Lolo Creek - Special #090

In this shop I have never done this before, that being, to attempt to recreate a vintage guitar. My strategy was to build it as close as practical to the specifications and materials used for the original, keeping in mind that it was built in the 1930's. My intent was for this to be a learning experience, and I can say without hesitation; yes it was.

The resulting guitar is very close to the original in appearance and suprisingly (to me) in tone. One additional thing that I did was to make a nut out of ebony, like the original vintage guitar, as well as one out of bone. Try them both, since I have not glued either in place, and decide which you prefer.

Some basic specifications about this Lolo Special; the body depth at the neck is 3-7/16", and at the tail block end 4-5/16". The top bracing is all 1/4" non-scalloped and adhered with hide glue. The back braces are also all 1/4" and adhered with hide glue. The bracing placement as well as the soundhole location is replicated to the original vintage guitar.

The neck is a vintage "V" shape, .920" at the first fret and 1.060" at the 9th fret. The bridge string spacing is 2-5/16" and thus the fretboard at the 14th fret is correspondingly wider. The fretboard and bridge are Brazilian Rosewood, and both are adhered with hide glue. The tuners are 3 on a plate Golden Age Restoration from Stewart MacDonald.

This guitar is finished with a very thin nitro-cellulose lacquer sunburst.

Check out the specifications that are located below the photos. We have included the original build specification sheet (in PDF format) at the bottom of the specifications.

Now for the listen test. We have audio clips for the Vintage L00 (dated in the 1930's) as well as the John Walker Lolo Special. Let us know what you think.
Check it out!

Let's set the baseline here. The first section of audio clips will be Bill Neaves alternately playing the LOO 30's Gibson and then the Lolo Special by John Walker. The nut, on both guitars is ebony, and the strings are light 80/20's. Here goes: