Visited Jim Merrill at Merrill & Co. Fun time with a few pics! :)

ericcsong · #1 02-16-2015, 04:00 PM

Last week I was able to take a journey to visit Jim Merrill at his shop. For those of you who don't know Merrill, he makes some pretty amazing vintage replica guitars. I know there are a few Merrill fans on this board so I thought I'd share my time there.

More info on Merrill can be found on his website: http://merrillguitars.com/

A friend of mine is getting a Braz/Adi Dread coming this week! So we decided to go over for a little preview! We were greeted at his shop and like many luthiers, Jim was one of the kindest people ever. He was so generous with his time and was willing to share his thoughts on building and also give us a little tour of his shop.

Here are some pics!

ericcsong · #2 02-16-2015, 04:02 PM

Look at that rosette and purfling!

blue!

ericcsong · #3 02-16-2015, 04:04 PM

ericcsong · #4 02-16-2015, 04:06 PM

ericcsong · #5 02-16-2015, 04:08 PM

ericcsong · #6 02-16-2015, 04:11 PM

and a classical he is working on

and a uke!

FormerFoodie · #7 02-16-2015, 06:12 PM

Thanks for sharing the pics! Jim makes a wicked awesome guitar and he's on my shortlist of builders whose guitars I covet. One day...

BTW, the figuring on one of those necks is crazy awesome!

Treenewt · #8 02-16-2015, 06:31 PM

[QUOTE=ericcsong;4362598]

Is it just me, or is that a maple back and neck? Looks like Andy Powers is not the only one figuring out a beautiful finish on maple!

Redbeard · #9 02-16-2015, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericcsong

Do you recollect where this top came from? I noticed that it has a popsicle brace, which makes me figure it's not from one of Jim's builds. None of my three Merrill's have that brace.

ericcsong · #10 02-16-2015, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Treenewt

Is it just me, or is that a maple back and neck? Looks like Andy Powers is not the only one figuring out a beautiful finish on maple!

yea, that neck is beautiful

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbeard

Do you recollect where this top came from? I noticed that it has a popsicle brace, which makes me figure it's not from one of Jim's builds. None of my three Merrill's have that brace.

good eye! I believe that's an old Gibson top. Don't quote me! Jim was showing us that those bracings were shaved all the way to the end which is different how he builds. I think he likes to leave some meat near the ends of the bracing so they touch the kerfling more?

The Growler · #11 02-16-2015, 10:16 PM

Cool. Thanks for sharing the pics. Nice rosettes!

Berf · #12 02-17-2015, 02:21 AM

You and the uke look like you were made for each other Eric...
Thanks for sharing all the wonderful pics. Cheers, berf

ericcsong · #13 02-17-2015, 08:37 AM

here are some more fun pics. To me, as a modern guitar guy, was one of the coolest moments. We have a master of vintage guitars holding and playing a high end modern guitar. It was like a bazarro world! And Jim was quite a player!

moga · #14 02-19-2015, 11:09 AM

Yeah.. Eric..thank you for the great pictures..and post..

He's a great guy to talk to.. we could spend more time if we wanted to but didn't want to bother Mr.Merrill's work..

we should visit him more often~..

Fred · #15 02-19-2015, 11:20 AM

Clearly, he's doing way more than knocking off old Martins. Thanks for a wonderful set of pictures...showing a genius at work.