Official Luthiers Forum!

Gorgeous weather here in Michigan. Took in the Woodward Dream cruise last night. Great fun. This afternoon I opened the garage doors and bound the Pure Michigan L-OO and a Koa OM. I leveled just enough around the end graft to check the joinery and snap a few pictures. The cocobolo should be a deep orangish brown by the time I am shooting lacquer in a couple of months.

What have the rest of you folks been up to this weekend?

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

My first attempt at french polishing. This experience is much more relaxing and enjoyable than the "beat the clock" game of a brush-on finish (spraying isn't an option for me right now). I plan to sand out tomorrow with 400 grit and naptha, then continue with several days worth of bodying sessions. I haven't decided yet how to finish the top. I purchased some General Finishes High Performance Waterbased Top Coat with intentions of using it for the top (redwood), but I think I may have caught the FP bug.

Question to the wise: Can I use a commercial auto polishing compound (non-silicone of coarse) on the shellac after the final 2000 grit sanding?

I am working with my wife purging our basement of anything that is not helping our lives. I can think of many things that I'd rather be doing, but only a couple that need doing more.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Yes you can use auto compounds. Meguiar's # 7 and 9 work fine...Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

Nice FP there, looking real good!

I'm into binding these days too:

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Build log

Getting a little work done on my challenge special. Fell a bit behind when I used too much heat (using my newly hot-rodded Ibex bender) to bend the bubinga sides and got more scorching than I could easily sand out. Had to bend another set, fortunately they came out fine. Gluing neck and tail blocks, laminating head plate ad back strip, and changing out the band saw blade so I can do finish cuts since I'm done with all the resaw stuff.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I just glued my small set of black acacia together for the back of a Size 5. I'm also working on setting a neck on one of my Smiley-Uke's (TM) and I have to make the fretboard for it also. I found a really nice set of redwood that may become the top of the Size 5, so I'm going to try to get that joined up as well.

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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."

Eight sets of the tree? Geez....I don't even have one! Nice find Chris.

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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."

will post pics later
building 2 guitars a Maple dred and 000-12 fret in Mahogany all with Carp tops. Dovetail necks . Lots of fun

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Too lazy for pics....but I'm prepping the wood for a Bamboo, Bubinga Build...simply for the alliterative aspect of it. Hey...don't knock it. It motivates me.

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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

Binding that bamboo / bubinga build with blackwood?

Fairly busy, wet sanding a slope shoulder dred, first neck fit on a Blake style 000, and binding fretboard for the 000.

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Well,
I pulled out the overwound Tele neck pickup and power rail PU from one of my electric builds.
I re-routed the neck cavity to accept a humbucker. Got both humbuckers installed but not wired yet.
Just reapired my tractor and finished moving. This year in central Texas, we have had rain. Last year I mowed once.
Pretty boring, I know: it's been way to hot to be in the shop.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Working on the Cocobolo build . This is the kind of stuff that drives me nuts . See the piece of pink ivory laying on the back ? Can you guess where its supposed to BE !!!

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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/

Strung up 31 in the white just this afternoon. This is a Torres FE 17 based build commissioned for a young player who has worked very hard on his music. He will test drive it tomorrow.

inside view




On the bench

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

Its the Cocobolo build , using PI for bindings and accents . Most of it can be seen on my facebook page albums .

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 065&type=3

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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/

Nice, Stephen!

Sorry Wud!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Nice work, guys! A few of us are making progress over the weekend!

Chris, I have been doing some resawing as well, mostly mad rose into fingerboards and bridges. I run my shop vac and air filter when resawing, but my shop still gets covered in a fine layer of dust if I do a few big boards.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

We got some real woodworking done (the trees were felled last fall, in case you wonder why the branches and needles look all brown and shriveled up)!





Getting ready for winter...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Chris the thread is here
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=35357&p=464810&hilit=+cocobolo+build#p464810

Guess I need to update it lol !

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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/

Everyone looks pretty busy this weekend - whether building guitars, felling trees or enjoying a great afternoon purging with their wives!

I've been busy plugging away at #2 which is my first scratch build. Here's a quick mockup I did for you guys.



I do have a quick question for everyone. I'm shortly going to be doing my bindings. They're my first wood bindings I've attempted. I've purchased the curly maple with the b/w/b from Stewmac. Is there a trick to removing the b/w/b from the maple where it will meet my tailpiece? All you guys make perfect joints in this area and was wondering if someone could lend some insight before I screw my first piece up! Lol.

Thanks!
Rob

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

fp-ing

Rob, I typically will not use bindings with prelaminated purflings, however, on occasion I will, as was the case with the maple bindings shown on the guitar in my first post. I glued on the purfling laminations prior to cutting and thicknessing those bindings. When working with bindings like you have, the key is having a nice sharp chisel! I first insert the tail graft and associated purflings, leaving the tail graft a touch proud on each end. I usually start by binding the back side of the rims first, which has the narrow end of the wedge. I cut the purfling miter on the binding using a chisel, leaving the binding butt a tad long. I then focus on the seam between the end graft and the bindings, I can slide the wedge back up a bit or sand the end back to shorten it as needed. Once I am happy that the wedge is the proper depth at the back and the joint between it and the bindings is tight, I check the mitered purfling for each binding separately, holding it up to the end graft and checking for a nice tight fit. Only when I have the miters right, do I sand back the butt joint very carefully to ensure that each butt joins nice and tight right where the purflings square up. After the back bindings are taped in place, I do the same process for the front.

Good luck. PM if you need clarification.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

I didn’t get any woodworking done last weekend, but I did present my brother with his 40th birthday present – an L-00 cutaway. His band played Friday night and I gave it to him between sets. This was the first time I ever got to see one of my instruments played on stage. She is now 2 gigs old. I’m not sure who was happier me or him. I almost felt like a real luthier. . . almost. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.