30 Rock Inlay on Cocobolo/Lutz

Here's a new instrument I built for a customer who wanted inlays based on a New York/Art Deco theme. The headstock is based a relief by Lee Lawrie above the entrance to 30 Rockefeller Plaza. On the fingerboard is a rendering of the sculpture of Atlas (also by Lawrie I believe) that is in the plaza.The instrument has a Cocobolo back and sides and a Lutz Spruce top with koa bindings. The customer provided the Cocobolo and had also originally sent me a curly redwood top that was absolutely stunning with the coco. But as I was putting shellac on the top in preparation for binding, the shellac revealed a cross-grain stress fracture that could not be repaired and hidden, so I replaced it with a spruce top. Fortunately I was able to save the sound hole ring and install it in the spruce top. There were other struggles with this one, but I worked through them, and while it is not a perfect instrument, I am proud of how it turned out, and my customer is one happy camper.

Beautiful inlay work.
I was worried from the post title that it would look like Alec Baldwin

I was hoping for a Tina Fey inlay

Very Good Work!

It can be whatever you want it to be. Tina Fey is like Atlas in that she carries the weight of the TV show on her shoulders, and Alec Baldwin is like Zeus/Knowledge sitting in his office up in the clouds occasionally hurling a thunderbolt down at the mortals.

I am the customer, and it is a magnificent instrument! Kevin is an awesome guy and such a pleasure to work with. Once he completes my last uke I will do a full review of them all.