Official Luthiers Forum!

Hesh, not to worry, the thumb feels pretty good today and I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to see about the arthritis in my neck so he might as well look at the thumb too. How do you keep your shop that clean?
Arnt, nice work! Not going with a transverse brace? A single light source really helps to see how the arching is coming along. Some day I got to make a oval mandola. No one can afford an H5 anyway...
Sanaka, where'd you get the itty-bitty cyclone? It's cute!
Jon that is a shame that the instrument had to be a left handed one. I've had folks bail on me because of hard times, but not on a lefty. Hope you can find a buyer for it. It's pretty tough for builders too when someone bails.
Filippo, safe journey...

I have this dulcimer project going. Don't tell anyone about it. It's kind of a secret.









I'm trying to teach this young feller a little bit about wood working.







Glen

had some Basswood , Maple and Mahogany kicking around for a while, so...

_________________
Rob

Beating up a new flamenco build before I buff it out...

_________________
John Nowicki

Great to see you back Hesh and thanks for getting this one going. Happy New Year to you all and it's great to see what's going on in everyone's shop...... accept Hanns. Sorry to see that. I've been waiting on an OM plan of Michael P's. The guitar will be a gift to my oldest friend on the planet. I think the plan is lost in space so I started this:



This has been a pleasure so far. Carving the top and back is almost therapeutic. Now I need to figure how to make an oval hole rosette .

All The Best,
Danny

The bridge design was def. inspired by Lance's work (thank you Lance).
The fretboard caul took only some 30 minutes to make; thanks to a table saw. What took the most preparation was to build a sanding block to get the 16" radius in the top of the caul. All it took was an identical piece of wood, an aluminum Radius-sanding Beam from StewMac, some friendly plastic and some 80 grid stikit sandpaper.

I've got two going, both OM's, but I'm trying out different bracing patterns, and trying to
use the chaldni patterns along with tapping to help with brace shaping. Also finally got a
smaller, portable cyclone to help keep the assembly room cleaner.
First Om- Bob C's Curly Narra and Sitka spruce with Honduran Rosewood bindings- just finished pore
filling, ready for final sanding and finishing:





Second OM- sitka spruce and HOG, with a double X-brace for the top, will have an X-brace on the lower bout
of the back also.


The new dust collector is a combination of a new Sears shopvac with a Clearview mini cyclone collector. At least
I've got a chance of keeping my shop a lot cleaner now- the small size and portability of the system makes it
very easy to use many times a day- and it's much quieter than my other shop vac.


Sorry for the big pics- how do I insert small one's that can be viewed bigger?

_________________
Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Gene, just "attach" the file ("upload attachment" box under reply box)

_________________
Dave
Milton, ON

Hey Haans, the baby cyclone is from Clear Vue Cyclones, and it works great. It's the same one gozierdt shows in his post. Clear Vue is also an OLF sponsor

Peace,
Sanaka

_________________
...imagine there were no hypothetical situations...

Gene my friend if you want me to come over and use my vac on that dust that is making circles on your guitar top and back I am happy to do so...

Seriously your OMs look fantastic and I am especially partial to the Nara one. Nice job!

Christoph thanks for answering my questions - great job on making the caul too!

Hi Danny - Your carving skills are getting pretty good my friend. Can't wait to see it when she's complete.

Mr. Rotten your flamenco looks great and since I have been lurking here for the past year I noticed that you turn out new guitars pretty fast - very impressive and the one in the pics today looks fantastic. Not sure if you want me calling you Mr. Rotten.... so if you wanna throw out a first name even if it's not yours I'm happy to call you what ever you prefer. PS: Wasn't Johnny Rotten from a Bad Company tune?

Rob buddy for just some wood kicking around you have a fantastic looking guitar there - great job!!

Glen your dulcimer is looking fantastic! And good on ya for turning on the young feller to Lutherie!!

Steve bro beautiful guitars as always - the BRW framed by the "I Want To Believe" makes for a great pic! What is the back strip - it looks pretty interesting from here?

Let's see some more folks?

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars

Haans, I was considering the single transverse brace below the sound hole (if that is what you were referring to), but from what I understand many of the instrumenst built this way have sunken tops, especially if the braces fail. What is your experience? I'm really a babe in the woods when it comes to most things mando, so I have to go by what you guys say.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Not much going on, but did get approval from the HOA to add on a single bay garage that will become my workshop. Hope to have completed by End of February.

Will spend March - May finishing the shop. I have the OK to get a new drill press as a late birthday present when the shop is completed. Then I hope to finish a few projects in the works and start some new ones as well.

_________________
Greg Hatcher
North Carolina

Just a note about the Clearvue mini cyclone. Their website states:

>Mini CV06

>Many of you have asked us why we aren't selling the Mini CV06 anymore. This is why:

>We received a letter from Oneida's attorney on June 30, 2009 informing us that we were infringing on their Patent. Although we had our Mini CV06 for sale for >about 5 months before Oneida came out with their Dust Deputy, they applied for and received a patent for the concept. In order to avoid a court case we have >taken the Mini CV06 off the market until we can get this straightened out. Due to the fact that this idea was first made public in 2003 or before , we don't feel >that anyone should have been issued a patent for the idea in 2007. Anyway, we'll have it back on the market as soon as we can get this situation resolved. We're >sorry for the inconvenience this has cause our customers.

So at this time, the only choice in a small cyclone would be the Oneida Dust deputy... , which probably isn't a bad piece of equipment, but I agree with ClearVue that the idea is not a new one.

_________________
Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

I'm closeing the box on a Black Walnut/cedar dread.

Great builds going on everyone! Hesh your shop is too clean! Before mine stalled last week when family hit town, I had something that looked pretty darn close to a guitar!

Inlayed the new headstock logo:


Inlayed some paua ab into some nice madrose:


The back of the claro walnut J185:


Ken

_________________
http://www.casperguitar.com

I am currently working on three guitars. One full size Hauser Zircote/ebony with a honeycomb double top. The other two are Parlor size classical 630 scale length. one is Wenge/rosewood and the other is Brazilian tulip with purple heart trim. I am new to this picture posting so I may need a couple tries to get the pics.

Wenge parlor size classical

Just bought a Grizzly 24" double drum sander Model G1066. No pics yet, but should be a nice addition to the shop.

Thanks Hesh! That's just more curly Koa... it's bordered by maple/rosewood/maple purfs, which probably affects the look from this distance. Plus, it's pixilating some in the pic.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Hi Guys,
Sure are A lot of nice guitars here! I just recently strung my Concert Jumbo up and she's
sounding pretty good,IMHO. It's the largest guitar I have built at 16 and 3/8 lower bout.
I used curly cherry from Zootman Bob Cefalu and a nice Lutz top from Shane.
It has a lot of BRW- the fb,bridge,bindings,headstock front and rear,rosette,end wedge,
heel cap,top purfling.....thats all I think!Oh yeah- the truss rod cap.
Here's a couple quick pics...



I like these Schaller tuners w/ebony buttons

Thanks for looking .

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

This is a great thread to look at during the morning tea/coffee...

Dave bro your guitar looks fantastic and I am sure she will be a cannon!!!

Thanks Steve - The Koa looks great framed with BRW - nice combo!

Well Brad congrats on the new drum sander. Having a thickness sander in the shop makes all the difference in the world. Congrats!!

Wow Jeff I see some fantastic guitars there - be sure to start a thread on each one when they are finished!!

Ken buddy we have to get together. Your guitars look better than ever and they always looked great. I like the "Casper" logo too - beautiful work!!

Mark my friend a walnut/cedar guitar should be a fantastic combo and yours looks killer!!!

Thanks for the update Gene.

Greg you are going to be happy as a clam once your new shop is built and you are happily in it. Believe me having the opportunity to build your own shop the way that you want it is a great experience.

Let's see some more of whats happening in your shops?

Thanks

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars

Hey Jeff,

Fantastic looking guitars! Where'd you get the Brazilian Tulip Wood? I've never seen any on the market.

Thanks,
Max

_________________
Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Wow folks, really great stuff! Kind of humbling yet inspiring too.

No pics, but I am working on a classical with spalted maple sides and a fiddle-back maple back. Also re-doing the top on an acoustic bass...never thought it would warp that bad!

-Matthew

Hi Hesh,
My real name is John, my close friends call me Johnny Rotten because of my in the gutter sense of humor, I think it was from an old Neil Young song. Thanks for your comments about the flamenco. This one is coming around pretty well. The spruce takes some time. I like it. THe next one will be a blanca ...HNY
John Nowicki

_________________
John Nowicki

I built myself a new shelving system.
Old



New


Still a work in progress though.

_________________
-Marcus
http://www.bailieguitars.com
Instagram | YouTube