Official Luthiers Forum!

Thanks, Padma. Yep, Dave and I have corresponded. He's an excellent builder in my estimation, and I, too, like his bolt on concept. I've read his tutorial many times. You go, man. I want to see this axe all dressed up and ready to go. I am digging it.

Patrick

Thanks Guys

Weaping and gnashin of teefs...dentist, pain, infection, drugs...Padma, him no happy camper.

This last week.

Got little done.

laminated the neck with a layer of dark 1/4 rd cedar the whole length
and laminated the head stock with sycamore that came from a pallet that buddy down at the lumberyard put aside for me.



Heres the inlay for the head stock...its pear wood burl.



THe fretboard is somthing that alan stassforth gifted me, thanks alan.. It has a slice of the Sacred Ayahuaska Vine inlayed at the 12. besides a coat of oil, thats all the fingerboard gonna get.







Sorry no pics of me routing out for the inlay work.

Here be shot of the neck, pic guard and the book matched sycamore which looks like a snake skin and will cover the headstock back down the back of the neck.



THe other piece is the pic guard of sycamore and will be detailed with a dark cedar and light birch edge.


Das it for now.


blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Any symbolism to the pear wood choice for the headstock...

Usually symbolizes Lust/Love therefore Birth/Death the cycle of life...

???

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

Ummm Gee thank AO

last summer me came into some pear burl an upon slicing it up this summer and seeing this patter, I immediately though of this guitar. Sometimes there is no mystic mumbojumbo...but then all things are symboles of things so um ya pear....

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Padma, I love your headstock Burl, and the laminate for the back of the head/neck! That is going to be incredible.
There's nothing more distracting than mouth pain......hope you're feeling better really soon!
Be well! Beth

Wow!
I REALLY like that peghead!
What's the peghead angle?
Looks steeeeep!

Glad you likes and thank you for noticing.

Yes, the headstock to neck angle is around 28 degrees.
This is double the angle of say a Benedetto.
and the neck set angle is currently at 5.5 degrees or about 1 degree more than Benedetto.
The reasoning is simple...
On most jazz builds the feel of the "look" is very important...at least to the picker.
The usually wide face of the head stock compliments the large body shape of arch toppers giving the picker a feeling of ummm more stage presence... and an in your face "LOOK at me" front to the audience. This was part of the development of the Jazz guitar as the guitar moved from the quiet small cording instrument in the orchestra to a more solo instrument. So the larger stage real estate presence developed.

Well because of who this instrument is going to, a much more "intimate, humble, wrap
your coils around me and heal" feeling is achieved with this higher headstock angle...its also reduces the in you face "bass ball bat" neck while still honouring the classical look of an amerikan icon ~ the arch top guitar.

Now the 5.5 degrees at the neck ads to the same effect. However it more so is to accommodate the bridge from becoming too narrow as the top was carved from plates that were 1.25 inch not the more common 1 inch. This thicker plate permitted a deeper, more voluptuous, tender, intimate caressing shape to the carved top. It would also result in a some what narrower bridge and hence the neck set was increased.

Furthermore, my builds usually have the strings much higher above the decks necessitating a higher profiled bridge. This sets a challenge in getting the energy from the strings down into the deck via that bridge. This means that the bridge has to be treated much in the same fashion as the bridges in the violin family and carved and sculpted accordingly. Since me can only adapt the principles of " violin bridge carving" to the arch top bridge...it is really a hit and miss adventure resulting in sometimes up to a half dozen bridges being fashioned and fine tuned for the instrument to deal with any wolf notes that may arise, as well as to bring out and or shift the voice of the instrument this way or that~a~way while still moving the max string um pa pa through to the top plate.

Now when me gets the frets set and the neck and body bolted together, I will then remeasure the "projected height of the bridge and if necessary, increase the neck set angel to add some meat in the bridge for carving the sucker.

As this instrument is for a medicine man, I highly doubt that she will ever have stage lights upon her. It will more than likely only be played in intimate small ceremonial healing circles.

So there you go allan...now you know.


blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Padma,

I love this. Please keep the updates coming..

And I hope you are feeling better. Pain sucks!

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Jim Hansen

Thank YOU Padma.
You add a lot the forum.

I'm curious to see how you bolt the neck on? Detailed pics to follow maybe?

CUrious! Yay, well the trailer for "How me bolt the neck on a 17" Jazz Arch Top"
should be released later today.

You can get your tickets for actual full date release in this thread later this week by
simply doing a $20 E~transfer into Lances Pay Pall account.

Then you to will be bedazzled instead of being befuddled on how to get this couple of bolts inside a closed box.




Don't miss the thrills and chills of this ancient mystery.

Tickets now on sale.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Gee flipo,

me should gets you to handle all me publicity.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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why not just drink some Minwax wood hardener? I used to keep that stuff around just in case. Also, me thought the padma's bandsaw blade not yet in. How can he cut the big piece?

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

oh no how to delete?

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

So me glued in the truss rod, slipped in some of this plastic stuff to prevent
a ratting. Here you can see the veneered neck and the inlay edge treatment at the 5th.






Is at this stage where me really gets personal with the wood, you know, we has a little chat for a few days sitting with it and working it all down with a scrapper.
Cleaning up the carving, the neck in general, the box and its banding.

Rounding the banding edge over.







Here you can see the double veneering of the neck with the dark and light theme of the bandining carrying on under the fret board and in to the head stock. The12th and 17th side marker treatment can be seen here. A lotta clean up left to do on the caduceus.




Examining the wood. Much to do to fix all the banding japs and bumps and dings.





Plum bobbing the neck thinking about the bolt on coming up.

blessings
Padma




blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Just under 5,000 hits on this thread and only 115 replies...
Waz the matter dudes, you just a bunch of gawkers?
It takes a lot of time to photograph, re-size, colour correct and upload all this stuff. Post sumpthin eh....makes dis old fart feel gooder inside.

Anyways....here be some more pics.

Shaping the neck




Steaming out the ding a lings, bumps and bruises. 3 pics and all were out of focus just like me eh.





Me find this useless corner sander really useful for the recurve sanding.




Useing a right angle drill, chucked in a 25 inch long 1/4 rod with a 1/4 bit brazed on to the end to drill the bolt holes.



Here is the neck joint with the hardware.




I will then use a 26 inch long 1/4 inch rod with an allen wrench brazed to the end to assemble the neck to the body.


Now the situation that arose, and David, be glad you didn't install a Viriz plate because the dang thing is in the way for getting the bolts on the end of that Allen wrench. Real hassle it is getting them bolds into the holes with dental floss to guide the bold into the hole it is.

At this point me gonna direct you to Dave Stewards bolt on neck tutorial. His pictures and verbage of this process are far better than mine.
Here is the link http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=16049 Check it out.




Me 'n the lathe having a chat with some coco about strap pins.




After turning them, the correct angle is "pencil sharpened" with this home made sharpener which me made for violin, viola and flamenco tuning pegs.






After sandin the box was coated with shellack and then its bursting time with the hairy airy brush. Cadmium yellow, yellow ocher and light chocolate brown.




Scraping the binding with a exacto blade. I have various scrapper blades for this, but for some reason only the exacto wanted to work this time. Oh well.






After scrapping the binding, the edge was given one more thin coat of the light chocolate brown just to tone down the brightness of the white purfling and the oak banding. Then the box gets several coats of some water born poly.




It is Tuesday and this instrument has to be presented to the curendero on Thursday....much left to be done. What me saying is that even though I will photograph the process to the very end, they may not get posted well into next week.
Sorry ... just live with it. Me can.

If you be liking all like this stuff me laying down here then please ....post a comment.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Very nice, Padma.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Yo, Padma, I'll post several comments.

First of all, me like very much!
Next, that is one sexy deep recurve in the top. Wow!
Next, did I read right? Cad yellow, yellow ochre, light chocolate brown? Are those artist's colors you're using? Sounds like it to me. And I know you're a painter, so it seems logical. Okay...what is the medium? watercolors in shellac? In lacquer? Oil colors thinned with solvent? Me gotta know!
Last, this is one totally cool instrument. My sincere congratulations to you! I hope the new owner appreciates it as much as I do.

You said from the outset it wouldn't be a conventional jazz archtop, and it's not. But it's waaaay cool. You da man.

I hope you can include some sound clips with your final posts. I will be watching. And, hopefully, listening.

Patrick

Aliens really did come to Earth to give us knowledge, and the Padma is the living proof!! Your build is inspiring!

WOW

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Alex, Chris thank you

@ Patrick Thank you, Ya me likes voluptuousness in me builds. Finding 1 1/4 inch bolts for tops aint' easy and ain't cheap. But worth it for that deep recurve.

Actually they are universal tints from our local hardware paint dept. added to water born poly and sprayed on top of shellack and then covered in several more poly coats.

Me don't like water born much, would have preferred a French polish but as this has to be presented to him this Thursday...me really didn't got much choice.

blessings

_________________
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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Geat to see your work, Padma. Me makes me realise the crazy things I do are maybe part of some tradition after all. Who was that quote from- "tradition is OK as long as it fits into my ideas"?
I really love the look of your workshop. Wish my dark hovel here in Newcastle could be blasted with some of your sunshine.
I'd love to see your unusual instruments, any links or pictures you could post my way.
Looking forward to the rest of this thread.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

VERY nice! I really love the entire aesthetic. The burst is about as tasteful as i've ever seen.

Oh, and the pencil sharpener is genius.


I know what you mean about the lack of replies, and I'm guilty . I've been peeking in on this thread often and have yet to tell you how much I'm enjoying it. Thanks for posting your process/philosophies. I don't quite understand you some of the time (ok, a lot of the time), but I can appreciate your heart

Padma I love this thread, one of the best on the forum. So consider me a fan of your work and your style and please keep it going to the end

Love this thread, too. I like it when (skilled) folks show us how to make stuff. Especially guitars.

Very Nice! Thanks for posting...
Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com