Official Luthiers Forum!

I got carried away trying my hand at shading...a L-00 that just got 20 coats of Em 6000 sprayed on , which came out to about .006/.007 thickness, now will wait a week or so before level sanding and buffing, and a 12 string as well which just has the tint applied .. I used trans tint mixed with Em 1000 to spay on the tint...Happy New Year !!!

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MK5acoustics.com

Varnishing my Mahogany/Spruce L-00. Looks good so far under 4 coats, first undiluted coat was yesterday. I'm still sanding and building to fill the mahogany pores, almost there! I finally made a decision on the tuning machines and ordered them...so many choices that could have been "just right".

Sorry, no photos today...will get some for later.

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

Reglued a cracked fingerboard on an Ovation... touching up all the finish chips now.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I have been working on a couple of mandolins. Lots of carving (I had to make a second back for one of them, when an hidden defect revealed itself as I was getting close to final dimensions)...




New f-hole shape for me, I think I like it

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

An entire week of " Honey Do's " that I have put off and my loving sweet wonderfull wife has dealt with while I build in the shop !

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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/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Happy New Year!

Spent today puttering in the shop. Installed and updated the new shop computer, a 2005 iMac, from my sister in exchange for migrating everything to her new Macbook. Got it on the home network, uploaded everything from the old G3 laptop, with access to the main iMac in the house. Huge improvement over the 10 year old laptop, though it never missed a beat in five years in the shop.


Also playing with my new USB microscope. Pretty good for what it is. With its own light source, it's great for looking around the insides of guitars.


Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Making a semi automatic kerfing maker... its a device that automatically advances the wood strip, cuts it, and advances it again. Makes for a more even kerf spacing.

I am also taking my #2 and removing the bridge and resetting the neck angle, to eliminate gaps in those area. I think someone might want to buy it so I had to make sure it's good before it goes out.

I am also making wooden letters for some friends, pictures to come later.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

A couple of Dreads ready to start the finish process:



And a fingerstyle box ready to close:


Plus a new OM cutaway mold, glued a uke neck, and pulled wood for the next four guitars. An OM, one loosely styled on a Martin 1-18, and two more Dreads.

-Mark

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Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

trippguitars.com
OR
Find me on Facebook

Sanding a set of BRW sides and making neck block and tail block for my NEL OM project guitar. I'm also finishing a bunch of bridges for a customer on my cnc today.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Something a bit different in my shop this weekend. Oak chairs made from an old dilapidated barn in the back yard to match the oak table.

I just finished this 30's Carson Robison made by Gibson. Reset the neck,fixed 3 top cracks,and
made a new saddle. Here's a few pics...

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I've been finessing the neck fit of a 00-sized 14 fretter. Once I have that ready I'll start the finishing process. While I'm applying coats of varnish and letting those dry, I'll get started on the OLF Challenge project. For that contest I'm planning on making a mandolin similar to the Stew-Mac "campfire" model. Anything more complicated than that and there is no way I'd get it done by the deadline.

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George :-)

Here is the photos I promised:

One is a semi automatic kerfing maker, I still need to figure out how to prevent the linings from backing out after making a cut, because that led to uneven spacing sometimes. I might make a spur somewhere so that the kerfing can only slide one way.



And here is me improving my number 2 guitar I built over 2 years ago. I had some gap under the fingerboard at the body, because I had problems with neck angle. I just solved it, but I had to glue the fingerboard over the body down because it wanted to come up a little bit. Someone is interested in buying this one so it needed to be more presentable. Due to the neck angle I need to make a new taller bridge for it:

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Mostly eating and drinking. Today I am bracing the top on a Bouzouki and Leveling and buffing a finish on my OM sized model M - Indian Rosewood, Cedar top. Will deliver it early next week. I'll post pics when I have them.

looks good.
nice to see you used the shape of your electric body.

spent the weekend in an orphanage in ukraine putting on a camp for the kids. The New Year is their big family holiday so we were being there family.

Spent this morning rough carving a neck for a parlor guitar I am making for a niece of mine. I still need to glue the fingerboard on and do the final shaping. I have not used any sandpaper yet, just rasps. So I still have a little ways to go.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Bending sides for 3 more harps .... cocobolo, sapele, and claro walnut

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I'm working on my first violin. I have the ribs glued to the blocks and I'm starting to carve the top plate.
The ribs are from some locally grown curly sugar maple. The top is Lutz from Shane.

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Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com

Most of you guys are doing more interesting work than me. I spent the better part of yesterday organizing and cleaning up the shop. The clutter was amazing, even to me. Much better now, and I'm thicknessing top and back plates for a mandolin today. Doing it the old fashioned way, with scrapers.
Kind of tedious, but oddly satisfying, to make long curly shavings when I've got everything going right.
John, your parlor guitar is going to be a very handsome instrument. I really like those fret board inlays.
They're very ornamental like many banjo inlays, but not at all out of line with the overall guitar. I think it already looks wonderful!
Best to all,
Patrick

Trying to finish up three guitars that have been on the bench for too long. Very happy with the buffed Target Coatings Water-based acrylic laquer. Very easy to use, and levels and buffs very nicely.

Now the Tru oil on the necks, another story. Fine on the curved surfaces, but on the headstock. Sloooooow. Getting enough of a build is ridiculously slow.

I've emptied all of my shelves and drawers and doing a serious overhaul. Making an effort to be more organized in 2012.

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Jim Hansen

Re-sawing some cherry for a B&S set by hand . I might use it for the Challenge .

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

EIR and Euro spruce – I somehow screwed up the binding alignment at the end graft during glue-up after spending a fair amount of time getting a perfect dry fit. Arrrrgh!



Got it to somewhat look passable during binding cleanup and shaping, and hopefully it will be less obvious after French polish.



Installed and shaped the heel cap on the Spanish heel.




Happy New Year to all.

Joe

I've built 2 (or maybe 3) guitars since the last time I said I was going to give my shop a good cleaning. (which I didn't)........so...........I've got to route the saddle slot, and make a nut and saddle for a "Jr." model (0ish short scale) them I'm going to give my shop a good cleaning. Should I post pics of my messy shop

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