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It's been a slow building week here at Flushtone Global Headquarters but I nearly have a top braced and ready to be joined to it's box.

Instead I have been purchasing some tools and plan on making some boxes for my new tools this weekend.

Also I just shut down my humidifier for the season and turned on the dehumidifier. I am in Michigan and temps are now in the 40's to 50's during the day with lots of rain. Seems that I am either hauling water to or from my shop but I am not complaining.

Anyway I will post some pics later but before I do let's see what's happening in YOUR shops this week please?

Thanks!

Getting close to the finish on #4. Got the fingerboard glued down and bridge placed for gluing. Here are a few shots from the bench.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Looks pretty good, Waddy. Have you decided on a name yet?

As for my guitar building, I just posted a finished guitar, you can see it there.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Yes, Doug, I have successfully held a "Name that guitar poll" and decided to call it #4! "Fred" almost made the cut, but not quite.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

While on spring break this week, I am making headway on a curly maple and adi auditorium. For the first time, I am doing double sides- mostly out of necessity due to how weak this set of maple has proven to be. Anyways, today the top went on and while I was placing the go-bars, one of them decided to slip off the top and whip me in the face. Thank God it missed my eye- by about 1/2". I guess I'll have to be more careful in the future.

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Yeah, those can be dangerous. Couple suggestions~ carpet the top where the go bars hit it, they'll stay put. Throw those nasty little spears away. Go to Home Depot and get the bigger, longer, fatter fiberglass ones used to mark territory for snow plowing, etc. They have reflective tape on one end. Available year round. Near the mailboxes, address plaquards, etc. Stiffer, less springy, and won't launch like those little ones. Yours looks like a trap waiting to be sprung, and it is. Glad you're okay. An eye is a PRECIOUS thing!

Yikes, close call. I would adjust my deck much higher if possible. You only need to to be about two inches (IIRC) shorter than the length of the go bar to get maximum clamping pressure. They are much less likely to attack then.

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Evan McCartney

No update from me. Not got anything done on #1 due to some of my tool suppliers letting me down with delivery. I was hoping to get the back glued on to the sides so I ordered a bunch of spool clamps from a local store. Unfortunately they haven't come up with the goods yet after 7 days. The only upside was the deal I got on them worked out cheaper than making my own.

First coat of lacquer on the parlor...





Also buffing a Rio 12 string.

Haans, that is a gorgeous parlour. The purfling is great.

beautiful oak parlor Haans!
jack

Little lacq work posted in Mando forum

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
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Haans, that's looking great!

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Just playing the claro walnut

May do a little work on the EIR OM.

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Wow, Haans that parlor is really a beauty! I'm very envious. I'm working away on guitar number 4, a quilted mahogany and sitka box. Up today was the rosette. This one is quilted mahogany, rosewood and .064 blue paua ZipFlex. I wonder how many of these I'm going to have to do before I really get the relief in the top exactly right.... I'd love to have any hints you all may have to offer on that score.

Chris.

Chris, here's something I learned from Tony Karol. Inlay the wood rosette on the top then cut the outer and inner channels for your black purfling lines. This will help eliminate gaps around the perimeters of your rosette. You can do this too for the shell.

What's happening in my shop.....well after thinking I know something, I get to re-top two guitars learning hurts sometimes.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

By God Rod, how come I didn't think of that? Thanks, I'm sure that'll help a bunch. Seems so obvious when you say it.....

Chris.

Ya, that's how I felt when Tony mentioned it about a year ago

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I've been running tests on inlays using epoxy.

A couple days ago, I tried doing a rosette by routing out a trench, putting purfling strips around the edges, and a walnut veneer in the bottom. Then I cut out two squiggly vines from a maple veneer, painted them green, and twisted them together. Then placed the vines down in the trench, and filled it with a lake of epoxy. I don't think I'll use it though. It's kind of cool, but kind of tacky. I think I'll try staining some maple veneer green and doing regular inlay with that.

Today, I tried inlaying a slice of a stick from a sycamore tree in the back yard, because I always liked the radial lines in those sticks. Then put a little epoxy over it to protect it, since I'm planning to use them as fingerboard dots, and the sticks are pretty soft. I got a bit of white glue on it before the epoxy went on, which is the light patches. I might actually give the whole thing a glue coat next time to preserve the original color, since it's a little too dark with the epoxy right on it.

Here are some pictures (the rosette has tons of bubbles in the epoxy, and scratches from lazy sanding...):



Other than that, I made a shooting board to practice jointing. Getting nice paper-thin curls, but my joint is still fat in the middle. It doesn't help things that one of the pieces of wood I'm working with is slightly warped, making it difficult to check the joint. But I'll get it yet.

I also got my pile of cheap necks and sides and a back from Hibdon's monthly special. The back has a big crack in it, but it has a nice tap, and I should be able to get a 15" lower bout guitar out of it. Not bad for $5
Necks are mostly rift sawn and some have a lot of runout, but some should be usable as actual necks, especially if I cut them in half, flip, and laminate. All of them should be fine for heels and blocks and chopping into linings.

Tomorrow, I think I'll go out and look for a muffler shop that will sell me a bit of pipe for my side bender, and get some alcohol and cheesecloth and squeeze bottles so I can make an attempt at french polishing.

Some great looking work there, guys!
Chris (Ensor) - I've got a bunch of those same white sticks for my deck and I only used them once. They just want to 'get loose' - I had problems with them pivoting, and had a near miss as well.
I've also got some of the heftier fiberglass bars and find them too powerful.
I've gone back to wooden sticks, which are easier to manage, and I can afford to have a bunch of them in different lengths.

I got my 'Under $100' flamenco project finished this week and it seems to be holding together well and sounding pretty good.
Cheers
John

Prototype for an instrument I'm building for my friend. If my head didn't hurt so much from testing whether my mug at Rochester Mills still works last night I'd write more. I hope to get the rosette done today. Anyone got a source for ABS BWB that's not a complete ripoff??

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Just finished up building a radius dish jig with my good friend Mike Percear.I'm now braceing a sitka top useing one of the dishes we made for an ash dread.

No pics today, but I've got my first commission going!! My father asked me to build a baritone Uke for my uncle. Just glued the blocks this morning.

And my explorer, still in the same state as the last 4 what's on your bench posts...

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Rob

Finally got caught up here and took a minute to take some pics:

This is a great time of year in my shop because the RH stays nearly perfect with very little assist from the dehumidifier. So my shop is nice and quiet....



I was fortunate enough to snag the last set of fret cauls that John Watkins made and sold. We use these in the Ann Arbor shop all of the time and they are invaluable.

I just finished making a quick-and-dirty little box/stand for them so that I can read the radi and grab easily. This box is EIRW with Lowes pine molding ripped and sized as dividers. The finish is non-existent and I think that I will keep it that way since it is going to get knocked around. She sounds great with great attack, sustain, and range.... Sorry I couldn't resist, other than guitars this box is one of the only things besides trouble that I have ever made....



I had some HHG in the pot and instead of wasting it I used if for my box.



Bracing a top and nearly ready to attach it to it's box.





Stew-Mac is GREAT!!! I placed this order on-line yesterday at 4:30 PM and selected standard shipping. It arrived at 10:00 AM this morning!!!! That's 17 1/2 hours!!! Amazing!!!



Here are my headlights for my new OptiVisor when that thing arrives next week. Should have ordered it from Stew-Mac and would have had it today.



That's it for me this week.

Man I LOVE that headstock !

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/