Wilson Burnham Guitars

The Lacote, Stradivari and other guitars of their eras were of poor design. Their size created difficulty in obtaining volume or quality. Vincenzo Scaletti, Guitarra magazine, issue 7, Nov.-Dec. 1965 I found some measurements for an original "Legnani model" by Rene Lacote the other day and with the help of a ruler and compass I think that I came up with a close approximation of the guitar's outline without actually getting my hands on the original. I think that this is a beautiful shape, very narrow waisted and, yes, very bulbous upper and lower bouts. The original has a 595mm string length (23 and 7/16 inches) with 21 frets to the sound hole without a raised fingerboard. Luigi Legnani was a guitar superstar in the 19th century and worked closely with Johann Stauffer of Vienna (the original C.F. Martin worked for him before Martin emigrated to the US) to create a guitar that suited his needs. Apparently it was a sought after style for Lacote was one of many who made a &

A couple of weeks ago a black bear decided that it needed to get into the El Portal Community Center for a snack and went in through the back door. It literally went through the back door and tore it off its hinges. Take a look at the right hand side of the photo above and you can see pieces of the door. The door was made from one and one-quarter inch thick redwood and offered very little resistance to the bear. Here are the claw marks.... Here is the replacement door that I am making from redwood, a little thicker than the original, but I am using the same techniques as the original builder.