Official Luthiers Forum!

Kens place - 3209 Chitty Rd.
Plant City, Fl. 33565

Drive in, go thru the gate into the back yard.

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Ken Bailey Here-I am looking forward to having everyone come to my shop this saturday. I am sorry that it was not planned a little sooner. I have been real busy. I think a good idea would be to elect or ordain a leader. He can be called Mr President. His duties will be to buy a 2009 calender and plan the FGMA meeting as far ahead as possible. Then we know when things are going to happen and where.I am currently President of the Central Florida Bluegrass Ass. and we meet once a month for a one day or a 3 daymeeting. Once a month is a lot, if you work and have a family. I would suggest either quarterly or 5-6 times a year. For those of you that like to play I would invite you to be a part of the CFBA events. You will have a lot of fun and meet lots of musicians who love quality guitars. I will have the grill and provide hamburgers and hotdogs. Someone else please bring the side dishes and drinks/BYOB. I will also have the buns and condiments. I will demo my method of sunbursting and accept all criticism and suggestions. I would like to see others talk about and demo something other than lacquer, or perhaps some cool jig or method that you have learned. I will also have my Fire Bass in the shop which was done with lacquer, we can discuss that as well. I also am keen to know if anyone has a company that can make name inlays of MOP, because I am tired of doing them myself. If anyone has questions or gets lost you can call me at 813-390-4796. If any are interested we can also tour my showroom downtown. If anyone wants to consign an instrument, you may bring it and put it there and I will put it on my Website for sale. See you saturday.......Ken

Ken Bailey here again-We also have a group project for those who want to participate. I have a florida grown Honduran Rosewood log. It needs to be Split or quarter sawn. Its 27 inches long so the project will be a very small guitar, made from the log. If some one will volunteer to cut/ split it I will donate it to those builders willing to build the project. We need a guitar plan that can use 25-26 inch sides, and an appropriate scale length.Bring your ideas and suggestions with you. This is really nice wood, so it will be a great project. I have some other ideas for club get togethers and field trips too. See you sat.........Ken

I am planning to bring some South Florida wood samples collected from hurricane Charley for show & tell. I'll also bring a sunbursted guitar for that disscusion.

_________________
Mike Brittain
gmbrittain@gmail.com
myspace.com/mikebrittain

I have one of these:
http://www.mguitar.com/guitars/choosing ... =LX%20Blue
The sides are 24" long so it would work with the size of the log. I can bring it or I can do a tracing of the body. Might be better to bring it and we can do the tracing there an get whatever measurment we need from it. I have a sledge hammer but no wedges. Maybe an axe I'd have to check the shed. I'll bring some potato salad and macaroni salad.
I'd be interested in seeing Jim B.'s vacuum table setup if possible. I can bring my plunge router base for a PC310 .
Dave might be up to do a demo on Z poxy pore filling. Still up for that Dave?

So far I have 8 and that's counting Jim Mitchell who I talked to. Mark are you Mark Routen? There is also Rick Lee coming but he hasn't checked in here yet either. Anyone know of any others?

Sounds great Ken ! Good to see you Here on the OLF too. Welcome!
You have some good ideas. I would be willing to build a small guitar with
a back and side set from the hrw log. If that wood is anything like the guitar
you showed us yesterday then it will be beautiful. Thanks.
Chris - Sure, I'd be happy to do a demo on Z-poxy pore filling.
Mike - That would be great ! I am planning an all Florida woods guitar and I'd
be very interested in seeing what you have.

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Ken, thanks for hosting.

With the finishing theme I was planning on bringing some of the Stew Mac Clear Pore Filler and Brushing Varnish I have used, but not being able to make the meeting, I'll have to bring it next time. This would have gone great with a Zpoxy demo. Of course, even though I'm not going to be there, it might be cool to look at different products that people are using. I know my first look at pore filler happened when I opened the Stew Mac can. I have no basis for comparison to know if something else would have done a better job.

I would love to get in on a group build, so sign me up. I have been wanting to build a smaller (or any) guitar. Ken has some good ideas on the future of the group. I think we definitely need a bit of organization to keep things moving. Even if it is just an official keeper of a calendar (which if that is too structured could just be a notebook).

John

Yes Chris - this is Mark Routen. I plan to bring my enthusiasm and soft drinks and a desert to the meeting (along with my latest completed steel string).

Sounds great Mark, looking forward to meeting you.

I have two sets of plans. One for a baritone uke / small guitar with 22 1/4" sides and a parlor set with 26 3/4" sides. I bring them. I also have some swap meet stuff and a large stack of free wood working magazines. I'll try and pick up a calender. As for food , I'm not sure yet but I'll bring something. Sorry Chris but I think the vacuum will have to wait till next meeting or you're welcome to come over and check it out. I'm afraid I can only fit so much in a small truck.

I think Dave has been making 00s. What is the side length for those? LMI has plans for a parlor 3/4 guitar. Their site says the side length is 21.375".

Dave, are you bringing your latest 00?

You can build what ever guitar you want as long as the wood is long enough. I think Dave said his sides were around 30".

Yeah, my OO is 28.5" - just a bit out of range. Now maybe a single O shaped
guitar like Lance builds would fit. But then again I don't think they
are That much smaller than the OO. ah well,we'll figure something out......

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Well it looks like there is 8 of us. I got no responce from Mitch so I don't know about him. Maybe someone can call him, I don't have a long distance line. What's to figure out? I have a size that works and it's a start which can be refined to your taste.

Chris,
I found a billet of spruce in my storage. I'll bring it if you want to bring a knife or whatever you split braces with.

A foe or something like that? We need some wedges to split the log does anyone have any? I'm going out now to see what I can find in the shed.

Ok, I checked the shed and I don't have a sledge or an axe. They may have been in my 4 X 8 cargo trailor along with my riding mower that got stolen in November. So if we are going to split the mohogany log we need to come up with some tools. I've been living on Fl unemployment for 2 months now so $275 a week doesn't leave me any extra cash to go and buy a sledge and wedges if you know what I mean.

I'll bring a sledge and an axe.

John, Yes, I am planning on bringing the OO.

Guys, I just got an email from Jim Mitchell - He is sick and can't make it.
That's too bad - He was really looking forward to it.

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

That's 7 now.

So how did it go?

It went well and was a fun time. I was good to meet Mark Routen, Rick Lee , Mike Brittain and his Dad. Dave did his Z-poxy fill demo and Ken a Sunburst demo. Mike donated some back and side wood for a joint build project. That's a quick summery. Next meeting is Sat. April 11th. hosted by Jim Bonnell. He'll be by with the address and we can all discuss it here. Thanks to Ken for hosting this one and it was nice seeing and meeting everyone. Hope to see those who couldn't make this one at the next one.

It was a great get together at Kens place. We played a lot more music this time which
I really enjoyed. I didn't get many pictures.I was too busy playing all the guitars. Thanks to Ken for hosting and to everyone for making it a great time!Here's some of the guys...from L.- Mike Brittain,Felix Brittain,Ken Bailey,Jim Bonnell, Chris Paulick.Kens little banjo he made.Here's Kens bass fiddle.

Did anyone else take pictures ??

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Thanks Ken for hosting . It was a good meeting. Glad to meet the new guys. Dave ,thanks for the epoxy demo. It really helped. Today I tried using less like you and it worked great. That's why I was having trouble with the little ridges. I was using way too much. A tiny bit really does go a long way.
Well the next one is at my place.As of now I'm planning a grouper fish fry or a big pot of grouper chowder. I have my vacuum station I can demo and hopefully you guys will have some good ideas on other topics. I'm in Redington Shores which is between Clearwater Bch. and St. Pete, Bch. I'll send out more information as April 11th gets closer.