Official Luthiers Forum!

Sorry,
weekend is over.
No Monday posts allowed.

I'm the guy in the blue, yes Virginia Appalachian mountains

Nothing IN the shop per se, but I got an insulated segmented 8 x 7 door installed, and put up a rain gutter over it to keep things dry. Biggest investment in the shop since I started. I'm looking forward to a warmer shop this winter, not toasty, but warmer.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Getting ready to close the box on this one. Koa/Spruce

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Peter

Making progress on a Sapele and Sitka 12-string OLF-SJ.

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Rob

Ridin your new sewups?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Rob ...Nice guitar...Looks like we are about the same distance along in an OLF SJ

I spent some time at my friends shop last week/end helping him get his old 36" bandsaw up and running. We have been working on and off for over a year fitting in bits here and there. It was in great shape when he got it, there is nothing major to fix, we are just being slow. Here is a photo of crowning the wheels which left us all looking like coal miners after sanding that old rubber:



You can see the table in the background leaning up. It is huge and weighs a ton. Here is a photo of the saw:



and the makers logo:



We dated it to the turn of the century, roughly 1890-1905. A previous owner had re-machined the bearings and they seem to be in excellent shape. The 7hp motor is as big as a keg and has its own cast base it rides on to tighten the belts. It will be very exciting to get it up and running and see what it can do.

In my own shop work is moving along well. progress continues on the documented guitar and I should have a guitar back from Joe early next week which is always exciting.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Cool band saw project.

I'm really not getting anything done on weekends, but I finally got through the binding and purfling process on #6. I had to re-do a quarter on the back side, as there was a gap in the purfling that I didn't see till I had already scraped the binding down. If I'd caught it, I might have been able to heat and seat the binding, but no. Had to chisel it off and do that quarter again. Anyway, it came out OK, I think. Here are a few pictures of the progress.

Re-gluing half of the back side, side purflings and binding, after chiseling off the old.


At the tail.

Other shots.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Yo, Burton,

Yay!

Good for you two for taking this on and thank you or posting it.

Me love to see old stuff refurbished...specially when done as a labour of love.

Me use to do this sorta stuff but age take sits tole and well me gotts other things to be playing with now.

blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Loving those side purflings Waddy!

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Rob

Beautiful job on the binding and purfling miters Waddy!
Your rosettes get cleaner every new instrument you make too
That's going to be a wonderful looking guitar...and I'll bet it will sound pretty good too.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Thanks, fellows. Here's hoping, Dave.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Waddy, this pattern will look killer when finished. What wood is that in the thick purfling line, reminds me of lacewood.

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Build log

I had great plans for this weekend to get some real work done but a disastrous nuclear bomb of a phone call from one of my day job customers sucked out any life and hope I had left in me, crushed my dreams of an ulcer and high blood pressure free month and necessitated an appointment with Dr. Beer for some self medication.

Because I don't use tools on a big hangover I only recuperated yesterday. I did manage to work on this the thursday before though. This is the scroll for a bandura I'm building for my kid. Because I suck at carving and I've got a commission, I'm building both of my kids kiddie sized instruments in parallel with the full sized commission - That way by the time I get to his scroll, I'll have two more under my belt. The good news is they are getting easier and faster.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

It's quartered Sycamore, Alex.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

A couple of things on the bench. I heard from a customer of mine,a brave soul who bought one of my first guitars
in the mid 1970's. It was in need of some repairs (a kind way of putting it) but thought I'd show you what I received.
Here's some photos with the neck removed. I need to reset it and make a new pickguard, refret and who knows what else
I'll find. I really can't remember much about the guitar but maybe that's a good thing. I do like the way the top has aged,
the rosewood is not bad either. Live and learn.




Also working on an 1850's (or earlier) 2-34 Martin. It's got a spruce laminated back. It had been badly repaired some
time ago- length-wise back crack "repaired". I had to remove the back, remove the braces and re-glue the crack.
Support the crack and re-glue the braces. It's now stable. Will refit the back next. Thought you might like to see
the mahogany bridge plate. The top was spared repair work and is in good shape. Much more to go.
Here's the back off with repairs showing. It's hard to tell that's spruce, quite dark after all these years...


Here's a close up of the repairs done some time ago


And the back repaired with support for the crack, braces back on


Here's the bridge plate and some of the top bracing

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Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

As always, beautiful & inspiring work going on around here.
I love these threads!
I laid up this fingerboard inlay on the weekend & just finished sanding it flush.
It is for a Mun ebony & Euro spruce 000-13 I've been picking away at between other jobs.
I think it came out pretty nicely.

Went to a local festival to display a couple of instruments, packed up and left after the 40th verse of "Whiskey before breakfast" in an "organized jam" in the vendor room, and got the flu from some germ infested human. Better today...