Official Luthiers Forum!

Its been a while since I have participated in a thread like this... thought I share. Add yours too!

Been building up some marquetry stock for a traditional Dyer Harp (nod to Don Druckenbodt @ Nite Owl Guitars for the tips).

This bar was built up using veneers from LMI (or SM?), maple, dyed, and some maple from my shop. After glue up, some passes through the drum sander and then 12 45 deg cuts to create the blocks in the last picture. Then those are glued together to form the final bar hich is then "sliced" to make purfling. May not look like it, but there is over $200 in wood there!

Got the box closed on a 13 fret 000 cutaway. These are the parts.

Braced and carved the top for my 12 fret size 0. Top is Euro spruce I got from Dennis Leahy at the swapalooza.

I sure do like that little plane I got that Stephen Boone made.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Closed the box on #5, tonight.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Filippo, hope you are on the mend. Your shop inspires me and shames me. Nice setup! Is that a jet 22-44?

Thasalottawood Filippo! I made me a radius dish and a mandolin assembly form today.

Filippo, got my 22-44 for $1000 shipped, open stand, not as nice as ur closed stand, but the business end works just fine!! I love her. Just don't tell me wife. 8)

hey filippo, is dat your workshop, or your kitchen?

You guys whose shops only need to to be set up for guitar building slay me! Its an eternal battle to keep mine clean and sort of organized.

Got the canvas on and filler, and gunnels on and varnished on the solo canoe. Got another canoe repaired and in canvas. My son got his speakers closed in.

I had an international week, a Japanese photographer is working on a documentary about the Boreal forest with a Japanese production crew and stopped in for some wooden canoe time, and a group of Swedes dropped in to visit. One of them has been living in Canada for some years and had ordered a canoe from me, he had to go back to Sweden just as the canoe was completed. They were here to pick it up, it was the first time that he'd seen it. They are about to start a 10 week canoe trip from northern Saskatchewan to Baker Lake, Nunavut.

On the lutherie side, I'll be ordering material for the next build next week. First commission, yeah! Now the pressure is on, but it will sure be nice to build it guilt free! When my wife comes into the shop I can say, 'Yes Honey, this IS earning money!".

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I buffed this factory guitar that I've refinished and send pictures to it's owner. I also replaced 4 frets, removed the finish under the bridge footprint and installed the bridge.


Here's a picture when I was stripping the polyester off of it.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Very nice purfling work Mike! That veneer gets expensive don't it! Don't you just love the glue up?
I just got my 2nd oak parlor box closed up last nite, and have been building a website for guitars in my spare time...

1- I don't have enough go-bars to place them all the way around.
2- I can get the clamps on in strategic spots near the braces, tail and Sp heel, quickly.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

My Dad and I are on our first 2 guitars. Got the first 3 coats of top on them yesterday and will continue today.

Bent the sides of my WRC/Padauk build. I hate pipe bending with a passion but I think I got it done well enough, very little spring back and they sit in the mould pretty well. May need a tweak here and there though.

I've been making spool clamps this weekend. Finally all done. 29 total, 10 with 6-inch mouth, and 19 with 5-inch. 5 inches should be enough for gluing the backs onto all my regular guitars, but I figure I should have some long ones around incase I do a cello or acoustic bass guitar sometime.



If I had it to do over again, I would have just bought them. Materials aren't that cheap anyway, and it was pretty miserable repetitive work. Oh well.

I was going to do bracing and close up the box this week, but it's turned into Noah's ark around here. Even with the air conditioner going, the humidity was up to 60% for a while earlier And rain all the rest of the week too, so I guess I'll get started on shaping the neck instead.

I suppose I can bend the sides anytime too. It would be better to give them time to equalize moisture after bending and then touch up just before assembly anyway. The practice side I bent several weeks ago is still pretty much the same shape I bent it

Looks like everyone's had a productive weekend. I'm still pickin' on bracing and found some usable spruce.

My first glue up and yes you can use too much glue, lol.

Really this went better than expected. Spanish cedar back in the Go bar deck.

Check this out---


That's right, I added an old time phone booth to my shop!




No, it's a hot box. I'm off the grid so I can't run climate control humidifiers etc. and it's been a very wet spring and I'm fed up waiting for proper humidity for bracing and closing boxes. One day in frustration I fired up the wood stove to bring the humidity down in my shop and it worked but nearly roasted myself. Now I can put the pieces in here with the hair hygrometer, get the propane heater barely going and get everything dried out in a couple of hours, ready for HHG, nice and warm.


Worked good.

Joe

Off the grid? Really? How do you post on the Internet? Carrier pigeon?;)

That's awesome Joe. I envy you for being off the grid. More power to you!!!
I always wanted to own one of those earthships in AZ
http://earthship.com/

Todd, I love when the go-bar max energy story is brought up. One of those things that generates passionate discussion and oh so hard to get your head wrapped around.

Close. Next one to the right. NM.

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Aoibeann

BTW, for all the folks who told me that the LMI veneers were colorfast... not so fast. The black was pretty darn colorfast, but the green and the red, not so much. The red was the biggest bleeder of them all. Tuned the Tightbond absolutely pink in the squeeze out. I just bought a vacuum pump and am planning on doing my own dying with Transtints dyes. But I will most def be looking for a non-waterbased glue after this experience.

Mike

ah, you're absolutely right. The taos community was the one I was most interested in, although there are a couple more as well. It's been a couple years since I first heard about those self sustainable houses on travel channels most interesting places to live.
But I digress
Maybe it doesn't matter I veered off topic since the weekend's over

Yeah I had to think on it some until I put my scale under a GoBar and tried it out. I saw the light

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Todd thanks for the advice!
I will adjust the deck, sure will make it easier to use!!

Newbies... go figure... lol

"Off the grid? Really? How do you post on the Internet? Carrier pigeon?;)"

No carrier pigeons MiKe, satellite for internet, power from batteries charged by the generator when I crank up the power tools.

Joe