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This a luthier site, pal.

Next time.....make an axe.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

It is a cool sword though.

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wah
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Wah

Fenders can be nice if you use the proper materials and techiques.
Awesome build!

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wah
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Well played.

Thanks!
The core is made up of three bars, with 11 layers each, with the twisted sections alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise.
The edge wrap is random pattern, about 400 layers, if I remember correctly.



Haha, very good.

Ok, here's a few axes that are in process:

An 8 string electric baritone ukulele with curly maple over mahogany:











An electric tenor uke with claro walnut over hog:













And a small body classical. Osage orange and Lutz:

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Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com

Hey Phillip,
Doesn't look like you're letting any grass grow under your feet! The sword is incredible!

This is a very talented group of people (and goats too, Tony).

Alex, the flamenco looks great!

Progress slow here as usual but a few things are coming to a head. Pics are in progress shots of #7, which is presently getting nut and saddle refined and then final cleanup hopefully by tomorrow - it goes to new owner on Thursday. I'll have pics of the finished guitar by then. This one is straight off the Romanillos GAL plan. Lutz spruce, Palo Escrito B&S, Cedro neck.






I really liked working with the Palo Escrito. It looks great under french polish right away. On the other hand, I think this is the first time I tried to use Zpoxy as a pore filler on the neck - never again, unless I find the right modification to the process. The end grain of the heel soaks up the epoxy like crazy, and the concept of sanding back to bare wood was pretty futile. Now I have blotchiness on the heel. Perhaps a seal coat?

Next up will actually be #9, which is a Barbero style flamenco. This is bound in cypress - I really want to see what the light-on-light binding looks like. This one now has it's frets, and the bridge is getting finished - someday. My woodworking isn't really up to all the light wood to light wood butt joints and stuff here.



Finally, #8 will be a Romanillos-style again, with Lutz and EIR. This one is waiting for bindings, and has a customer.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Try clogging the end grain with a couple coats of thin hide glue. It doesn't seem to soak in too deep and therefore doesn't darken much, and prevents other finishes from getting in either. My current one has a Port Orford cedar neck, and the heel end grain darkened a lot with shellac applied directly. Sanded back and tried the hide glue trick, and it hardly darkened at all

But I wouldn't want to try sanding back when the guitar is already assembled. I carve my heels before gluing to the soundboard, and seal all near-final surfaces with shellac to keep them clean, so mine was relatively easy to retry.

The palo escrito looks great I'll have to give it a try sometime. How does the density and tap tone compare with other rosewoods?

Looking great Jim, although next time I'd use maple rather than cypress, that stuff tends to be way too soft for a binding...

Today i am patching together a 5 piece, totally asymmetric, buttery Carpathian top for myself, pieces I split from a very old reclaimed construction beam. I give it a 9.5/10 for stiffness to weight and a 10 for taptone, and it also has the strongest resinous smell I ever encountered in spruce. It beats cedar and almost comes close to cypress. It's wonderful to plane this stuff, and fingers gets sticky after removing the piles of shavings from the bench. Really really excited about this one

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Build log

Been spraying varnish on the ukulele. Just one or two more coats to go.
Time to make a bridge!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Love it!

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wah
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That varnish looks really good. I'm re-finishing a old bandura using P&L #38 but I'm trying to wipe it on and after seeing your results, I may just have to level it and spray a few coats.

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

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try (on scrap first ) I've been shellacking and pumicing the heels up to this point, and the darkening is not nearly as bad as with the epoxy.

The Palo Escrito is less dense than Indian by a little. (Sorry, I didn't measure directly - something I've only started doing very recently). I'd say it's a little harder to bend, but not much. It taps similar to Indian (at least mine does) - not a really bright tap, and it's not a glassy sounding wood when you rub two pieces together. I'd say that, for someone happy with the properties of Indian, its more or less a drop in (and much more fun to look at.) I have 2 more sets (all from LMI - I don't think I've seen it anywhere else), all look more or less the same.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Pictures sooner than I expected.









I wasn't anticipating the 1.3 mm difference in action between the high and low E that the customer requested (translating to a 2.6mm difference at the saddle.) I would have taken a mm off the fretboard on the bass side if I had known. The saddle looks really weird to me.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

lots of nice looking instruments..
I'm working on my first sunburst matte finish... somewhat less elbow grease, but I'm not sure if I like it yet... (the matte that is), though it is growing on me......

Oh yea, knocked out a bridge the other day. This is a prototype in maple just to see...

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

Nice. Isn't that fun Andy?

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I like the matte finish! Certainly an eye-catcher.

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wah
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Forgive my ignorance Lex, But what material did you use?
Totally georgeous.
DZ

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It's from about 10 pieces of really nice vertical grained Macassar ebony. It is pretty well hollowed out or 'chambered' as the electric folks call it so the whole guitar should end up weighing about 8 lbs. A huge pain to work, especially carving the neck with hand tools, but boy oh boy is it pretty under finish.

Jack, what brand of matte finish are you using? I think it is gorgeous!

sanding, painting, sanding, painting, repeat, repeat......i started this project about 2 years ago, finally getting around to painting it. its a baritone Jazzmasterish thing. i just blew up a pic of a jazzmaster or jaguar on the computer and traced it best i could, then blew that up more. tele style bridge, 2 single coils. neck one piece maple with ebony fretboard
i used about the worst wood possible, it was a nightmare. i think its doug fir or ponderosa, just garbage 2x8 they had at Menards. the difference between the hardness in the grain lines is large, so it is very difficult to get a smooth surface. plus the wood has lots of small cracks in it, which will hopefully stay that way-small, and filled!
this color is actually very close to fender's "sonic blue" or "daphne blue", can't recall which. just some rattle can stuff

Heck yea it is. I'm loving the whole napkin sketch to finished product work flow. Finding it very satisfying.

So, how are you spraying the varnish? My wipe on just isn't flowing out well enough. Particularly, what size tip are you using (not that it matters much, 1.2 is the biggest I have)

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

Standard Crapsman compressor, Walcom STM 1.2 gun, around 35-40 psi.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Beth,
I beg to differ as I have yet to see an actual goat build any instruments on this forum. Goat lovers on the other hand....

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC