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Check out the ebay seller luthierwood-shop. You can get bundles of 50 purfling strips very cheap. They're from china as well, so probably fairly cheap to ship to Taiwan.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

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Nice work, guys! Thanks for posting,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve, back to your original post, at times like that I like to remember a quote by the late British entrepreneur Anita Roddick, founder of the cosmetics chain The body shop. She once said in an interview:

" I like to see what direction others in the industry are taking, and then walk calmly in the opposite direction"

Have you ever considered going minimal?

Doing so is a very rewarding process aesthetically and allows you to really asses where your building actually "is."

Why not drop the decoration?

See what it's like to just strip everything away.

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nigel

http://www.theluthierblog.com

Hi Nigel, thanks for the post. And by the way, I'd love to spend some time in your corner of GB. Absolutely stunning countryside.
Now, yes--I have considered, and even done, minimal. Then I got tired of my minimal.

When you say "Strip everything away", for starters I'll guess you mean purfling. Then how reductionist do you think one should go? Eliminate bindings? Forego the rosette? All these elements I deem not just useful but beautiful.
So I guess my crisis (mild one, I admit) involves what are the accepted "norms" in guitar design, but how to arrange them in a fresh manner. I think Jason Kostal, for instance, is doing some fresh work. I really appreciate his approach. But if I were he, before long I would feel trapped by that success and be looking for something new.
I dunno, maybe every one of his guitars is different enough he can avoid the slough I'm in. I hope so!

I'll stop baring my soul...this is starting to sound like Facebook...and offer a pic of something gleaned from the 'net.
This is Ryan Gerber's work:





The craftsmanship is first rate. Materials are attractive. Design is clever. Would I copy this? No...but I can be inspired by this,
and I hope to take something away from this example, as in all inspiring work.

With that, let me say a great thanks to all here who have posted their work over the years, and helped me beyond measure.
And you thought you were just putting a pic or two on the web!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Filippo, you are correct. And I have read Krenov's book, with real satisfaction.
Who knows, maybe this is partly his fault! Kidding aside, I really appreciated his philosophy of letting the wood speak to him and suggest the form of each piece.

Lovely pic, by the way...thanks!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I need to read that book Sounds very much like my philosophy. Each piece of wood is unique, so I let that inspire the design. Most often it's the soundboard and/or back and sides that provide the initial idea, and then I pick out the rest of the woods to go with it. But the fun of it is that there are so many variables, it's not at all straightforward.

Physical considerations like the size of the wood sets you have, and density of neck woods (balance consideration), tonal contribution of woods, visual things like color and grain figure, visual+functional things like cutaway, multiscale and armrest bevel, which tend to shift the design away from "old fashioned" and toward "modern", and even the names of woods, location of origin, and historical details relating to species or specific pieces that may suggest certain combinations.

I like that Gerber guitar. Good example of keeping the purfling pretty simple and spending your time on a great tail inlay (absolute minimalism is boring, but not every guitar needs to be totally decked out). Although IMO, the soundboard detail looks wrong, where the red creates a disconnect in the brown purfling line. But it would look a little boring if it just ran straight across, so how about something like this?

Get the brown line closed up, while continuing the triangular shape of the wedge up onto the soundboard.

That guitar is a good example of another thing... geometric/angular designs. Most builders seem to tend toward that, and it can certainly look good, but it's often easier (and IMO, even better looking) to do organic shapes, because there is no "wrong", and thus you don't have to be such a perfectionist. Curves, spirals, leaves, branches, animals. Something inspired by the forest the wood came from A splash of shell here and there to add color and chatoyance does wonders. Too much shell just looks like a wasteful mess.

I don't think purfling alone is the answer you're looking for. It's just one small, linear detail. Beauty is in the interconectedness of everything. Get out in the woods, away from linear human thinking. Bring a guitar, listen, and play along. Then look at the guitar and see if you have any ideas.

If you like minimalist, this one's pretty minimal:

More pics here.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Dennis, you're probably right. Purfling seemed the culprit to me because nothing else bores me on a guitar. All the woods involved are exciting, and matching the bindings w/ back and sides is always one of my favorite exercises.
But though this "small, linear detail" is a wee part of the equation, that change you made in the Gerber photo proves that one can do a lot with a line! Nice touch, and thanks.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Trevor, that's a lovely instrument!
Thanks for posting.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Yes, Northumberland is stunning, and this year we've actually had some sun which is rare!

Everyone has their own "minimal" and mine is getting more minimal all the time. When I first thought about stripping away the decoration it really made me look at my body shapes, and my headstock. Likewise I started to re examine the role that decoration plays - beauty is a function just like playability and sound. But much of the decoration we employ goes way beyond the practical role it plays.

This year I decided to make a guitar bouzouki with a rosette inspired by Canadian luthier Ed Klein:



Another thing Ive done is to "double bind" with black, and rout with a roundover bit (rather like a Tele) It looks really smart when its sprayed.



But even on some of my more expensive instruments I now only bind the top to protect it - I love the way the sides and back blend into one another in rosewood (cocobolo in this case.)

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nigel

http://www.theluthierblog.com

Thanks for the pics Nigel. But forget purfling, what's going on with that ^ ? wow!

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Though I've made other more elaborate ones, this one (a' la' Romanillos) is very easy to make and you can use up all of your scrap veneer in doing so...........

Yea, I never tried making my own rosette or whatever, but I am applying to study guitar making at Lincoln College in the UK and the class will teach that...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

WHAT?? You have never made a rosette? What do you do with your scrap pieces of back and side sets? Those are perfect for making wood rosette rings. You might even be able to throw together a 'whatever' as well!
But seriously, rosettes are easy until they get complicated. Then they are less easy. Really complicated rosettes are even less easy. I make easy ones.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Well, both happen to be true, but in this instance, I was only referring to my rosettes.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

David, what a gorgeous instrument. Thank you for posting that.
Any real close ups of that purfling? Rosette for that matter, as they both seem to utilize the same design.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Here's another shot:

Thanks, David. Now, those inner and outer bands: are they end grain, or side grain?
You did some sort of tute once...I think...but my memory..........

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I think this particular one is end grain though either can be achieved depending which way you slice the veneer sandwich.
For this I made a glue up (Fish glue gives you the working time to do this) measuring about 4" X 12" and around 9/16" thick with the veneers sandwiched in sequence. This was then sliced on my Proxxon saw to produce multiple thin "sticks" glued side by side in sequence (depending on the length needed you may have to cut this up and lay the pieces end to end.......I think this one was cut in half to double it's length to the 30" needed).

Here is the final glue up on the .6mm rosewood backer veneer. When installing the strips, another RW .6 mm veneer strip is placed to then border the pattern on either side.
Once the backer veneer is attached the glue up is trued on a thicknessing sander and stripped out on the Proxxon using a zero clearance blade insert and a very thin kerfed blade.

Oh.....in addition to the regular depth 1.5 mm slices for top or back purfling i also cut a number at 2.5 mm for matching back inlay strips.

Thanks David for documenting that. Like you said, a good use for left-over veneers.
And you can vary this quite easily. No two guitars would have to be the same. I like it!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve,

Here is a link to a recent build with some "old style purfling". Scroll down to close up.
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/foru ... p?t=308145

Chuck

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Steve,
I've found that sometimes repetition, but varying the widths of the same repetitive pattern can work. It can pretty subtle at a distance, but still have interest up close.

Chuck, RN, very nice work fellas, and thanks for the added inspiration.
I'll be doing a 100-year-young purfling scheme on an upcoming build, which really excites me.
Not as colorful as yours, Chuck, or David's either, but a break out of the usual routines or me.
I'll try to snap some shots along the way, hopefully to return some of the encouragement you guys have been so generously sharing.

Thanks again,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com