the soundhole is a ~1/8" wide veneer of Bloodwood. This will
match the body purfling as well as the headstock veneer. |
View of the sapele back with the backstripe. Both the soundboard and the
back have since been thickness sanded and all the glue marks are gone.
The backstripe is laid up with
tiny pieces of mahogany, poplar, and maple. |
Views of the sapele neck being
rough shaped. Large areas were carved out using my drill press with a
hole saw and sanding drums, my table saw with a jig to create the
curvature of the heel, and my band saw for the tapered areas.
Rough shaping is probably
the hardest and slowest task. I work with a sharp chisel, a rasp, and a
Dremel tool to get the shape just as I want it. The sapele is both hard
and soft - difficult to shape but easy to damage. No following of plans
here, it's all by eye...
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Two views of my Go-Bar deck
being used to clamp the carved spruce back braces during gluing.
I pre-shape my braces using
a scroll saw and once they are glued in place, I use a sharp chisel to
fine tune them. |
8/4/09: Top and back with carved spruce braces
installed.
This laser-cut rosette can be
installed to appear to float in the soundhole. It doesn't affect
tonality or volume and adds a beautiful accent to the ukulele. Other
sizes, designs and wood types are available. These rosettes can also be
installed in dulcimers and guitars as sound port covers. |
Top braces close up. Note the scalloping
that is more typically used on larger acoustic instruments.
Back braces close up with label. (Note: the braces are quite straight.
The camera's wide angle lens makes them look curved and not quite
parallel) |
Gluing top to sides in jig. Kerfing (1/4" square blocks of mahogany) is
being glued in to strengthen the joint.
Close-up of kerfing inside lower bout. Kerfing also provides the wood
depth needed for the binding channels while still maintaining top/side
joint strength. |
I sent the Bloodwood headstock
veneer and my digitized logo to a friend, Al Ursich, who owns a
"digital" workshop. Using a 20W laser engraver, this is what he
produced. The name will be painted black and the guitar shape will be
gold leafed - all by hand.
See more of Al's work at the
Pocono
Digital Woodshop.
Back of headstock with veneer laminates. Bloodwood on top, then white,
then black. |
Kerfing installed, back ready to be glued on. |
But wait!
Let's install a K&K Sound Twin Spot pickup
system and a K&K Sound PrePhase preamp before we put on the back.
The pickups are installed directly under the bridge saddle position and
in between pairs of strings. |
View of the gold endpin switch jack. This will match the gold Gotoh
geared tuners. |
K&K Sound PrePhase preamp peeking out of the soundhole. This has
a volume control and a tiny switch to control the output phase of the
pickups. This is very effective in cutting down on feedback.
This little baby, when plugged into my Peavey amp at volume level
3, just about knocked me out of the room when I tapped on the
soundboard. Incredible sensitivity and tonal qualities. |
This series shows how the back is glued to the
sides of the ukulele. |
I'm using spool clamps that were originally
designed for violin building. |
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8/5/09. New tenor uke tonewood set from Pat at YKnotWood - Pau
Ferro, also known as Brazilian Rosewood. |
Another new uke tonewood set from YKnotWood -
Satinwood from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). |
A similar ukulele is also under construction with lightly figured
premium Oregon
myrtle back and sides. Myrtle is much like maple in its tonal qualities.
The back halves in this picture are actually the same color - the
lighting makes one look darker than the other. |
See my
Custom Orders page to order a solid-body Fender
Telecaster style electric
guitar...
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Tonewood Samples (click picture for larger image):
Jatoba (South American/
Brazilian Cherry) |
Bubinga |
Sapele Mahogany |
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Jatoba is an
exceptionally hard and dense wood. It dulls steel tools rapidly. This
wood will be used as a substitute for now scarce Koa since its grain and
color is very similar. The hardness allows for a slightly more ringing
tone than Koa. Jatoba is an exclusive to my instruments - not found
elsewhere. |
Bubinga has
qualities very similar to both Rosewood and Mahogany. It is popularly
used for backs and sides as well as necks and bridges. The figure in
this piece is quite beautiful up close and the color is a rich, dark
rose. Lexus uses
this wood for interior trim in its high-end luxury cars. |
Sapele, from
Africa, is also frequently used for backs and sides as well as necks and
bridges. It is an affordable substitute for Honduran mahogany. This
piece has very distinctive grain and color.
Cadillac uses this wood in their STS
model.
Note:
These images are of the raw wood. No finish has been applied. Imagine
what they will look like with a few coats of lacquer... |
New Tools Added to Workshop (click picture for larger image).
They
are AWESOME!:
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| Grizzly
2HP 17" Band Saw with resaw fence |
Grizzly
18" Open End Drum Sander
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| Added 8/5/09: Blues Creek
Guitar's Binding Machine by John Hall. Used to accurately route out the
channel in the edges of guitars/ukuleles, etc. for the binding material.
The guitar shaped carriage securely holds the instrument level while a
laminate router with a bearing-guided straight bit floats on an
articulated arm. The carriage is rotated with the instrument against the
bit, making a perfect channel at any depth and height required. At
present, I will be capable of installing 0.040" and 0.060" bindings.
By purchasing additional bearings of different diameters, different size
binding channels can be cut. Simple and slick tool. (Larger image
not available yet) |
Ridgid Oscillating Drum/Belt
Sander |
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| Coming Soon! Shark Pro Plus CNC
Router. This computer-controlled router/carver will be used to shape
guitar and ukulele components as well as create intricate 3-D designs in
those components. I will also use this to make other custom wood items
such as signs and carvings. |
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