Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm game.....sign me up.....sounds like FUN!!

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"

So, how do I tell if the WRC tops that I cut from a 1 by 8 board from the local non-borg lumber yard is USA or Canadian? ??

I have to get 3 guitars done by the end of April as it is (which is more than my usual annual output), but I'm mulling it over.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim. I don't think the idea is that the materials must come from the US, simply that they come from the country in which you reside. I doubt that the OLF authorities are going to come knocking in the early hours if your Top happened to come from just across the border. It's more about trying to stay within the spirit of the challenge. At least that's my take on it.

I would be interested, but the sourcing of top wood here in the Missouri Ozarks would be a challenge. Lots of choices for back and sides, tops, not so much.

How broad is your definition of "indeginous to your area"?

cecil

Exactly .... From the country you live in .... With in reason .. ..

Be as honest as you can be and creative and have fun ....

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Hi All,

I'd love to be involved...you need someone to come last!

I've been lurking for a few months while building one archtop and one classical, but over in the UK. The timing of this is great for me, as I'm just about to start making two steelstrings, one OM and one L-00 from plans, and the timescale might work...however I was going to use some 'found' (off ebay) mahogany for the necks and a couple of sets of spruce from an English dealer that were for beginners...cheap but not likely 'local' wood. I think what I'll do is follow the thread if it takes off, but not expect to be eligible...presumably what you'd expect is for an English maker to use oak and other obvious UK woods throughout the guitar?

Fantastic forum, by the way, it's been really useful along with the books and other internet resources, I used Benedetto's book for the archtop and Cumpiano's for the classical, which needs to be finished this weekend. I'll post a picture of the latter once it's done.

Cheers,

Alan

I am happy to participate! Sounds like fun. I will also try to document the build. Let us know when it is GO time!

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

I would love to do this, but honestly just don't have the time. I have 3 commissions that have to come first....


As for the materials, just go down to the local shipping yard and pick up a couple of pallets. Most pallet wood is usually spruce which even if not quartered should be able to make a decent guitar from...heck a person could make a 6,8,10 piece top to get quartered pallet wood...Also, Western Red Cedar is generally not going to be found east of the Rocky Mountains.....

Personally I think "Indiginous to your area" should be North America for us in North America, Europe for those in Europe, Australia/NZ for those down under etc....

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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

I think Mahogany is stretching it as far as Wudwrkr's current guidelines. English/Scottish Ash, Cherry, Walnut, Maple should all be fairly easy to obtain in the UK - especially if you are prepared to use a 3 or even a 4 piece Back (absolutely no reason not to).
The hard bit is a suitable softwood soundboard. Douglas Fir is a possibilty, Scots Pine another.
If the area is extended to Europe it obviously will not be a problem!

Within Reason ! There are No Challenge Police I promise .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

I'm kinda in the same boat.

It sounds like it would be fun, but I just have too erratic of a building schedule, and too many things on my 'to do' list to participate.

I love watching the contests on TDPRI and MIMF, so this should be fun to watch.

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Jim Hansen

What a great idea! It typically takes me about a year to build a guitar, but I might be able to do something in the first quarter of the year. So, I guess January 1 is the official start date? That gives me a couple of days to figure out what I might be able to pull off. Hmm...

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George :-)

This would be my third guitar - and will probably start it before finishing my second. I can;t guarantee I will finish it by April - kids and wife keep me busy.

Mine will be a classical, black walnut, WR Cedar top, walnut neck, cherry linings, and maple accents. All sourced form the local hardwood lumber yard.

So I am throwing my hat in the ring - can we get a list of all the contenders in one post ?

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

I'm in! I think I'll do a steel string harp ukulele. Get some practice for the larger version.

No really good top woods around here, so I'll go with my favorite, redwood. For back and sides, I'm debating between black walnut (not sure exactly where the set I have came from, but the species grows here), or bigleaf maple, which doesn't grow here but I have a piece from Sniggly that's just perfectly shaped for a one-piece back.

One point for walnut is that I already have a neck blank... although I'm not sure it's totally dry since it came from the local lumber store a month ago. Maple, I'll have to go hunting. I wish I had some butternut.

I also have no domestic fingerboard woods on hand... perhaps some osage orange would be in order, if I can find any that's ready to use. Worst case I'll use a hunk of Indian I have and beg forgiveness

I'll see if I can get my coral snake build finished up first (after finishing a retop of another one...), and then whip up the harp uke in a hurry.

Wud, I think your new nickname should be "the organizer" First the St. Louis gathering, and now this. Very cool Hopefully some of the participants can make it to the next gathering too. I know I'll be there.

I think a quote from Warton Esherick is appropriate for this comp. Esherick is the godfather of fine contempory American furniture. It's a philosophy that will serve anyone that makes things.

I'm paraphrasing, I can't fine the exact quote: " If you can't make something beautiful with what grows in your backyard you're in the wrong game".

Good onya Wud, good idea. Unfortunatly I'll be training wombats then or I'd be in it !

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Regards from RangeView, Bill

I would love to be a part of this! Unfortunately, I'm already planning a Challenge build on the TDPRI that will take place around the same time. I'm not sure i could do two builds at the same time.
But.... I have some low end pickups that were given to me(I could count what they cost the person who gave them to me), and I've already got body wood and neck wood laying around, as well as a set of tuners and some wipe on poly, i think i could hit that price point without even blinking.
I will have to think about this.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Considering that my last 4 guitars have set me back about $120 I'm defiantly in!

Interesting. I have a lot of wood by virtue of buying and selling, so a lot of what I have was bought and milled by me, then I sold off most of it and kept what I wanted, and basically zero cost. Does that count? Seriously. I have bunches of B&S sets that cost me in reality...nothing. Even some BRW that was essentially less than $20/set. Can we make exceptions for hardware? I mean, if you're going to go through the trouble of making an instrument, it seems worth putting decent tuners on it. I really don't have time to waste on making a low-quality instrument that I can't sell.

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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."

Cost or not it has some value and should be counted as such , and as for tuners , better quality stuff can be added after the challenge its still your instrument .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

It would be my second build. What price do I put on wood from my property? I paid nothing for it, I just cut the trees up. I have maple and cedar that has been cut for 15-20 years.
Or ...heh, heh...Since I am a newbie and an amateur...does that wood count as free....you know like a handicap...

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Joe

My wife asks me "How many Guitars do you need?"
I reply "When I die count them; thats how many I needed".

I will jump in too.... I can't say I will finish on time - but I will eventually finish it....

It only took me 2-years to finish up the 2009 MIMF $100.00 challenge guitar.. but it came in under $70.00 all up.... That was my 4-string pallet tenor guitar I posted here:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=34519

It was gone 1.5 days after taking it over to the local music shop...

My brother is bugging me for a 6-string version.... Sounds like I gotta go dust off my pallet wood stash again!

Thanks

It's impossible not to use imported wood in Taiwan, all wood here are imported because it is an island. I would say the same for Hawaii (of course shipping from the lower 48 to HI doesn't technically count as importing).

Even if I find a wood supplier they all supply imported wood. The cost is lower but I need more time to season it because most of the time the wood I get isn't ready to be used in a build just yet.

What about use only wood indigenous to the region, like in Taiwan we can only use SE Asian woods, people in the EU can only use European woods, and people in Africa (like S. Africa, I don't see any OLF members from Africa) can only use African woods. The difficulty being the top and bracing since most of those woods come from the northern region.

If using regional wood is possible, then I am going to build an Ukelele out of Philippine Mahogany, fingerboard out of the messed up (and warped) Macassar Ebony, as well as its bridge. I think as for the tuner I am thinking of using a violin tapered tuner, but I don't know if I can simply use my 5 degree bridge pin reamer for this...

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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

Do the best u can , again this is about " within reason "

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Ok, have you decided that maybe it might be a good idea to have the deadline be in June? That gives 6 months for completion which seems more realistic for many members.

Yes I am kicking that idea around , just didnt want to drag it out to long . how about may 30th 180 days ?

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/