Grit Laskin 'Origins of Bluegrass' guitar.

[trevor]

My Current build by Grit Laskin for TAMCO is under way. It's not a mandolin but plenty of mandolin content.

I asked for a Bluegrass theme.

From Grit "After much thought I chose to focus entirely on Bill Monroe, and the very beginning moments of Bluegrass. I’m calling this design “Origins”. Here is what you’re going to see…

Starting at the headstock and moving up the neck:

-A portrait of an older Bill, playing his mandolin (a mandolin HAD to appear, not just because of Monroe’s legend, but because I’m making this for YOU!).

-still in the headstock we begin the history lesson - we see the label from the first single-song record that Monroe made, in 1940, “Mule Skinner Blues”, recording with his ‘blue grass boys”.

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/trevor_moyle/Origins%20inlay%20sketch-1_zpsqpquxhmc.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/trevor_moyle/media/Origins%20inlay%20sketch-1_zpsqpquxhmc.jpg.html)

[tree]

Way cool!

[Fretbear]

Pickguard?

[trevor]

Reply from Grit.

"Monroe’s most commonly seen mandolin did not have a pick guard, but the one he was playing in the image I liked DID have a pick guard, and I wished to remain accurate to the depiction of the elder man, and to accept whichever mandolin was current for him when the photo was taken."

[trevor]

From Grit.

"-next we see the first of the other 3 original members of the Blue Grass Boys (this part drove me a bit nuts since personal changed frequently as the years went by, later—1945-- including Flatt & Scruggs as well). The three originals, which I’ve depicted, were: Clyde Moody on guitar, Tommy Magness on Fiddle and Bill Wesbrooks on bass.

-Since Monroe’s appearance at the Grand Ole Opry was pivotal to his early growing fame, I included a poster from one of his earlier appearances. The poster’s first appearance is as it leans into the design in the midst of the band members."

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/trevor_moyle/Origins%20inlay%20sketch-2_zpshcx7qrzh.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/trevor_moyle/media/Origins%20inlay%20sketch-2_zpshcx7qrzh.jpg.html)

[trevor]

-in the higher frets we see the title to the first LP Monroe recorded, in the actual font, and given the text we can feel how the genre was beginning to take its name. Behind the lettering will be the blue sky as it looks on the album jacket

-in the background to this title we see the stylized portrait of Bill, which actually comes from the right hand side of the same Opry poster we saw earlier. What this accomplished for me however is making Monroe himself the bookends to the narrative.

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/trevor_moyle/Origins%20inlay%20sketch-3_zpsmckn6dd3.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/trevor_moyle/media/Origins%20inlay%20sketch-3_zpsmckn6dd3.jpg.html)

[trevor]

Two hundred and twenty three parts!

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/trevor_moyle/parts%20s_zpszuokzgj5.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/trevor_moyle/media/parts%20s_zpszuokzgj5.jpg.html)

[Mark Gunter]

Looks cool, Trevor! Looks like a lot of work!

[Charles E.]

Two hundred and twenty three parts!

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/trevor_moyle/parts%20s_zpszuokzgj5.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/trevor_moyle/media/parts%20s_zpszuokzgj5.jpg.html)

CNC cut or old school jewelers saw? I bet the latter.

[Oliver A.]

CNC cut or old school jewelers saw? I bet the latter.

You are correct sir.

When it comes to custom inlay, Grit Laskin is truly in a class by himself. His guitars also happen to be extremely resonant. Anyone not familiar with his work should check out his website. http://williamlaskin.com/

I was fortunate enough to know Grit in the early days (70s) when his shop was located just a few doors down from the Toronto Folklore Center. Although he was very busy, even back then, he was very generous with his time and knowledge and had a great influence on my own work. I remember how perfectly organized and tidy his shop was. Only a tool or two that he was using was on the bench. As soon as he was done with a tool, it went back to its place on the wall, even if he was going to be needing it again in a short while. This surgeon like approach, prevented accidental dings in the guitar he was working on as well as eliminating lost time due to trying to find that tool you just had in your hand. 30 seconds to put the tool back could save 30 minutes of searching. After witnessing his approach a few times, I got to thinking that maybe he just cleaned up his shop because he knew I was coming by so one day while over at the Folklore Center, I popped over unannounced, and to my amazement, his shop was as clean and organized as I have ever seen it. This is probably the greatest influence he had on my work style. I'm not quite as surgeon like as Grit, but I'm way more diligent than I was before I met him.

[trevor]

From Grit "Yes all those parts were cut by hand, with a jeweller’s saw. I don’t use CNC for anything. But especially with my one-off,never repeated inlay designs CNC is profoundly impractical."

[trevor]

The headstock!

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/trevor_moyle/ORIGINS%20headstock_zpshlctr6s1.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/trevor_moyle/media/ORIGINS%20headstock_zpshlctr6s1.jpg.html)

[John Soper]

WHOA, Nellie!!

[trevor]

Nearly finished.

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/715/fOAKEv.jpg

[trevor]

http://imageshack.com/a/img922/5162/dKSjdu.jpg

[Jess L.]

Nearly finished.

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/715/fOAKEv.jpg


http://imageshack.com/a/img922/5162/dKSjdu.jpg

Holy @#$% that's AWESOME!!! :mandosmiley: Wow! Very very nice. Like. :)

[Russ Donahue]

Quite a piece of work, indeed.