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The training begins! Three weeks in Post Mills VT. I hope to build something that vaguely resembles an old 12 fret L-00, but I will be happy with anything that doesn't explode when strummed. (Aim high!)

I actually fly into Burlington then ride my bike 75(ish) miles to Post Mills. I've been looking forward to this adventure for months. I will post some updates during the three week class.

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Good luck!! Post pics along the way.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

George is a wonderful teacher--he was working with Charles Fox back in the 70's when I went up to the Earthworks class. It was definitely a life-changing experience. Good luck and enjoy!

Dave

I agree with Dave.
George is a great teacher & woodworker.
He has allot of experience in instrument making.
He's patient.
He taught 5 days a week when I went to Earthworks in 1977.
Charles taught 1 day.

I came home with a beautiful guitar& love of the ART .
I've been making them since then.
It was a life changing experience for me also.

Mike

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Mike Collins

I enjoyed my three weeks in Vermont. As a teacher myself, I was impressed by George's knowledge and ability to instill creativity in all. Enjoy yourself, and get away and explore on your Sunday's off!

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Ken Bremer
Madison, Wisconsin
http://www.bremerguitar.blogspot.com

You fly into Burlington from Winooski?

I just met George , several weeks ago, nice guy...nice shop. I'm about 20 minutes away....in Chelsea.

Have fun, Man.

Michael

No - I flew to Burlington from Austin, TX - then rode my bike from Winooski to Post Mills. Normally 80 miles or so in a day isn't such a big deal, but someone in VT made all the backroads point uphill...and then they paved them with sand and fist-sized gravel. It was kinda unpleasant towards the end, but I made it.

I rode right by Chelsea - wonder if I saw your shop from the road without realizing it! The area is gorgeous and it's a real treat to walk to the lake, jump in to rinse off all the wood shavings and sawdust.

First day of class was fantastic. I can already tell that George is a great teacher, very patient, very calml I posted a few pictures on my Flickr Page and will continue posting there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blindrobert/

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

From your pictures, it looks like you used a router and straight edge to joint the book matched top plates. I did the same on my current build, and I felt like a genius with a new discovery; looks like someone beat me to the punch.

Tell me, did you follow up by shooting the edges with a plane? The reason I ask is because I didn't, and I'm a little scared. It seems fine so far; I can't even see the joint line, but I am worried about ten years down the road...

FWIW, I used a spiral down-cut bit to make the joint, so there was always contact between both edges and the bit, which helped create a smooth cut.

Hey Mark - no we didn't follow up with a plane. A few of us had pieces that were rough enough before the routing operation that we ran the edges to be glued through a jointer first. That made it easier to line up where we wanted the two grain patterns to meet for the best-looking bookmatch joint. I think the goal was to use the jointer to the point that the router cut would only be taking 1 to 1.5mm out of the board. We cut the boards in two passes, the first pass you move the router in the direction of the spinning blade so that the (straight blade router bit we used) is digging into the grain as it moves instead of lifting as it cuts.

The second board is cut in a separate pass, you don't have to move the first board out of the way, and you know exactly how wide the router bit is so you move the second board down, clamp it in position and make your second pass in the opposite direction. The router bit won't touch the first board on this pass and since the new board is positioned above it, moving in the opposite direction cuts that board with a biting (rather than lifting) spin of the bit.

I am far from an expert on this, so I hope I answered your questions. We dry fit the boards after the routing operation to make sure that the edges were meeting up the way we intended and we inspected the routed edges to make sure they were clean and flat before gluing...but no plane - seems like that wouldn't hurt anything if you made a square, flat edge in the operation.

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Go Bar Deck by Blind Robert, on Flickr

Glued in the center back brace/strip today! The back wood is wenge that middle strip is cedar.

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Top and Bracing Pattern by Blind Robert, on Flickr

This pic is actually from yesteray. Today I got the braces shaved down and practiced bending sides with some scrap walnut. I found it pretty easy, but I know that walnut bends a little more willingly than some other woods.

Having a blast!

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Side bending practice. The pipe in the background of the shot is actually a piece of sailboat boom. I like it because it has lots of different radii to work with. Plexi template is on the bench with a bent piece of walnut (my first-ever attempt) standing on edge and an unbent piece of walnut laying flat.


Side Bending - first attempt by Blind Robert, on Flickr

_________________
Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

So I should listen to that little voice in my head that tells me when what I'm about to do is a bad idea.

We have been bending sides these last few days. There are two pipe benders (one torch, one electric) for touch ups, the main bending is done on an old LMI side bending machine. I was one of the last to use the machine - it hasn't been working well for some reason, lots of spring back, so everyone has been touching up their bends on the pipe.

I was touching up my first side while my second side cooled in the bender. The instructions George gave us were to let it cool down to about 100F and then heat it back up again to 275F or so to "shock" it. One of my classmates still had a set of sides to do and I could see he wanted to get at the machine, so I asked him to crank the heat back up to shock it.

At that very moment I thought of my inability to EVER remember that there are cookies/chicken/vegetabes in the oven if I start working on something else. But this time would be different! (right.)

A few minutes later it smelled strangely like Christmas and we all turned at once to see smoke pouring out of the already-medieval looking side bender.

My colleague felt terrible, despite my assurances that it was entirely my fault and my responsibility, not his, to watch my own work.

Fortunately there were a few more pieces of wenge around. I scraped a new set clean, got them to thickness, and started back to bending quickly. This time I'm doing it entirely on the pipe. It's faster. I'm told that the LMI bender doesn't usually have the spring-back troubles that we as a class have been experiencing. Maybe the blanket is getting old.

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

We got the sides cut and attached to the neck block, tail block, and soundboard today - that was exciting! Also did some work shaping and then slotting the fingerboard.


No Turning Back by Blind Robert, on Flickr


Note to self: Buy more clamps by Blind Robert, on Flickr

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

keep em coming. It's fun to see how it's going.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I agree--keep 'em coming! It's very interesting to compare the techniques that George is teaching now to the ones he and Charles were teaching 30 plus years ago! I know that my own processes have evolved during that time, and it's cool to see how one of my mentor's processes have evolved during that same time. The basic building process George is teaching seems very familiar--it's the nuances that seem to have changed. I think that fact pretty well validates a good process.

Looks like things are coming along quite nicely on your guitar! I have to admit that I'm somewhat jealous, since the times I spent up in Vermont back in the 70's were such good ones and times that would be a pleasure to live once again. Enjoy, absorb and keep up the good work!

Dave

It's an intersting guitar design and probably a good place to begin. There are a few things that surprised me in the details of the guitar that we are building - we had our choice of body sizes (of the four people here, three of us are building 0 size and one person a dreadnaught) - but the details are pretty similar.

To begin with the top is actually flat, not domed. although the upper bout has a latitudinal arch to it. This small arched portion provides some concealment for the tongue of the neck - the spruce top is actually notched around the tongue and the arching makes the top rise slightly to get closer to the underside of the fingerboard. which is glued down to the tongue but not to the top. The guitar back has a a radius to it.

It would be intersting to see the guitar you built in the 70's next to one of the more recent guitars. I don't know if the guitars George is building for sale have the same domed upper bout soundboard or not. I will ask him tomorrow.

We got the backs fit and glued on tonight - a few pictures:

Here you can see the soundboard notched around the tongue:

Dry Fit by Blind Robert, on Flickr

Here's the guitar with the back glued on - it's down in the shop right now drying:

Full Box! by Blind Robert, on Flickr

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Got all the binding and purfling on the guitar today. I also made an ebony bridge. I thought I would do a "reverse belly" bridge but now I'm not sure. Thoughts?

Lots and lots of sanding today - more to come, I know. My fingers are permanently black from the ebony and wenge dust.


All Tied Up by Blind Robert, on Flickr


Normal Belly Bridge? by Blind Robert, on Flickr


Reverse Belly Bridge? by Blind Robert, on Flickr

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Made a few big steps today. Got the slotted headstock routed out. Somehow the jig made the leftmost rib about 1/2 mm wider than the rightmost rib - I will fix it with a handplane tomorrow.

Also got about 40 coats of French polish on the top - it's curing overnight, tomorrow I will sand it down with 220 grit garnet and mineral spirits. The wenge sides and back got some Stew Mac water-based pore filler - it's pretty open grain structure, so the stuff was put on rather thick (like buttercream frosting!). It will also get sanded back tomorrow so that the polish can start.

Finally, I got the fingerboard glued to the neck - I think we start shaping the necks tomorrow. It's going to be another long day. Fortunately, we can walk down the street and jump into Lake Fairlee when it ends!


Bridge Mask by Blind Robert, on Flickr


Slotted Headstock Routing...DONE! by Blind Robert, on Flickr


Close up of finish by Blind Robert, on Flickr

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

I'd like to see a bit more of the neck joint area...

Here's the body mortise. There's a wood handle bolted into the spot where the neck should be - it's just there to provide something to clamp to.


Mortise on Body by Blind Robert, on Flickr

Here's the neck tenon. I wish the hole for the brass rod had been drilled a little further back so that the ugly hole wasn't there - but at least it's invisible when the neck is on.


Tenon for Neck by Blind Robert, on Flickr

Here's the neck on the body with the bridge being (hide) glued to the soundboard. The two screws in the bridge are just for registration - they aren't biting into the wood at all.


Clamping the Bridge by Blind Robert, on Flickr

_________________
Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Today is the last full day. I'll be finishing the nut, making the bridge and a heel cap - and working on the intonation and setup. Any extra time will be spent on the finish. I lost a lot of time on the top yesterday - the finish was coming along perfectly and nicely built up and somehow a stroke of mine hit a soft spot (probably me working too fast with too much denatured alcohol in the pad) and made a streak that went nearly down to wood. I spent a lot of time building that area back up and blending it.

I also spent a LOT of time pore filling. Wenge is not an easy wood to get filled! I used two coats of the Stew Mac water-based pore filler and didn't get great results from it. At the end of the day a thin coat of shellac followed by fine pumice and denatured alcohol (with lots of elbow grease) did the trick. I like the process of pumice pore filling - I like how you learn (pretty quickly) how to play with the amount of friction in your stroke to take advantage of the low vapor pressure of the alcohol which translates to thickness of the pumice slurry/paste. Thicker consistency around larger pores, thinner at smaller pores seemed to work well for me.

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP