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Steve's Baby Bird
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10145&t=47893
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Author:  Clinchriver [ Mon Dec 26, 2016 8:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Looking good, looking forward to seeing this one.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

All progress has come to a halt. I have some time off so I am rebuilding the inside of the shop. Hard to take a Sawzall to my old built-ins but I'm getting it done. What a mess!

This side getting redone,,, Image

While everything else is stacked on this side. And yes, I kept the jointer, for now :)
Image

Author:  Alex Kleon [ Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Nice jointer, Steve, I have the same one. I've had mine for 28 years, and can't wait to upgrade!
A friend of mine used to build furniture, and his shop looked like picture #2, except there was always 8" of shavings on the floor too!
Hope it goes quick and painless for you!

Alex

Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Hi Alex, thanks! I bought that jointer 17 years ago. I've got a fret level/setup to do tomorrow and then have all next week to get the major projects done. Believe it or not there is space in the back to work - just not much.
Image

Author:  Clinchriver [ Thu Jan 05, 2017 4:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Headed over to Steves to pick up my strings we divided a gross of EJ-17's. The little guitar is lovely and his shop looks like a bomb went off :mrgreen:

Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Clinchriver wrote:
Headed over to Steves to pick up my strings we divided a gross of EJ-17's. The little guitar is lovely and his shop looks like a bomb went off :mrgreen:


LOL, bomb indeed but it is getting better. The office, guitar storage, and setup bench are mostly complete. I Santa Claus'ed a new tool chest to myself and got that out of the truck, into the shop and setup. Got to do a quick inlay for our luthier group then I'll start of the final demo of the opposite wall. I won't get finished today but hope to have the major stuff done.

Thanks for the kind words about the little guitar. So far I'm real happy with it and hope to get back to it by the end of the month.

Author:  truckjohn [ Fri Jan 06, 2017 3:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

That's a great little project you have there. Nothing to brighten up the holidays for me like reorganizing my entire shop. ;)

The one advantage is that it gives you an excuse to thin out all the accumulated shop detritus that invariably collects....

When I moved in 2013 - I could not believe the pile of wood scraps and miscellaneous trash that I dug up and threw away. It kinda crystallizes your thinking on "well... I can probably use it so I will save it....

Your inlay work looks great. I need to find a class on inlay.... It's a complete mystery to me...

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sat Jan 07, 2017 10:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

I have already hauled out a large trashcan worth of scrap. Most of it plywood 2-by from demo'ing old cabinets and shelves but a surprising amount of misc pieces of guitar wood. When I moved into this shop I brought cabinets and benches from my much larger, former, shop where I was making custom furniture. I installed a lot of this as built-ins in the new shop which was a mistake. As my needs have changed it is now a royal PITA to undo all the built-ins. Lesson learned, all the new benches are free standing.

Thanks for the nice words on the inlay work. I learned to inlay on my own - did my first shell inlay on a pair of lamp brackets I made in '76, I used some abalone shell I got while diving (I was living in San Diego at the time). So I've been practicing a long time but still have a lot to learn. I've also picked up lots of hints from here, the MIMF, and some videos online.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

So I'm supposed to update every week or so. No progress on the guitar but shop is coming along. Made some shallow drawers out of deep drawers under the bench to get as many tools as possible into designated spots. Got the chisel drawer set up tonight. Image

Author:  truckjohn [ Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

That's some nice looking chisels right there. Mmmmmmmm

Author:  SteveSmith [ Tue Jan 31, 2017 2:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

truckjohn wrote:
That's some nice looking chisels right there. Mmmmmmmm


Thanks. There's a few junkers. Most of the good ones are from my wood carving days ;)

Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Feb 17, 2017 9:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

This shop remodel is now at day 55, about 25 days longer than I wanted to take but I honestly expected it to take as long as it has. I'm getting close now. Major demo/rebuilds are done. Drawer count is up to 42 so lots of things that were on the wall or in stacked plastic bins are now in drawers. I still need to run ducting and set up sanders in this corner. I'll sure be glad when this is done so I can finish this little Size 5 Terz guitar.
Image

Author:  truckjohn [ Fri Feb 17, 2017 9:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Wow. Looking a lot better. Definately getting much more neat and tidy.

I haven't done any of this sort of thing in my shop because winter is the key time for me to build because of humidity control. Once warm weather gets here - it gets swampy... Bad for guitar building... Good for house and shop projects.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Feb 17, 2017 10:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Thanks John, it's getting there. I have humidity control year round so I can build year round. In E. TN a dehumidifier takes care of the summer months and in the winter I just let the shop go down to 55 degrees F which keeps it at 40% or so.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sun Mar 05, 2017 5:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Still not back to the size 5 but I've got part of the shop operational again. Doing a setup on a P Bass. Image

Author:  truckjohn [ Sun Mar 05, 2017 7:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Starting to get closer. Almost there.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Well I think I'm only a week or two out from having the shop finished. I've been finishing the last of the ductwork for the dust collection system then just need to clean out all the leftovers from the shop.

Next up for the size 5 will be final sanding and finish. My plan right now is French polish. I might even get done before the deadline idunno

Author:  truckjohn [ Fri Mar 17, 2017 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

It's so close!

Author:  SteveSmith [ Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Major work on the shop is done - finally!!! Still have a few dozen small projects to finish but at least i can get back to work.

Here's a few photos to contrast with the previous.ones.

The major dust makers are at the far end and all are connected to the dust collector now.
Image

Mobile go-bar deck, down draft table (old file cabinet holds sand paper stock). Parking area for drum sander, table saw/jointer cart, buffer and mini lathe.
Image

Finally, something related to the thread. I found the Baby Bird none the worse for being stored away for 3 months. The neck joint needs a minor tweak then final sanding and finish. Image

Author:  truckjohn [ Mon Mar 27, 2017 8:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

It looks good. Time to make some progress again

Author:  Alex Kleon [ Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

The shop is looking good, Steve, kind of like mine.... until I woke up, and had a coffee! [headinwall]

Alex

Author:  SteveSmith [ Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Alex Kleon wrote:
The shop is looking good, Steve, kind of like mine.... until I woke up, and had a coffee! [headinwall]

Alex

Ha ha, I bet. Hard to shut down for several months when you're trying to make a living. I did accomplish my main goals which were to build a setup bench, gain more space to move around, increase storage to get crap off the benches, upgrade some of the equipment and improve dust collection. I still have at least a dozen small projects to do, of course. And you know it's not likely to look this good in six months.

Author:  Clinchriver [ Thu Mar 30, 2017 3:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Looking good, thats a nice shop!

Author:  Hesh [ Thu Mar 30, 2017 6:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Yeah your shop has great Karma Steve!!! Really nice Baby Bird too!!

Author:  SteveSmith [ Thu Mar 30, 2017 2:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve's Baby Bird

Hesh wrote:
Yeah your shop has great Karma Steve!!! Really nice Baby Bird too!!


Part of that Karma has to come from the cool setup bench design that I copied from yours. Thanks for sending the measurements [:Y:]

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