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After finishing a guitar recently I took this past week off and did nothing in the shop..... Well almost nothing...

This top I hope to start bracing this weekend. It's WRC from an OLF auction and the zoot was so very nice that I decided to build with it nearly at once:



This will be only my second guitar that I have built with a WRC top and what I remember from last time was that this stuff dents if you look at it wrong.... So we are trying to be very careful with this one keeping anyplace that it is set down free of anything that could dent it....



This is something that I have wanted for a very long time and finally had the opportunity to put one together for myself. David Collins has a small motor and buffing wheel mounted on his wall exclusively for the purpose of buffing nuts and saddles. It's great, after shaping with a file and sanding with 320 paper 30 seconds on the buffer taking care not to buff the surfaces that fit snuggly and you have a nice, jeweled look and shine on your nuts.....

So I made a nut buffer... for myself using a $2 Chinese piece-of-crap buffer from an auction and a new 6" buffing wheel. I added a new grinding wheel too because the old one was out of balance and created a vibration to the degree that the buffer wanted to walk off the bench.

I used to shine up my nuts with micro-mesh which works great but it does take 10-20 minutes where this thing takes 30 seconds.



OK that's it for Flushtone let's see what's happening in your shops this week please?

Thanks!

looking good there Hesh. I love cedar topped guitars Looks like you're making an OM?

nut buffer eh.....

You can probably also use it to get a real nice polish on your chisels to get just a bit extra sharp too. Look at getting a rigid wheel in leather if you can. Sort of like a power strop.

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I am watching the paint dry, and waiting to buff in 3 more weeks.

Actually I went through my wood stash and am trying to decide what to use on my next build. I also practiced my jointing skills with a plane and have now managed to get 3 top plate sets ready to join with plane only. I glued up a bearclaw set I got for free, last night with the tape method and HHG and it came out real good so today I will glue a good one.

I have some photos of my back and side sets up on Photobucket if anyone is interested
http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z228/fetellier/My%20tonewood%20collection/

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Sanding a walnut/sitka body i just put together to get it ready for binding.And getting ready to brace a ash/sitka dread.

Routing a bunch of mandolin tops today, then a big cleanup.
Guess most have seen what I've been up to earlier in the week, glueing up logs and starting the oak parlor...

Only had a couple hours to work this week. This was my first inlay and second slotted headstock. I took the easy way out on the slots (thanks, luthiertool.com), but did the ramps by hand with a saw and chisel. Still a little smoothing to do around the ramps.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

No pics from me, as I'm at work and I'm at the stage in my shop where unless you've been there working, you can't tell anything's been done. Have all my 120v outlets wired on three separate circuits, all the 240v for the machines wired, just need to make the final connection to the sub panel. This weekend I'll be putting boxes in the ceiling for the 15 4ft T8 lights I bought yesterday . Hopefully I'll get the window openings framed in so we can get the new low E vinyl windows put in as soon as it stops raining.

So hopefully I'll make some progress this weekend.

Darrin

Added some decorative side support braces (WRC/walnut/maple/walnut/WRC) to the sides of my first OM.
I would have loved to work on the top bracing this weekend, but the bandsaw blades I ordered 5 weeks ago still didn't arrive.

Binding jig under construction.
Sorry, no pics.
I`m gonna have to get that figured out somehow.
Coe Franklin

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Great looking start on the oak parlor Haans!

I have an oak set I got from a very nice wood dealer in up-state New York last year, and I intend on starting it soon...
That is great looking purfling; do you have any of it for sale?
Now, back to cleaning my shop..
Best regards,
jack

Starting on a 'flamenco-ish' yellow cedar guitar - another 'cheapie' project for the MIMF Challenge.

Here's something (hopefully) going to Newport/Miami.
Celebes Ebony back/sides, Sinker Redwood top.
You've seen the Lily of the Valley inlay that Craig Lavin did for us.
Celebes Ebony bridge, fretboard and rosette.
Curly Koa bindings:





Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I just finished inlaying some abalone, after finnish sanding I will fill with z-poxy, The top will have an amber tint.







Tim

What say we give Haans the EYE CANDY AWARD for this week.

Steve, do not pass GO, forget the $200 bucks, just send that sweetie to Miami.
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Well me cleaned up the heal carving for that No NOthing build.





Me then went on to bursting the octave mando and gilding the rosette carving with mica. Still gotta
tweek the rosette colours. Then lay down a gazillion coasts of that cheap like borscht, $20 a quart plastic stuff form the uncle wally mart store.





Icu

Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Nothing close to the beautiful work shown in this thread, but I spent this afternoon staining my first scratch build, an electric solidbody. I have a long way to go in the learning curve, but I'm having fun!
i used minwax red mahogany. I wanted a dark stain since I'm using poplar that has some rather large green mineral sreaks in the grain and I needed something to cover that. Here are the two best pics I could get with my lousy camera.



IMO it looks better in the pics than in person. I think it has some darker areas and some lighter ones. I tried to go back with mineral spirits and smooth some of the darker areas out, but it just made it worse, so I hit it with another coat of stain. I think I'll try to take some 600 or 800 grit sandpaper and hit the darker areas with that tomorrow and see where that takes me. If all else fails, I'll keep hitting it with the hog stain until it gets pretty dark and evens things out a bit(hopefully). Once it dries and the weather warms enough to do so, I'll hit it with clear coat. Thanks for looking.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Haans - That rosette looks awesome. With some extra planning, you could use it so hide secret messages in morse code.

Nothing going on here. Still framing and drywalling. Plus report cards were this week and conferences are coming up.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

No awards for me The...give it to Tim for inlaying "some ablalone". Those are a pain.
Jack, I'm not selling any as it's just too much work. However, if you are committed to a design, it's easy enough to make up a log, then you have enough to last for quite a few guitars. I think using the holly really sets it off. It's much whiter than maple.
Here's the back ready for bracing...

Coupl'a archtops getting ready to fly off..



Gordo

Beautiful archies, Gordo.
Haans, you're my hero.
Tim--holy smoke, what nice work!
Mike, it'll even out under top coat.
Padma, thanks mate! I love that carving BTW. Great job.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

No pictures but I have put the kerfed lining on the top and bottom sides of the guitar along with the end blocks. Nothing fancy with the end blocks as I want to keep it KISS (Keep it stupid simple!) for now .

I was quite surprised at how much the kerfing stiffened the rim though. It's actually starting to look like a guitar though .

Thanks, Steve. That's good to know.
Padma, your carvings and other work are wonderful, as always. There is so much talent here! What a great place for inspiration the OLF is!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Ooops. double post.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thankfully the gods of tax refunds were smiling down on us, and my wife gave her approval to go forward with my Les Paul. I spent the morning ordering templates, a plan, and some holly veneer from Eastern Maple Carved Tops, and purchasing the requisite router bits around town

Just finishing up some restoration work on a C.1860 Martin 2 1/2-34

Beautiful David - simply beautiful!!! If you wouldn't mind posting more pics they would be VERY much appreciated. Thanks.

Very cool stuff everyone!!!