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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:32 am 
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Just saw this - lovely to watch old-fashioned wood machining. Lots of simple stuff. There is a nice simple centre line finder around 11.20.

Enjoy.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:51 am 
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Nigel, I don't see the link?

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:31 pm 
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Thanks Nigel. Like the nails into the tail-piece.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:35 pm 
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OMG!!! I feel totally inadequate watching the neck guy. Cutting frets by hand! Drilling for position markers with a hand drill. Shaping the neck with a KNIFE?!!! Wow!


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:42 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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That was cool thanks for sharing, lots of fun to watch. At 8:50, how in the world does he know how to cut fret slots like that? I don't see any markings on the fretboard at all. There is a surprising amount of hand labor that goes into building one of those.

Funny too, I just got one in my shop for a set up. I'll have to send this video link to the customer.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:56 pm 
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jfmckenna wrote:
That was cool thanks for sharing, lots of fun to watch. At 8:50, how in the world does he know how to cut fret slots like that? I don't see any markings on the fretboard at all. There is a surprising amount of hand labor that goes into building one of those.

Funny too, I just got one in my shop for a set up. I'll have to send this video link to the customer.



Just before he cuts the slots he puts a jig on the fretboard and bangs it down with his hands. My guess is it has fixed metal slats in (like hacksaw blades) that leave a mark on the rosewood fretboard. Those marks act as guides for the fret saw. The dot hole centres will be punched in the same time. Nice simple old fashioned wood working.

Mind, Hofners were famous for the fret spacing on the upper frets - it was often terrible!

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These users thanked the author nkforster for the post: jfmckenna (Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:40 pm)
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:59 pm 
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rlrhett wrote:
OMG!!! I feel totally inadequate watching the neck guy. Cutting frets by hand! Drilling for position markers with a hand drill. Shaping the neck with a KNIFE?!!! Wow!



I drill fret dots with a hand drill - he's using a brad point bit. As long as the centres have been punched in the right place, it's fine.

Great spindle moulder work. Very clever. In my next workshop...

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:50 pm 
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Are the fret locations on a bass less critical than on a regular scale guitar? Would they do this method on, say, a mandolin? His sawing motion (at 8:50) is wonderful. No sound holes in that instrument.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:12 pm 
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I must not be in on the joke. I don't see a link to a video, just a big empty space below the "Just saw this - lovely to watch ...." :D

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:16 pm 
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Definitely the good old days. Not the same today. I had a client bring me a new Hofner full archtop that had the worst fret job I have ever seen. Frets not seated. The e string would get hung under the fret ends. I had to pull them and start over.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:47 pm 
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The fret cutting made me go back and watch again.
I dig the giant spindle and pin routers.
The neck whittling was my favorite part.
Dan

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:27 am 
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bcombs510 wrote:
I must not be in on the joke. I don't see a link to a video, just a big empty space below the "Just saw this - lovely to watch ...." :D



Joke? Just look for "Building the Hofner violin bass" on Youtube.

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These users thanked the author nkforster for the post: bcombs510 (Thu Oct 26, 2017 5:17 am)
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 5:19 am 
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nkforster wrote:
bcombs510 wrote:
I must not be in on the joke. I don't see a link to a video, just a big empty space below the "Just saw this - lovely to watch ...." :D



Joke? Just look for "Building the Hofner violin bass" on Youtube.


Thanks! Interestingly, I can see the video link on Tapatalk, but the PC browser doesn’t show it. Then again I’m on a pre-release version of Windows 10, so maybe it’s that. Thanks for sharing the video!


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:44 am 
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Barry Daniels wrote:
Definitely the good old days. Not the same today. I had a client bring me a new Hofner full archtop that had the worst fret job I have ever seen. Frets not seated. The e string would get hung under the fret ends. I had to pull them and start over.


I did a neck reset on one last year and it was an Asian import Hofner. THe neck joint was a butt on joint with Asian mystery glue held in by two, what looked like, drywall screws.

There is a difference between those and the one in this video so it could be that?


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 9:40 am 
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That was very relaxing.

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:22 am 
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jfmckenna wrote:
Barry Daniels wrote:
Definitely the good old days. Not the same today. I had a client bring me a new Hofner full archtop that had the worst fret job I have ever seen. Frets not seated. The e string would get hung under the fret ends. I had to pull them and start over.


I did a neck reset on one last year and it was an Asian import Hofner. THe neck joint was a butt on joint with Asian mystery glue held in by two, what looked like, drywall screws.

There is a difference between those and the one in this video so it could be that?


It could have been an asian import. Didn't see anything stating that it was made in asia. But it was reportedly a $4K guitar and the frets were protruding up to 1/16" in places. Very weird. The rest of the guitar seemed well made.


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:17 pm 
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Lots of Mark IV eyeball technique. Cool but keep OSHA outta there. Cutting the neck laminates on the circular saw made me cringe.

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:42 pm 
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Terence Kennedy wrote:
L Cutting the neck laminates on the circular saw made me cringe.



Well, accidents do happen yes, but those chaps seem rather capable to me. Having spent the last couple of years here, I find German wood machinists to be extremely good. Though I do understand that not everyone feels comfortable using a table saw. My old boss was terrified of it when I first bought one, he was so nervous it was actually dangerous.

I think there is a lot of interesting stuff to be gleaned from the video. It's footage like this where I get a lot of ideas from.

Hofners are interesting beasts - very easy to criticise for sure - the fretting is poor, the necks are chunky, the finishes on the 60's ones are awful as are the pickups, but they have some good qualities too. The body shapes of the archtop guitars are excellent, I like them more than Gibsons, the curves are very elegant and less lumpy than Gibson. Also, the maple and spruce veneers they used were very high quality - pity the veneer was obscured by the opaque lacquers.

A UK guitar dealer in the 90's bought the contents of the old factory (which closed in the 60s) which contained hundreds of unfinished bodies and necks. I bought about a dozen archtop bodies ( I didn't like the necks) TO be honest I can't remember what I did with most of them but a few got made into guitars. Including this one:

Image

That's me around '98. I made a mahogany neck, stuck a P90 on and made myself a rather nice semi. Played that guitar for years.

Here I am a few years previous with the guitar I had before - a Hofner President.

Image

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:56 pm 
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That's old school instrument making! No CNC machines, just routers and shapers, and a lot of precision handwork by real craftsmen. Surprised no one mentioned cutting the dovetail with a chisel. Anyone know what the white glue is? Polyvinyl acetate, maybe?

Also, the first time I saw spray finishing into a waterfall was back in the late 70's in the Cessna Prospect airplane factory. A bank of guys were shooting green zinc chromate on the parts, moving them quickly on and off racks with barely a glance. I was mesmerized, but I needed to get a part bought off by inspection, so I had to keep moving. There was no overspray floating around, I was impressed to say the least.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:34 pm 
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I showed my son the video, he’s a huge Beatles fan and loved it.

Here he is playing his genuine imitation Hofner bass and singing on Beatles Rockband on the Xbox. :D

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:21 pm 
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Total threat drift but for old time German craftsmanship this video is hard to beat. Any old 356 owners on the forum?

https://youtu.be/tbFu1r_erw0

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:32 am 
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Setting anything to Felix's piano " songs without words" is cheating.
It's beauty by association that will work every time. Play it again with your eyes closed.

See? Would it matter what's happening on screen?


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:25 am 
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Hey David, check out the documentary “Score”. It’s what you are talking about.

https://www.score-movie.com

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:39 am 
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Fantastic terence! I watched part of the trailer.
Now I've got a weekend evening plan to look forward to. Thanks!



These users thanked the author david farmer for the post: Terence Kennedy (Sat Oct 28, 2017 1:28 pm)
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:39 pm 
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I love watching it... But I can't help sigh to myself over the thought of all that expensive German labor going into a laminate instrument.... Looks like it has a nice thin finish on it and all... And solid wood instruments are coming out of Asia...

I mean it's a pity we don't think about our branding.... No doubt companies like Hofner, Harmony, and Kay all knew how to make fantastic top of the line instruments.... But that's not what they are known for.. That's not what we associate with the brand.. Unlike Martin or Gibson.... Both of which have made a bunch of cheap stuff over the years - but that's not whats associated with the brand...


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