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I am building three guitars currently: A maple and adi OM, an african mahogany and englemann auditorium, and an IRW and sitka ES (my standard shape). Here are their rosettes (in an artsy-fartsy photo):

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It really bugs me I can't do anything at the moment. I'm so tied up with the day job (well a "day job" where you work late and night shifts).

I have pretty much given up on #1 due to a few fatal floors (never keep a guitar near people who don't understand "look but don't touch") however what I learnt from it will help me massively on #2. I know I rushed #1 due to lack of time and eagerness. I plan to do #2 properly and have bought Siminoff's book for a bit more theory based help.

I'm waiting for the materials from my supplier but they are taking an age to get here .

Got a top glued on a guitar (top # 4..... don't ask) and a good friend has convinced me to rebuild my first guitar. Back came off easily enough, shaved the braces off and have new braces on, profiled and the back is nearly ready to put back on.....

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Pore-filling and French polishing No. 5. Hauser plantilla with a Ramirez style heel. Myrtle (RC Tonewoods) with IRW bindings. The back had a lot of pores, whereas the sides hardly needed filling.
I'm also partitioning the basement to keep my dust out of my wife's work areas.

Just got the bindings on and flush and fitting the neck:

This is Shun a new student completing his new guitar in record time ( 5 days ).
All monkeypod wood with that little sap in front.

Well I've got a hybrid electric resonator about ready to go to finish. Still have to rout the pickup cavity and inlay the headstock.



I just set up #37, a Koa OM I built for a gentleman. (He actually got the wood in Hawaii years ago)



I'm tiptoeing into the archtop world. Finished the rimset. (The neck in the background is for the Size 2 below.)



And lastly a little Mahogany size 2 (my favorite) I'm building for a very nice lady that loves little guitars.



I've got another OM coming back from finish next week so there's plenty to do for right now.

Terry

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

Still plugging away at my current bandura build. This is a prototype of a "Київ" or Kyiv style bandura, usually I build Харків style or Kharkiv. I don't particularly like this style but I'm building the real deal for a friend who's probably the best player in North America.

I'm a little disappointed as because it's a prototype, I've noticed my workmanship is leaving a bit to be desired. It will look fine when it's completed but, I'm noticing that I'm not being as patient as I am during a "real" build.

Today I finished profiling the back of the rim and glued the braces on to the back.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
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Finally closed the box on a Cocobolo/Italian Spruce OM-C that has been taking way too long:



Waiting to hear from the buyer which binding he wants. If it were my call, I'd go with ebony.

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"

Still working on #1. Braced the top, sealed the back with shellac, and closed the box today.

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

Really nice Keith!
Fillipo, the Hauser is beautiful!
No photos yet, but strung up the white oak/ red spruce parlor yesterday...WOW! White oak is just fabulous for blues!
VERY fundamental sounding and as mandolin players say "bell like" trebles. Plenty of sustain too..

Here's my current build which I am in the process of pore-filling. I's Oregon Myrtle, if anyone can't tell. I had to do a double-take when SteveT showed the picture of his Myrtle guitar. I thought for a minute that someone had grabbed mine when I wasn't looking. I'm using Zpoxy to fill and this Myrtle stuff is really thirsty.

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Just delivered a commission - an OM based on the Kinkade book.
African Satinwood B & S + headplate.
EIR bindings and fretboard, BRW bridge.
German spruce soundboard and bracing.
Mahogany and Maple neck with Wenge veneers between, Wilkinson tuners.
Tru-oil finish.
Sounds fine, but will have to wait and see how it opens up, an hours hours playing post delivery was all I could squeeze in.
I have built an EIR B & S "sister" OM alongside this one with a much stiffer but thinner top and lighter bracing as an experiment and will have to wait to see how that turns out when I have the time to finish it.

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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.

Repairing an old Blonde Stella. Looks like glue failure cause every joint and brace has detached. It gives me something to do on the kitchen table.

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Not real happy with the cutaway 000-13 top so I've set the box and neck aside for now while I think about it. I'm seriously considering cutting off the top and scrapping it.

While I'm waiting on that one, I glued up the ribs, neck and tail blocks on a hog 12-fret size 0

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

somebody was hanged !!!

It's called the learning curve. First top, I didn't get the inlay right, so I redid it. Top #2, the inlay turned out worse than the first. Scrapped that one. Top #3 the inlay worked out perfect. The bracing prototype was flawed and when I strung up the guitar (fully finished now) the top bellied so bad and the bridge wings popped off because of the drastic change in top shape. Now I'm onto top #4 which is my standard bracing which works just fine.....

I'm almost starting to hate this guitar......

beans spilled and cleaned up.....time to move forward

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Went out to the shop and pulled the clamps where I had oh-so-carefully glued the neck and tail block and the profiled sides together for my size 0. Butt joints at the head and tail came out great. All the centerlines where they should be.

Then, there it was danged if I didn't put the predrilled heel block in upside down

Fortunately the bolt holes will still work, just not exactly in the standard position. And, I hadn't cut the truss rod slot yet although I prefer to do it before I glue in the block. Oh well. Must mark top on the sides in something easier to read.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Build #1 and I'm just getting started.

I'm working from the OLF-SJ plans.

Here is the neck glued up.


Here is the body mold. The hardware knobs aren't necessary...but they were sitting around I though maybe I would give them a use. First time using any router-like device. I just bought the rigid 2401 based on info from this forum. It was easy to set up and use.


I'm just getting started but I'm already addicted.

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rono

Awesome back. I love flat-sawn EIR, where you can see how purple it is on the larger light colored areas.

I've been thicknessing my plates and now working on the rosette. Got the top down to about .110-.120, I think I'll thin it down a little further after the rosette is finished, it's still pretty stiff. Although I have little to compare to as to what is "stiff enough", so I may just leave it alone after I get the thickness evened out toward .110 all over.

Mahogany back is about .105, give or take a few thousandths. It's a little floppier along the grain than the top, although stiffer across grain. Cumpiano's book recommends .110 for mahogany and .100 for rosewood, so I'm probably in a pretty good place. My intuition says to make it a little thinner though...

The rosette is coming along nicely. Just glued in the walnut burl veneer. Actually it looks so good I could just leave it, rather than my plan for that to be the background to a more elaborate inlay. I'll be routing more circles for a BWB purfling border on it later.

And because I'm too cheap to buy a circle cutter jig, and too lazy to put together a good one, I made one out of 2 popsicle sticks Screw them on to my dremel router base, cross them, and drill a hole at the radius I want. Stick a toothpick through that and into a hole at the center of the circle, and voila. Works like a charm

Working on a binding/purfling channel cuttin jig. Not done but hope to finish up this week and I might post a few pics.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Shun just finished his guitar yesterday. ( 12 days of intensive working )

my new guitar ( getting ready for the Beijing Show in May )

Added some make-up today, enjoy.

Curly maple OM. Picked out a top but needs a rosette ....Need to come up with something different to match a new relief carved heel and peghead ..But.. all Luth is on hold....as I am under deadline to get another display case done for Grand Canyon before tourist season begins. Since I can't seem to part with any of my guitars...I need to actually work to pay for my Luth addiction..
KB

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