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We only talking toe nail trimming here Ed.

Blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Well gee thank you for the compliment Timo,

but but but you see Timo, ever since way back when they always accused me of
"thinking out of the box."

But thats not true, you see Timo, thinking hurts me head and knock offs are a real pain in the ask me no questions. So me don't do knock offs and make an effort not to think.

Thinking is only the brain cells vibrating in sympathetic resonance with what ever vibrations are crossing our gray matter at the time and firing off the preprogramed B.S. or prejudices.

What me do do is get the heck out of the way and let the spirit move me pencil.

You hearin what me laying down here.


Blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Well anyways...
untill that sweet young thing with the big brown eyes bonces back in and graces me palm with a down stroke, me shelving this build and gonna carry on and finish carving the top plate for the Easter Lilly Build...want it finished in time for Ester celebrations.

See plate






Will be post again to this Easter Lilly thread shortly.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Dang...

Aw Ed ...don't be disappointed...me still gotts seven other build underway plus a mando that need fixinup.

Me just finished running a new air hose through the house from the basement to the top floor for my air brushes and by this week end the painting studio will be fully operational. The downstairs break out shop is now finally ready to rock and role and the assembly shop on the main floor is in order.

By Sunday the house will be cleaned and back in order from Xmas so by this Monday I will then be able to concentrate on building full time during the day and then painting into the late evenings.

So shelving The Traveler is only till I get caught up on a few of the builds and then me gonna tackle hers if she does the deposit thing or I will do a version of it more to my liking, probably with Padauk and African Black or birch and whatever that really neat wood is that Alan Stassforth gifted Dhu Padma. But The Traveler will be built before the spring hits. Is something me just gotta do.

blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Wow, Pads, sounds like you have the whole house "wired" for building and other artistic endeavors! Wish I could get my wife to agree to something like that!

Well the truth be known Haans, me had to fire the wife along with the mistress and marry or sell off the kids, just to have some peace and quiet space to do things....Yes the whole house is my studio. Two shops a painting studio and a computer graphics room, the rest of the joint is a by appointment only Tantric Buddhist Art gallery. I got a musician as a tenant in one bedroom and a Art student in the basement apt. They pay the bills now that the wife is gone.

Me #2 son and family moved in a little over a year a go, stayed 6 months till me kicked them out. It has taken from last May till now to get Padma~pa House back into working order.

To day me gonna shovel snow, break out some birch neck blanks and backs, shovel more snow, start unpacking me painting studio, and oh ya, shovel the snow one more time. Me try and not let the snow get over 3 inches as it starts to get too heavy for this container to be shoveling. Actually me has gotten pretty good at shovelin snow after all that practice shovelin the other stuff.

So there now you know.

blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Just a quick recap...

Carved arch top of lutz but looks like it might just be cedar now cuz for some strange reason me jointed two cedar plates up instead of a lutz and a cedar. Oh well.
Cedar neck body and back.
Paduk headstock, fret board and banding.
Gold hardware.
Short neck at 23.12 inch string length.


So here it is. Cedar. Two necks from this stick




Me tailpipe and a BBQ starter upper bending away.












In the next three pics you can see the hight of the ribs varies around the perimeter
from as narrow as 7/8 to as wide as 1 1/2 inches. This widening and narrowing of
perimeter produces some real tricky compound curves with the shape of the perimeter,
especially in the cutaway area. Cutting the banding channel gonna be a real trip for
sure...probably do a hand cut. We see...not there yet.

I install the corner and cutaway blocks into the ribs now as I find it easier to have them
structurally in place as opposed to the hassle of planting binding, which if its gonna
get knocked is gonna fall off. Making the corner blocks
in this fashion ends that problem and gives some repair man a headache tryin to figure out
how to get it appart...but then thats their problem. Yes, Padauk banding.


Yes, that is a "twist you see in the body. Is intentional cuz when held the fretboard will be
slightly "tilted" towards the player thus alleviating the "over extended guitar players buzzards
neck" that pickers get from constantly sticken their head out to see the fret board.









Got the plates jointed...should be carving them by tomorrow...maybe. I have
learned that life often has other plans for the Padma.


blessings

Padma

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Lookin' good Padma!
Very cool!!!

Ya know old boy , the old saying , " ya are what ya build " and that thing be looking a bit twisted !!

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
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Up till now its been pretty straight forward basic structural building, you know, framing the wishbone box and carving the top of the top plate....
But now, oh yes now it begins...
the carving and voicing of the plate to ring forth the clear sparkle of starlight in young bouncy things eyes, with the full, open and resonate dark warmth and friendly softness of the infinite feminine being she emanates.

Ummm for those of you who do not understand this languageing of describing sound...go have a chat with your local shaman, curandero or hoofers of the techno trance collective consciousness persuasion.

Bottom line is...me, Padma, while carving this plate, gotta get out of the way while holding sweet young things vibration in my heart and let spirit guide the cutting edge of the blade in me hands . This is done by watching the breath and only putting the plane, blade, scraper to the wood on the annihilation of breath. Ya, is a slow process by them followers of the error in time, chronometer driven robots, however once the state of no mind in communion with the wood is attained too, the carving goes fast an easy.

Flip it over, scribble some mystical mumbojumbo numbers of cosmic import and start drilling



So now its ready to start hogging out the back.





blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Interesting method with the holes.
Did you come up wit dat??

@Alan: Drilling the back of the plates for top and back stringed instruments has been employed by luthiers as far back as the Cremona School and is evidenced in by the tool markings left in the builts by Stradivari, Guarneri and virtually every luthier since then.

@Morelli: Yes is true some use brad point or even forstner flange bits or webfoot augers, as in the pic you posted. However I do not use or condone the use of such bits as they leave a huge messy footprint behind and an inaccurate depth of cut reading to plane down to. This may not be as much of a problem with say a 16 or 17 inch arch top guitar where the profile curves of the top are much less steep in nature than say a violin or for the instruments that I commonly carve. Using a forstner bit to sound down a 3/4 rise over a 3 3/4 run at its widest point as is the top plate in this build is .... like using dynamite in a flat top to make the sound hole.

Yes is true some do use these over sized bits to quickly bulk out a plate and as such this "quick and dirty" method may be of interest to the chronometer regimented builders. Personally I see no time saving (not that it would interest me in the least) nor do I find the large foot print they leave worth the energy to clean up after wards. But thank you for you kind contribution to this thread.


Blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I love the sunburst paint jobs on the lutes hanging in the backround.

_________________
Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

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Thanks Jason, go here if you wanna see some pics of it and its mate building process http://www.luthierforum.com/index.php?/topic/4551-two-mandos/page__st__60.


Made a cradle for the plate out of 2 x fir
and started to hog it out. The process of hoggin it out and rough planing to shape was no more than about 10 min.






Then went to the round bottom plane...took it down to rough shape







Then me checked the tap tone...well me was so delighted with its tone quality me just couldn't help me self, went tribal and started a tappin and a dancing all around me work bench.











Ya me may be crazed in the head, but me ain't stupid. So like when was the list time you
let it all hang out and danced for joy? Hmmm?




Me will now do the final tap carve and voicing of her top. This final step is were me pay real close attention.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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hey Padma,

Whats up with the normal looking mando behind you in a few of the pics?

Yo, soundhole,

Thank you for asking.



There may be a pic else were in this Travel build that shows a "normal" mando... Its in for new bridge and set up. Perhaps you be referring to that.

Ummm, Padma and me builds don't exactly fit normal no how. To really get just what the mandocello in the above pic is about and its mandolin partner, go here http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=21036
and see the thread of their being build. They are now both in the final setup stage but are not high on me list of things to be dealt with. One day.

Enjoy!


blessings
far away from "normal" as possible Padma

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Looks like yer happy with the way she sounds.
Hey, did you come up with that wishbone construction?
It's got me thinking about something......
I don't know what yet,
but sumpthin'....

No alan, me did not.

It is ancient and been around since some indigenous being split a stick, wrapped that spit with skin, or shoved in a gourd for a sound box. There are many examples of this type of "wish bone construction" in the string instruments of "primitive" societies even today.

Then about 20 years back Bob McNalley went in to production of the "strum stick", a 3 stringed, simple wishbone design with a very small flat top and back sound box, thick neck and dulcimer fretting. Its box is about an inch thick and only about 3 inches at its widest point. They are fun and easy to play but not noted for their sonics. They sell on the net for about $100. See youtube under strumstick and dulcitar for videos.


About 10 years ago I looked at the wishbone design concept and thought what it would sound like if treated and build with the same approach used in high end arch top guitars and the violin family of stringed instruments and eventually married and modifying the three ideas into one and started building wishbones.

There are about half dozen or so builders on the web employing the wishbone design using such names as "ducitar" and or "walking stick" as McNally has the name "strumstick" registered. Their efforts are a vast improvement sonicaly, but unfortunately non to my knowledge have taken it anywhere as far as I have. So I post my work on 5 different luthiers forums hoping that my efforts, research and design innovations to the wishbone will be picked up and taken to the next level. Innovations like this take time.

Since then I have gone through many many variations in perfecting the wishbone design in mandos, duclimers, bouzoukis and guitars. As such I have virtually lost all interests in the "add a neck to a box" approach. Still gotta a long way to go. One day me gonna get around to applying it to a violin. But not today.



Blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I'm thinking that's a killer neck to body joint,
because there ain't one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, kinda like the weiss style,
sort of,
but,
not,
really.

Carving of a back plate to fit a non symmetrical compounded curved rim edge.

Me lay the plate flat on the ribs.
Scribe a parallel line onto the edge of the ban sawed plate blank.
Then go at it with chisels. Simple eh!

Once the perimeter seats on to the rims edge, me then sculpt the top and the scoop out the back, just like any other arch top instrument.

Thats how me usually do it.

However this time the blank plate was not thick enough so after scribing the "close to a parallel line" on the edge blank I carved the backs outer profile, then the inner profile and then planed down to the line on the edge of the blank. The plate still did not fit but enough of a profile has been established on the plate to permit its flexing on to the ribs. See bottom pic series..

In this pic you see the carved out back and the lip (inside the oval) that has to be lowered to accommodate the changing rise of the ribs.






The top pic shows the outer carved profile of the back plate. The second in the series shows the finished carved plate...Notice it is rather bowl shaped. In the third pic you see that even though the plates perimeter is now bowl shaped, the plate still needs to be flexed when gluing it to the rim. The final pic shows me very own to hands flexing the plate into place.



So now its make the internal top plates parallel braces, F holes and the closing up of the box.


Blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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So do you think that glueing the back under tension is going to do something? I think there is something to glueing things together in molds, under clamp pressures; How doe's wood respond tonelly under stress vs. settled? I bend my sides by hand, and I let the wood tell me where it wants to go. Binding tells YOU where it wants to break.LOL I think theres some sort of energy "NRG" built up in the making that has something to do with tone. Padma, I love all the curves and the style.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Well Jo, thank you for this post,

Now regarding tensioning plates and braces.

Violin family bass bars are often installed with some spring in them which puts tension into the plate...supposedly this adds power to the voice.

In time this spring will weaken and so will the voice... the plate is removed, (very easy for violins) and a new bass bar installed.

I am aware that in time 5 to 10 years, the response of this back may diminish some what. So it gonna be glued down with HHG. I may just recarve it from a thicker plate, but that means me gotta shovel snow to get down to some of me thick cedar billets and then sledge hammer em to break em loose...naw.

Or I might just make a quick jig, tension it up and cook her in the oven till she starts to relax and to see thing my way. And even if her voice does weaken over time, me not too concerned about it.

Non the less this build gonna be going around the planet, over her shoulder with a smile and an AMX card and will probably be retired in about 5 years after all that road use.

Personally me see it as another prototype that me probably gonna build several variations of. Only I will pay attention to what thicknesses of stock I have readily available inside the shop next time.

However since you took us to NRG "build up" ... me not too concerned about what they say regarding plates under tension.

Now Re: NRG "build up"

Me believe in talking to/with the consciousness of the wood, telling her just what she suppose to transmorph into and perform like. Wood is matter and matter is made up of energy and energy displays the phenomena known as consciousness and consciousness has the ability to receive a stimulus and respond there to it.
Simply put, our intent while tooling the wood is transferred to the wood.

Thats why me say "Watch your thoughts when building."

Thats why me not concerned about what "they" say ( you know them) regarding plates under tension.

Thats why me say "Its the luthier, not the wood" although wood helps.

And thats a lotta thats!


Blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Maybe thats why when your a little kid, and your grandpa makes something out of wood for you, and it can be anything, it's the best thing ever because he made it with love. And that love NRG transfers through it.

_________________
Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Yo, Padma,
I always enjoy your building projects. I've been watching this one with interest. I've gotta say I am real glad you added photo documentation of yourself going "tribal" over the tap tone of that plate.
You are a man who enjoys his work!

Patrick