Official Luthiers Forum!

I love these 'show-and-tell' threads, so forgive me for kicking off another one!

We've been working on three 42 style 12 fret guitars for a bit, and finally closed the boxes on the 000 and the two dreadnoughts this Saturday & Sunday. The 000 and one of the dreadnoughts are Brazilian rosewood & red spruce, and the other dread is curly mahogany and red spruce.

I had been dreading the closings due to my glacial speed with hot hide glue, fearing either massive squeeze-out or cold glue joints, but using a heat gun, we had plenty of time to spread the glue, align the plates, and get the boxes closed.

So what did the rest of the OLF get done this past week/over the weekend?

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

I'm in the home stretch on a guitar. I attached the neck to the body and got the the frets hammered in.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Last 3 coats of matt EV on an OM.
Thanks to Brian Howard for his suggestions and spraying guidance on http://howardguitars.blogspot.co.uk/

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Fitting a rosette.

Hmm.
Why do I just see a no entry sign for the rosette?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Me? I don't understand what you mean.

No pic

Woodie let see the 42 style rosettes?

D-28 rosette, Red Spruce top.

Correct

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I got this top to the 80% point last Thurs morning. Tomorrow morning I'll finish it up with the final voicing.

I don't have any pics yet, but I'm comparing french polished shellac, Enduro-Var, and lacquer with a sample of each on three separate test panels: one sinker redwood, one lutz spruce, and one redwood panel with a rosette inlaid to see how the three look over abalone. I laid the second set of nitro coats on all three on Sat, and plan to start the french polishing tonight. I'll post pictures of the comparison when I'm done. What I can tell you before leveling and buffing is that the color from nitro and Enduro-Var is very difficult to tell apart, with an ever slightly more wet look coming from the nitro. The Enduro is also ever just so slightly more amber.

[quote="Clinchriver"
No pic

[/quote]

May be a permissions thing on Google plus. I tried something so maybe you see it now?

I am also in the final days of my falcate braced ziricote guitar.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Colin that finish looks fantastic.
Could you describe it a bit?

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Wake up and smell the rosewood!

I was pretty busy. Joined the tops and backs, inlayed the rosettes, and prepped a stack of bracing for a trio of OMs that I'm starting on ...

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George :-)

Whoa I love that 'cat eye' back there on the right George.

What marvelous work, everyone! I keep adding to my list of things to try, and ziricote is high on that list!

Two of the four 40-series rosettes we've milled over the last few weeks (000 commission, two 12 fret dreadnoughts being team-built by the boss and a Purcellville, VA based luthier, and a build student's 14 fret dreadnought...all will be 42 style. I love the end grain ivoroid in those 28 style rosettes - we did the same on these, but went with a little greater spacing differential for the inner and outer ring gaps and five identical size laminates in the inner and outer ring purfings...we see this on some older Martins from the 1920's and really like how it shifts the focus to the middle ring. The more usual narrow-narrow-wide-narrow-narrow ring looks better to me for the styles without the wider shell...such clean work on those 28-style rosettes!

So many details and trivia to keep track of...thank goodness for sites like http://www.vintagemartin.com and the experts here!

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

Very nice, its hard to come up with the particulars for Vintage Martin Rosettes.

I have not posted in quite awhile - Moved to Tampa area from NJ, and still do not have my shop up and running totally (May I never have to move the shop again!). However, I have been working this past week on trying to finish up a couple of guitars, and took my first attempts at Hand rubbed sunburst, and dying bare wood. Doing a Nick Lucas guitar, and my take on an Oscar Schmidt '20's Stella guitar.

For the Stella, White Oak B&S that I dyed, as well as matching the HOG Neck with same color. Stripey Red Spruce top, and Marquetry Purfs. For the Nick, Cuban Hog Dyed, as well as the Hand Rubbed Sunburst (Only has a seal coat on it at moment). I French Polish the tops, which still needs to be done, and Tru Oil the B&S, and Necks.


Glenn

Wow! Nice work, Glenn. I really like the look you've achieved there. Well done!

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George :-)

I love seeing all these oak guitars.

How did you stain that oak Glenn?

Thanks guys! I used trans tint to bare wood. For the White Oak, I first dyed black, then sanded most of it off. Then used combo of Med Brown & Brown Mahogany, with a drop of red. I sprayed a seal coat of shellac to lock in the colors. Then I pore filled with aqua coat, then sealed again with shellac.

For the Nick Lucas, I got a bit darker than I was hoping, but still like the way it came out. Got a bit blotchy as well, but I guess thats the nature of hand applying to bare wood . No red in the Nick Sunburst, just amber, the 2 browns, and some black to darken the brown towards edges.

Thanks,

Glenn

Finally got back into the shop last weekend.

Not the most exciting rosette, simple Cocobolo and let's just call the other stuff modern polymer.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I feel left out. I did a fret dress/setup (not mine) and took a short road trip to hang out with good friends and pick up some free wood.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Nothing to "show" other than a couple of spreadsheets that catalog all my tops, backs/sides & neck wood.. whew and I cleaned and organized the shop (it's never really clean or organized but I tried). Now by this time next week I hope to have something to show for my efforts.. Starting on tenor Uke and a crossover nylon string guitar...

Kerry

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My Website http://klw-strings.com
My Luthier's Blog...http://klwstrings.blogspot.com

My wife bought me some shelves.
We both toiled six hours in my 100F shop to get it organized.
Man, my wife is the best!
I worked a few hours on this SG thing for my uncle.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Got back to work on guitar #1 after a seven month hiatus.



Alex


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