More photos of SE001.

The Selmer SE001 (14)

In the meanwhile I made a Rio rosewood bridge. Some of the frets had to be refretted, I made a new and better nut from bone, placed position dots on the top side of the fretboard (visible only to the player) and finished some touches here and there... Then I applied French polishing to the guitar. Now it was completely finished!
I experimented somewhat with different strings; the standard Savarez Argentine .010 I found a little light. D'Addario has a special set for gypsy guitars but it's a bit dull and without expression, I think. Currently the guitar is stringed with Galli Django strings, a bit thicker than the Savarez but very clear and projective just as well!
Here are som pictures of the finished guitar as it is now. In the future I would like to make the neck a bit thinner, more slender. But for now, she's happy as she is. Recently, the guitar has been played by Andreas Öberg, Ari-Jukko Loumaranta, Yorgui & Gigi Loeffler, Mozes Rosenberg, Jokke Schreurs and Popy Basily. They all agreed somewhat: it's a characteristic gypsy all right, but the neck is a bit thick and because of that she works a bit stiff for the left hand. But those things can be arranged, things can only get better!

The Selmer SE001 (13)

Some views of my Selmer guitar when the strings were put on for the first time...

The Selmer SE001 (12)

Now that the body and fretboard were completely finished, I started work on the bridge. First I fitted on an Indian rosewood bridge, to check the hight of the strings, the action and such. The tailpiece and tuning mechanisms were already in place.

The Selmer SE001 (11)

Here are some photos from an inbetween-stage: the body is completed, the fretboard fretted, the headstock ready and the back rounded. There's still a lot of work to be done, but there's no harm in fitting on the hardware now just to see how beautiful she will become when she grows up!

The Selmer SE001 (10)

Now I rounded the neck. I may have left it a bit plump and thick; but better to have room to take some wood off later than take off too much -- you can't glue the scrapings back on later!