Wilborn Guitars

Woodwork is complete on Sam’s Nautilus. European spruce over East Indian rosewood.

Another completed Nautilus ready to meet its new owner in Australia. Andy was kind enough to let me use this instrument in the studio, where we have been recording the 4th Frog and Toad album. It performed admirably, and I’m half sorry to see it leave. Such a fun, responsive and cooperative guitar! Sitka over Cocobolo.

My favorite-est guitar show in all the world. This September in New Braunfels TX. I’ll have a very choice Nautilus on my table which I am building right now. (The guitar- not the table…) I’m using wood that I was “saving” for something special. Well, this is special!

BIG V: Bowersox International Guitarapolooza Sept. 27th - 29th 2024 B.I.G. is a unique guitar show designed to highlight handmade luthier built guitars in an intimate se

I just pulled this Nautilus out of the mold and sanded it all clean. The BRW set is flitch matched - from sequential cuts of the same board. I took some pains to match up grain elements, and i think it looks pretty cool. I am building this for the BIG show in New Braunfels TX this September. Oh- that’s an Adirondack top on there , too.

This lovely Brazilian Nautilus goes off to its new home today. It was a pleasure to build with such a fine, rare, quarter sawn set of rosewood. The Adirondack top is no slouch, either.

The incomparable Diogo Cauiby Novaes playing his Wilborn Guitars Arum. This beautiful, winding piece is just one of his many compositions. I'm honored to have a player of his caliber playing my guitar.

Favors of Obedience (Original) An original composition played on a Wilborn Arum Model, Maple and Carpathian Spruce.Recorded at Airwaves Studios in Park Ridge, IL, by John McCortney.

Freshly baked Nautilus in cocobolo and Sitka. The strings have been on for just a few minutes, and it already resonates like a little orchestra in my lap. Man, do I love my job.

Inside a Nautilus.

I cut the profile for my bevels with a template, but there is always a little touch up work to blend the curves together, which I consider to be a critical process if you want the bevels to flow smoothly into the body lines. A sharply raking light a darkened room helps my eye see any lumpiness which needs to be addressed.

Fresh out of the mold, here is my current build- a Nautilus in the classic combination of Adirondack spruce and Brazilian rosewood. Note the super clean, quartersawn Brazilian: a rare bird. This will look luscious under lacquer!

In the works is this cocobolo and Sitka Nautilus. It is always a nice milestone to free them from their exterior mold, trim back the top and back, and sand the sides clean and smooth. All of a sudden, you have a guitar shaped object and you can really see the wood as it will be.

I make bindings and purflings in house. I glue up binding/ purfling loaves, and cut them into ready-to-bend strips. I used to cut them on the bandsaw, and then thickness sand them to spec, but a couple years ago, I decided to eliminate the sanding part and figure out how to cut them super accurately so they were good to go directly off the saw. Here is the resulting jig: a sub-table on the table saw with a spring loaded feather board, and a very thin kerf blade with stabilizers on either side. I can cut these strips to exactly .080” with very little loss, and it is much faster and easier.

Wilborn Nautilus in western red cedar and Madagascar rosewood. Here it is seen without finish, just the pore filler. I’ve been waiting a while to use this set of rosewood- it’s very hard to find inkline Madagascar rosewood of this quality. I expect great warm booming cathedral-like loveliness from this instrument. I’ll have this with me at the LaConner guitar festival in Mat.

Headstock binding. Ebony and maple on Madagascar rosewood. Taking extra time to make the rabbets very clean and precise makes this job a pleasure instead of a chore.

An Ibex in the the white. (That’s luthier talk for complete, but unlacquered) This is my smallest model, at only 12 inches across the lower bout, yet it packs a mighty wallop. Carpathian spruce over Brazilian rosewood . Wait till you see it in finish!

Here’s another example of why Brazilian rosewood is king. In addition to the rich and powerful sound it contributes to a guitar, the sheer variety of grain and colors is astonishing. I love the stark delineation between heartwood and sapwood on this set. This is how it looks with just the grain filler- it’s going to really shine under lacquer.

This guitar features an access door on the tail for easy pickup modification and future repairs. And, of course, a very cool view of the innards.

The inside of the current Nautilus. There’s a pretty nice picture or two of the side laminations, and then the top being clamped and glued into place.

Some progress shots of the current Nautilus. The body is complete, and I’ve applied a couple coats of grain filler. Brazilian and Carpathian spruce. No matter how many times I’ve done it, this benchmark in a guitar’s progress always feels good.