Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm having a great holiday weekend here with lots of shop time. It's also been a while since I've started a "show us your stuff" thread...

Here is what I am working on - a dreadn*ught, Sapele/Lutz built for mediums and YES it WILL have a black top when Joe White does his expert thing on it.

Sorry Shane that I keep painting your beautiful Lutz...

Let's see what's happening in your shops AND if you have any new tools, wood, apprentices.... etc. in your shops feel free to show them off.







Thanks for looking!

Hesh...I know it's been asked before...but where is all the saw dust in you shop? The state mine is in now you would have a fit!

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Jamie M

This

This

and This

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

WOW Woody that is a killer looking guitar - love the burst too!!! Is the second pic Aussie Blackwood?

Jamie buddy my shop if filthy right now.... Actually I have a great vac that is HEPA rated, what goes in stays there.

Beautiful guitars.... .... .... Man I love looking at guitars. Almost a like looking at a lovely nude goddess.

Anyway, I am still unable to work in my shop in Illinois due to being mobilized at Ft. Benning, GA. I have been buying wood in preparation for that glorious day of Jun 2011 when I can return to make and see sawdust all over my workbench and floor. I think something is wrong with me, I like looking at shavings from my block plane too.

Oh well, maybe I'll take some pictures of my stash and post here.

Hutch out

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

I love progress pics. That burst is sweet and I love the Koa or Acacia.

Here is my contribution: a myrtle plain jane, I think this one will be a present to my son's friend, Ross. He never fails to ask about what's happening in the shop and makes very agreeable noises when I show him. He is a good kid and loves playin.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

........ I really need to learn to let go..To self.."Once they leave here Shane, you have passed their care to their new owner who will ensure that they are loved and cared for in the very best possible way to very best of their ability!"

Happy New Year Hesh!

Shane

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Canada

My Archtop build is slightly stalled, making the extension fit properly has been a hurdle.

But here it is anyway.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

The shop is busy, I have a 000 12 fret bound and am working on the fingerboard and neck, a wedge OM cutaway, with the binding routing done and binding bent waiting to be glued on. My buddy Tim is using my shop for his 1st build and will finish the back bracing and do a roset on his top this weekend. I plan to start a 12 fret neck 14 fret body Norman Blake style OM with cutaway as soon as Tim is finished with my OM mold.

I have a few photos on my camera and will get them posted when I get a few minutes.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Happy New Year Hesh!

G. I. Steve got his bass finished. It is his first.















Computer Steve is working on his left handed bass.







I'm working on a McPort.





And my wife dared me that I would not be man enough to wear "The Shirt". How do I look?





Glen

I always love it when this thread comes up. Beautiful guitars.

I'm still trying to get my shop up and going. Electrical, insulation, drywall, removing windows, adding new ones, building a guitar specific room with humidity and temp control. The main shop is all 2x6 so it will be pretty well insulated, and then I'll insulate the smaller room so hopefully it will be pretty temperate.

Then I'll be able to get finished on #2, walnut/spruce.

Darrin

Well regarding building, my first guitar passed the finish line today. Next task is the finish.

But this week my
- first bridge took shape (you just gotta love Micro Mesh),
- a very oversized fret press got successfully tested,
- the fretted fretboard got glued with "All wood glue" from LMI and
- 2 coats of Z-Poxy pore filler were applied to the body.

My shop is taking a break from me for a few days...
It's not any shorter, but we'll see if the part that I almost lost will grow back. We'll get a look at it tomorrow.

However, I do have a 12 drying and waiting to be buffed and another 12 ready for last coats and a coco 6 ready to start finishing.

Haans my friend maybe you should have your hand looked at?

Christoph Wow you have made a LOT of progress! Your new bridge looks fantastic too. Did you make your fretboard caul - it's pretty cool.

Darrin it looks like you have a lot on your plate too and it's all good stuff. Building a new shop can be a lot of fun and I suspect that you will find out what I learned when I built mine and that is what's good for guitars in terms of temp and RH is perfect for humans!

Glen Happy New Year to you too!!! I see some great things happening in your neck of the woods too. Love the bevel on the acoustic. And that shirt is too cool!!!!

Hey Fred bro it sounds like you are doing one of the most honorable things that we builders can do and that is passing on the art/craft/trade/knowledge/fun to another - good on ya!!! Looking forward to seeing your pics.

Hi Steve - your archtop looks great and I am sure that you will figure out how to make the extension do as you wish. I still want to build an archie too - someday...

Happy New Year Shane!! I'm sorry that I keep painting your beautiful Lutz tops but this is only my second black one AND I have used your tops around 10 times now so it's not like I always paint Lutz...

Chucky bro there is a certain eroticism to some wood and guitars isn't there.... Hopefully you can get back to your shop sooner rather than later. And - Chuck Thank You for your service my friend!!!!

Let's see some more pics of what's happening in your shops OLFers????

Dang Haans I didn't need to see that

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

There are some dazzling guitars in the works out there. Here's what I'm working on right now. This is my first Black Acacia/Tasmanian Blackwood (take your pick) guitar.





I love the looks of this wood and can't wait till it has finish on it. I think it will be a job for Joe White.

I am also working on the neck for the next guitar.

Max

Keep up the good work everyone. It is very inspiring.

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

No pics but I did get my shop cleaned and built 2 more shelves so I can quit storing stuff on one of the other benches. I can't bear to stop working on stuff long enough to just finish the shop so I do it a bit at a time I also took #1 back down to the shop so I can pull the fret board and see if I can salvage the neck - that's the one that the truss rod broke through up on the nut end.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Wow! Some nice work out there - I especially like the sunburst Woody as I am about to do my first - the body shape is amazingly similar.
I just attached the back on my first cutaway attempt, with Shane's beautiful Lutz on top and Black Walnut back and sides:

Wow,
Nice work everybody. Inspiring.
Especially the clean shop.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Not exactly from the shop, but this is the most recent thing finished (final setup on Christmas day), and it will be the last until I get home this summer.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Haans, ouch!

Here's what I was working on today: Am A-style mandola, with only Norwegian woods (spruce, birch and pear)

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

[img]

Lefty cutaway- now an orphan as the would-be owner fell victim to the economic downturn-haed to finish with no one waiting for it....

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

I finished building and moved into my new shop just about a year ago. It is 20' x 30' which is 4 times the size of my old shop, so I'm stoked. However, for now it is necessarily secondary in priority to, and mostly dedicated to the needs of, the building going up next to it: my new house, which I'm struggling along with. So, many other projects need to clear the books, and the shop still needs much infrastructural work before I'll be ready to build instruments in it. Here is some of that, to hold over until I can put in 'real' dust collection:



My just finished, cyclone-enabled, uber shop vac Here is a gallery that describes it in detail.

Peace,
Sanaka

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...imagine there were no hypothetical situations...

WOW - lots of great stuff to look at!!!

Arnt bro this picture:



It struck me as exactly the sort of pic that I like to see posted on a Luthier's web site. It has a days-gone-by quality showing the selfless, solitary Luthier tirelessly toiling to produce a finely crafted musical instrument. Or, conversely it could just be a snap shot of crafts time at the local mental institution.... Sorry Arnt - just kidding of course.... Seriously that is a great pic!!!

Sanaka you win the best vac award - that thing looks like a weapon of mass suction....

Let's see some more pics of what's happening in your shops please? Thanks!

This is in our shop now. It's a 14 fret SJ w/ Brazilian rw sides/back, and a Carpathian spruce top. Koa bindings and rosette, maple/rosewood/Makore purflings.







Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com