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This thread was originally published on luthierforum.com under the title of "Grace ~ Another Six Stringer" and at http://www.tuthiercom.org under the title of "the Padma Builds Grace"



the Padma Builds Grace

Well me started another one.

Is addicting this building stuff.

Gonna call her Grace and hope the lessons learned in building Gratitude are realized in Grace.

I wouldn't call this a reincarnation of Gratitude, is more of an in~spire~men~t from building Gratitude.

After a delicate sound, gentle and sweet with a clear ring in the upper ranges and a buzzie wuzzie growler in her gut. Gotta really push the recurves to get there. Probably come in at a 24 in string length. Yup another experimental build for sure.

There are no drawings...no measurements written down...All is just vague memories in me head. Now as long as me don't loose me head, all should work out.

Birch; a Red Bear donation from the Mario, thanks Mario; Padauk; White wood Holly gift from the Jesse, thanks Jesse; and some really dark brown and darker brown (as in black) grained stuff me no not what it is or from were it came. It appeard one day about a week or so ago and is just enough to do one build with. Hmmm...




Parabolic or domed carved top but with the recurve on the inside so the top is one big curve.
Back ...probably leave it in one piece and carved just like the top with the recurve on the inside.


At first I thought this Chocolate brown and black stuff was cocobolo but she no got the smell...is easy to bend. Perhaps someone here might be able to ID it.




This is the Santa month ...yay...so do not be expecting regular post on this one.

Ya, I was gonna do a mando, but truth be known...I wouldn't wanna subject anyone to
try playing on them tiny frets, or me from trying to fret her. Guess thats attitude left over from playing a bass all me life.

Regarding the bending of the wishbone sides, kurfing and back carving. The process is identical to many of my other builds.
As such they have not been posted...if interested, I refer you to my other builds on this site which document this process.



So I got the back on.




Started carving this Kermodi Red Bear top, and encountered this.



At first I thought I had caught it with the plane in the rough bulking. Scraped it out but it keeps opening up a few 16ths up or down or over. Seems the top has run out that wants to open up ...like as if the wood is spiting herself open. Appears on one half only...now it might appear on the other side but of course it would be on the inside of the top.
So now I gotta decide if its worth spending half a day carving out the back only to find out the top is truly defective. Just another Hmmmm....what to say or what to do....perhaps I will take down the back in this area only and then decide.




Thank you M a r i o for your kind offer.
I believe that this was the free top you original sent for the Gratitude build.
However by the time it arrived I had another top already carved so decided to use
this one on the Grace build.

Now I like a challenge...so tomorrow I will carve out the back and see what I am working with. See if the situation carries right through the wood. The area in question may just fit right under the cantilever fret board. Non the less the situation is a learning one for me and as such I will hold off on accepting your kind offer for a bit. Its the challenges in life that make it all worth while and offers of help that make life easier...

Well after finishing carving the back I decided to use it although the wood seemed to be some what soft or punky and cut best with the chisels at almost 90 degrees to the grain to prevent tear out and grain separation. The tap tone is good.
However as this is another experimental build, I wanted to learn from this piece of wood as to how it would perform. If it was a clients build, the top would have been rejected within the first 5 min of starting to carve it. Non the less I wish to thank Mario for offering to replace it.

Must thank Steve (slstexas) for the design of the "f" holes which I then modified some what.









and ended up looking like this...gonna see / hear what see sounds like...then perhaps
use this design on the head stock, pick guard and tail piece.










Added a small brace to the f hole and somewhat thicker birch parallel braces up ether side of the center to compensate for the softer wood. The wood has a tendency to tear with scrapers so its gonna hafta be sanded down instead. This should prove to be an interesting top.






Top ready for gluing to ribs.










Ready for routing the banding rabbit.



Banding is weng, padauk, and some holley from Jesse.

Laminated, ripped and bent.



Two pieces left to go.



Black African heal and detail of banding.






Thanks Steve

Yes some refinements...all derived from the Gratitude build...In essence its the same design concept
but I toned down all the expressiveness of shapes and curves as they are a real test of my skills and I needed a build that would be easier to get around doing before I go back and attempt perfecting all the tooling that is required to pull off another Gratitude with greater fineness.

Aren't our addictions wonderful.


Banding came out like this...is ok.















Gee, thanks guys

Gary, stranger things have come to pass...perhaps one day you will, and then wish you didn't... cuz then you gonna want one. Ya!

and your right Jim...its all in me head, along with all the rest of me delusions and hallucinations of grandeur...
no big deal...just another oh well.

Ya know Steve, You are absolutely right...Corrupted...polluted...debased and all them words that end in "ed"
In some ways I love it, and in others ... well I think me getting to far away from me mountain roots.
So as soon as I finish Grace, I'm gonna back track and pick up from before I started frequenting this forum.
In fact, me gonna go pull out a neck blank right now, and go at it.





Hmm...

So now whats a guys suppose to do?


the
Exposed
Padma


Ps: Hold on you your hats...you ain't seen nothin yet. Ya!



Slottin for the frets











Gluin her down.





Carving of the heal.








Patched, scraped and sanded.
Then hung up under UV lights to get that 'old patenia' look.







Gonna let it sit for about a week.

We will see how it comes out.

-----------------------------------------

Well, if I let it sit under them UV for about 6 months well then maybe...I get better results exposed to direct hot sunlight
for half a day. Then I find out the UV bulbs gotta be them real expensive suntaning type insted of
the black light painting / party type I've got... just another one of them oh wells.





Thanks guys.


Ok. Here be pics of the finished Grace build.

Had troubles with the first finish and so strip it off and re did her.

Of course this meant loosing the little UV aging that did develop. Oh well.

Oh and Eric, you asked about the UV lights. Well all the UV lighting I got is good for kicking of my black light art work
and works for fast curing a boiled linseed oil finish but as far as aging an old patina effect...well it would take about a month for any descent results although it dose work..but too slow. So I would advise natural sunlight or using the UV lights that the females of our species like to tan under.


So here she is finished.

the
Grace
Build











if you wanna here this Grace Build, a
Sister to the Gratitude build



based on Golden Sectional Proportions
and other mystical mumbojumbo.

the trailer is Now Playing at

http://www.luthiertube.com

"Grace"
.........Mucic by Jils[/color]

http://luthiertube.com/mediadetails.php?key=348f781dfd93a561735b

"You gotta See what a magical sound this instrument has
He has it on the tube WOOOOOOOW
and the playing
and yes it is preformed with out (camera) movement and the clip is a one of a kind true to
let the instrument do the talking outperforming anything to date, You got to see Grace growl
on a lock down camera.*

Well done Padma Well done

I can't believe the sound BRAVOOOOOOO Kootenay Crew
well done. You and your fellow Kooetnay Crew have raised the bar to a new high

..............................................................................................Mario luthiertube.com

*NOTE: This video was produced for a contest with a rule of only using a lock down camera. Ya right me say to me self...are we gonna have fun with that rule


and now for our full length feature...


"Jils plays Grace"



http://luthiertube.com/video/287/jils-plays-grace

"this one you gotta see
WOW what a sound and what great playing"
....................................................................Mario ~ luthiertube.com

..............................


Check it Out Dudes!




Blessings
the
Padma









After notes:

A few weeks after finishing Grace, this here young picker from Edmonton Alberta
walks in to visit the Jils. He eyeballs the Grace and made me an offer I could not refuse. Yup,
sold her to the first person to play her after Jils recorded her. Nice eh.

Quote:

Great sound out of such a small archtop.

The design is pretty neat too.

Original stuff - no copy here.

~ Steve




I'm so thankful you are part of this forum, Padma.

What a treat, that funny and wonderful video!

Great sound, wonderful playing, and the actor playing Padma was good too, but I think he padded his part.

~ Jim



Very nice Padma, very nice!
Your design and your complete in touch building style is one for us to learn and experience!
I think you could have found more places for more locks!

Thxs
~ Hugh


That big you are the Padma!
Simply great, I want to hear his sound.... I am going to play that instrument.......
What a great musical instrument!
~ Manuel.



Padma - you crack me up ha ha ha. You are quite the comedian - and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video!!

~ Gary




What a great looking guitar.

And it sounds nice too.

You are fortunate to have a player of that talent too.

Nice job.

~ Steve


Lockdown (camera)! Yeah, you got 'er locked down all right. Fun video!

Nice hot licks by Jils, and a wonderful instrument. It really looks like it is fun to play!

Maybe this summer, you and I will converge at the Gathering 2008, and maybe by then I'll have my own "Grace" finished, and we can have a Grace-off or at least we will be full of Grace.

Thanks Padma, I get a lot of joy from your work play!

~ Dennis



Hey, most cool, Padma San; Fun, great lines, sweet voice - Way nice!

~ Sludge aka Eben



Excellent video, very cool instrument, incredible guitarist, crazy luthier...it's got it all! Good stuff Padma...

~ Glenn

Blessings
the
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

No bondo!

_________________
"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

Padma, I have been poring over the threads on "Grace" and "Gratitude", and I must say I am very impressed by your concept and your intuitive building style. I think these instruments incorporated a very interesting flow of line, and I think the profiles are particularly beautiful.
I also found your drawings in the "Gratitude" thread to be very beautiful, and they clearly illustrate how so many of your dimensions and curves are derived from scale length. It's all pretty fascinating to me, and inspiring, too. I expect quite a few forum members are scratching their heads right now and doing freehand sketches of curves and shapes. I'm glad you photographed some of your low-tech methods--such as fret slotting. You've just gotta love that L-bracket doing double duty as a square. I think a lot of people will be reminded that
simple tools can produce excellent results. It's all up to the craftsman. To me, the whole concept behind your instruments is fairly radical, but I want to congratulate you for following your concept. You are obviously very pleased, and Jils seems to get the most out of "Grace".
I'm sure her new owner is equally delighted.
Nice, thorough job on the lockdown, too....
Patrick