Scott French
@scott-french.bsky.social
Guitar builder, software dev, and family man from Grass Valley, CA. Connoisseur of unique instruments and other things made of wood. #veryfancyguitars
https://www.scottfrench.com
https://www.scottfrench.com
I thought my fun was over with the @chasebliss.bsky.social Mystery Box, but then I found a trade partner for a CB pedal I really wanted so I’m sending out this MOOD MKII with a few extra goodies.
February 1, 2025 at 5:37 AM
I thought my fun was over with the @chasebliss.bsky.social Mystery Box, but then I found a trade partner for a CB pedal I really wanted so I’m sending out this MOOD MKII with a few extra goodies.
The Chase Bliss Mystery Box has arrived! It was supposed to come last Friday while I was at NAMM, but there was a delay with UPS so I got to be around when it showed up. What a cool project that has been so fun for everyone involved. I can only imagine the huge amount of work it must be for every...
January 31, 2025 at 8:01 PM
The Chase Bliss Mystery Box has arrived! It was supposed to come last Friday while I was at NAMM, but there was a delay with UPS so I got to be around when it showed up. What a cool project that has been so fun for everyone involved. I can only imagine the huge amount of work it must be for every...
Decided to dress up with my kids this year. Had a silly idea that MacReady from The Thing might have a keytar instead of a flamethrower, but a keytar-flamethrower seemed even better. Here I am from The Thing: The Musical. I let my hair down with some plumbing supplies and hot glue and this is the...
January 31, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Decided to dress up with my kids this year. Had a silly idea that MacReady from The Thing might have a keytar instead of a flamethrower, but a keytar-flamethrower seemed even better. Here I am from The Thing: The Musical. I let my hair down with some plumbing supplies and hot glue and this is the...
Reposting this one again in celebration of Marnie being listed in Rolling Stone's top 250 guitarists. Super excited for her, she is awesome.
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Reposting this one again in celebration of Marnie being listed in Rolling Stone's top 250 guitarists. Super excited for her, she is awesome.
We got our son a 3D printer for his birthday and he was nice enough to let me print a few little organizers off of the @carbide3d 3D print library. While they were printing I cleaned the garage and for the third time I lost some small pickup parts in the shuffle. That inspired me to quickly throw...
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
We got our son a 3D printer for his birthday and he was nice enough to let me print a few little organizers off of the @carbide3d 3D print library. While they were printing I cleaned the garage and for the third time I lost some small pickup parts in the shuffle. That inspired me to quickly throw...
Had a fun day down at @kauerguitars Kauerfest 2023. Lots of good people and cool guitars. I think my highlight was the young band playing 'Heart Don't Stand a Chance' very nice! Finally got to meet @w00dendan and @justinmotanderjones in person and it was great to chat it up with them as well as a...
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Had a fun day down at @kauerguitars Kauerfest 2023. Lots of good people and cool guitars. I think my highlight was the young band playing 'Heart Don't Stand a Chance' very nice! Finally got to meet @w00dendan and @justinmotanderjones in person and it was great to chat it up with them as well as a...
Updated my website with the latest last night, but there's not a ton of new info if you're already following along here. Link in bio anyway if you want I to check it out. I was also working a lot over the weekend to get some new parts done on the CNC, but had some issues with my machine. Ran out ...
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Updated my website with the latest last night, but there's not a ton of new info if you're already following along here. Link in bio anyway if you want I to check it out. I was also working a lot over the weekend to get some new parts done on the CNC, but had some issues with my machine. Ran out ...
V2 of this combo recessed sidejack thing is looking a bit better, but still not quite there. Not sure what it needs but will take a break and look at it with fresh eyes later.
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
V2 of this combo recessed sidejack thing is looking a bit better, but still not quite there. Not sure what it needs but will take a break and look at it with fresh eyes later.
Getting into some weird stuff now I made V1 of this combo recessed side jack. The idea here is it is overly thick, so when it gets mounted into the side of the guitar there should be enough material proud of the edge that I can profile it to match the curve of the body and still have everything t...
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Getting into some weird stuff now I made V1 of this combo recessed side jack. The idea here is it is overly thick, so when it gets mounted into the side of the guitar there should be enough material proud of the edge that I can profile it to match the curve of the body and still have everything t...
I'd been stressed about this routing for quite a while so I'm stoked to move along now that it's done. Some fun stuff coming up so it's exciting to be moving forward on this project. Woot!
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
I'd been stressed about this routing for quite a while so I'm stoked to move along now that it's done. Some fun stuff coming up so it's exciting to be moving forward on this project. Woot!
We're far from perfect, but survived another round on the CNC without too many close calls! This is the first time I carved the top first and did all the top routing after the fact. I've seen it done this way with a pin router before but never messed around with it myself. I think I like this met...
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
We're far from perfect, but survived another round on the CNC without too many close calls! This is the first time I carved the top first and did all the top routing after the fact. I've seen it done this way with a pin router before but never messed around with it myself. I think I like this met...
Random thought for the day here in my 40s I'm starting to realize that so much of the 'depression' I've experienced throughout almost my entire life was actually the completely normal response to slowly uncovering the incongruity between what we were taught our country and wider local communities...
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Random thought for the day here in my 40s I'm starting to realize that so much of the 'depression' I've experienced throughout almost my entire life was actually the completely normal response to slowly uncovering the incongruity between what we were taught our country and wider local communities...
Friday night carving! Worked on the neck earlier and cleaned up the headstock transition area real nice. Next worked on the top again after many weeks. Getting things finished up so hopefully we'll be connecting these two pieces in the not too distance future.
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Friday night carving! Worked on the neck earlier and cleaned up the headstock transition area real nice. Next worked on the top again after many weeks. Getting things finished up so hopefully we'll be connecting these two pieces in the not too distance future.
July website update is live! Finished off the month with a little neck progress. The temperature is dropping so I took off a few days to work in the shop soon. Looking forward to making some solid progress.
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
July website update is live! Finished off the month with a little neck progress. The temperature is dropping so I took off a few days to work in the shop soon. Looking forward to making some solid progress.
Whew, 97 outside today which meant it was 92 in the shop. Somehow waited until the hottest part of the day to go out to there and work on roughing in this heel. I've been making slow progress on the neck, but with this heat it has been pretty hit or miss. Looks like next week it should cool off j...
January 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Whew, 97 outside today which meant it was 92 in the shop. Somehow waited until the hottest part of the day to go out to there and work on roughing in this heel. I've been making slow progress on the neck, but with this heat it has been pretty hit or miss. Looks like next week it should cool off j...
Ever think back to a time when you were rude to someone in the past? I guess I do it a lot because I have a habit of sticking my foot in my mouth. The case I am thinking of is actually worse because I was being a jerk on purpose. When I was young I worked with someone in a shop and they were alwa...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Ever think back to a time when you were rude to someone in the past? I guess I do it a lot because I have a habit of sticking my foot in my mouth. The case I am thinking of is actually worse because I was being a jerk on purpose. When I was young I worked with someone in a shop and they were alwa...
Finally made peace with the idea of using this fancy roasted maple neck to better match the fancy claro walnut top on this new SF3. My initial plan was some really straight maple and wenge, both perfectly quartered, but this flame maple and ziricote make more sense on this build. I also settled o...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Finally made peace with the idea of using this fancy roasted maple neck to better match the fancy claro walnut top on this new SF3. My initial plan was some really straight maple and wenge, both perfectly quartered, but this flame maple and ziricote make more sense on this build. I also settled o...
I'm really happy how this ziricote fingerboard turned out. I've been working toward this slowly with some tests in maple, but ziricote proved to be much tougher to deal with. In the past I could knock out a simple fingerboard really quick 'by hand', so there needed to be some justification for sp...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I'm really happy how this ziricote fingerboard turned out. I've been working toward this slowly with some tests in maple, but ziricote proved to be much tougher to deal with. In the past I could knock out a simple fingerboard really quick 'by hand', so there needed to be some justification for sp...
Top carving is one of my favorite parts of the whole build process. Some highlights in reverse. #1. I sure love these little convex palm planes. Makes this job feel really good. #2. Finished pyramid steps from the CNC. #3. The first outer step done on the CNC so I can quickly do the top roundover...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Top carving is one of my favorite parts of the whole build process. Some highlights in reverse. #1. I sure love these little convex palm planes. Makes this job feel really good. #2. Finished pyramid steps from the CNC. #3. The first outer step done on the CNC so I can quickly do the top roundover...
I hung a piece of black felt in front of my water heater and furnace in the garage and it's made for a decent zero-effort photo setup. Between this and the nice iPhone camera I might not have to pull out the SLR until this one is done.
I got the body shaped tonight to get the weekend work starte...
I got the body shaped tonight to get the weekend work starte...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I hung a piece of black felt in front of my water heater and furnace in the garage and it's made for a decent zero-effort photo setup. Between this and the nice iPhone camera I might not have to pull out the SLR until this one is done.
I got the body shaped tonight to get the weekend work starte...
I got the body shaped tonight to get the weekend work starte...
Made a little progress on the next SF3 this weekend. I was really hoping to do more in the computer, but getting everything right is taking so long and it was so nice this weekend I just wanted to get going. Things are coming along and it should be a good mix of CNC and hand work from here on our...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Made a little progress on the next SF3 this weekend. I was really hoping to do more in the computer, but getting everything right is taking so long and it was so nice this weekend I just wanted to get going. Things are coming along and it should be a good mix of CNC and hand work from here on our...
I don't usually bother sanding anything for show at this early stage, but I had to celebrate this pretty piece of wood a little. Great find for a thick one piece top right here in town. I've been cleaning and organizing the shop a bit this weekend and boy do I have a lot of wide boards at this po...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I don't usually bother sanding anything for show at this early stage, but I had to celebrate this pretty piece of wood a little. Great find for a thick one piece top right here in town. I've been cleaning and organizing the shop a bit this weekend and boy do I have a lot of wide boards at this po...
Feeling inspired by this mini walnut haul. I have to be honest, learning the whole 3D CAD/CAM thing has been awesome so far, but getting the more advanced features of the body and neck into the computer has been a lot more challenging that I thought it would be. Maybe I am going a little further ...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Feeling inspired by this mini walnut haul. I have to be honest, learning the whole 3D CAD/CAM thing has been awesome so far, but getting the more advanced features of the body and neck into the computer has been a lot more challenging that I thought it would be. Maybe I am going a little further ...
Finally got my first few passes in with the @carbide3d McFly Surfacing Cutter and Tiger Claw Clamps. I picked up this old Claro blank today and it was an excellent candidate for surfacing. This isn't perfect compared to a planer, but pretty close and a good option if you are tight on shop space...
January 31, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Finally got my first few passes in with the @carbide3d McFly Surfacing Cutter and Tiger Claw Clamps. I picked up this old Claro blank today and it was an excellent candidate for surfacing. This isn't perfect compared to a planer, but pretty close and a good option if you are tight on shop space...
One more shot of an old Boire bass just because I am so stoked about this new pile of wood. Dreaming Boire and Dolphin dreams for a while. #veryfancyguitars
January 31, 2025 at 7:56 PM
One more shot of an old Boire bass just because I am so stoked about this new pile of wood. Dreaming Boire and Dolphin dreams for a while. #veryfancyguitars