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I have also threatened to go to plastic bindings especially after the last one which I did with Snakewood - never again.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I recently completed a guitar made out of Desert Ironwood (Olneya Tesota) back and sides. The quality of this set is astonishing considering how small the trees are and how hard it is to find guitar sized lumber without major flaws. In terms of rarity, it would be significantly easier to find a Snakewood back/side set than Desert Ironwood. I've been wanting to build with this set for about 10 years now. BTW, very interesting material ... I'm not sure if this applies to all desert hardwoods but this stuff structurally doesn't act like it has any grain and seems to me to be more of a homogenous composite type of material. Of course, my experience with it is just limited to the stuff I cut up myself and that is a small sample size. Tonally, it is very nice -- this particular guitar has a very beautiful high-end with great warmth and character but none of the metallic bite common to rosewoods. Visually, Desert Ironwood is quite special. The grain is especially detailed and when finished, it is really impressive up close. It's like comparing a blurry photo to a high-resolution photo. The only other wood that I've built with that had this kind of high-definition look was Brazilian Kingwood but the Ironwood is on another level.

Awesome! I've still got the set you sold to me 11 years ago. Hopefully I will be worthy of building it someday too...
How was it for bending?

Bending wasn't too difficult but I use double sides -- so the Ironwood was only about 0.060" thick. If you bend thicker than that with regular sides, then a good idea might be to poach material from the upper bout region where the sides narrow. And then trying bending some at your desired thickness by hand and see how it does. Thinning the wood really helps with making things super easy to bend and that's one of the major reasons why I use double sides.

Toonces that looks gorgeous. Any more pics of the rest of the guitar? Perhaps not of that case lining though!

Cheers Dave

Don't try to hide it, Dave. Everybody knows pink is your favorite color.

I thought the case was cool!

Lutherie "art" for the day

Study in Sanding Dust Number 1: Driving the Bus


Study in Sanding Dust Number 2: Rowing the Boat

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

EIR with a hog neck block and ply tail block?


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Good eyes, that's correct.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Getting ready to ship out a new guitar in cedar and madagascan rosewood for a client originally from Madagascar

Just got done with a full electronics rehab of this mid-60s Burns TR2 bass.

I believe this is the first ever production bass with active electronics. It arrived non-operational, missing about a third of the electronic components. No schematic available. I rebuilt the guts based on blurry pictures of the guitar version of the circuit.

Feast your eyes on the non-printed circuit board:



One of those jobs where it’s hard to bill for all of the work that was required. But it should make my customer’s 80-year-old father happy to have back the instrument he gigged with throughout his youth.

Love the elegant heel. Beautiful work.


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Thanks! Heel carving is one of my favorite parts of guitar making!

Brian that is gorgeous work!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I don't post often but this is a conversion from a D28 to a D45
Keeping the original top but changed the rosette to a D45
First I had to pull the pick guard , then make a filler to establish the center hole.

That was secured by gluing in 2 stubs then glue the filler in place.

With a hole centered I then had to figure out what I was replacing and what I had to remove and where I had to refill. So I knew the center rosette was keeping the first line but had to cut out .310. The part that is tricky is the the actual D 45 hole center is not the same as the D28 so I had to be creative with the inner and outer space. This helps the fret board end and 45 surround to line up when we get to that point.

Once the spacing and placement was established I knew where to open the top face to inlay a sitka spruce filler. Then it was just a matter of doing a rosette.

I will have to do some staining to match the wood. HINT Tea makes the best stain for blending old sitka and new. As the rosette was done I dropped in the pearl and stripped the top. Next will be the 45 top rim , sides and back.
this will be converstion # 11

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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

Nice work!

For me it’s putting some space between the compressor and the air dryer. The compressor says - “it’s not you, it’s me”






Brad


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That’s a nice installation Brad!


Steve

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks! I used the Rapidair “home garage” kit for the most part. I had to order a couple extra elbows. I also added the Milton high flow fittings. Hoping to spray a test panel tomorrow and see how it goes.


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A lot going on the shop as usual…
Getting ready to lacquer and L5 style commissioned guitar.
Finishing up a stella style parlor guitar
Getting ready to close the box on at Regal style Adi/walnut guitar
Doing a neck reset, Fret job and new Brazilian rosewood bridge for a Gretsch Acoustic,
Splinting a crack in a Martin Dave Matthews guitar.
Getting ready to have the Archtop tailpiece I fabricated engraved and gold plated.












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Brad, you have a lot of cool work going on in your shop.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I like that tailpiece. Did you machine It yourself? Any construction details?

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

Terrence,
Yes, I made the whole thing myself from scratch. At one point in my career I made knives so I still have all the equipment and knowledge .
Working brass is 1000 times easier than working tool steel-lol
As far as “construction details“ here’s how I made it:
Took a piece of bar stock and milled it to the dimensions I wanted.
Then on my milling machine I broached a groove in the back using a dovetail shaped bit.
Then I cut the string slots with a very small bit.
Then, on the step of the anvil, I tapped the piece from the back with a hammer to bend it into a shallow curve. That completed that part. Then, for the other part I made that from .090”brass -made a pattern, cut it out on the metal cutting bandsaw , for the interior cut outs, I drilled some holes and used the jigsaw and then filed everything to clean it up then drilled a hole for the tail pin jack. Then heated it up and bent it while holding it in a vise protecting it with some scrap brass, so the vice wouldn’t mar it. Then used various grits on the belt sanders and then the buffer polish it out. Then to fix the string holding part to the other part, I silver soldered it using a OXY mapp torch.
All in all it took me about 8 hours.

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What I wouldn't give for a Bridgeport in the shop...

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Mines not a Bridgeport it’s a Burke Millright .I paid $500. With the vice and some tooling and probably 100 brand new bits. found it on craigslist the trick is getting them back home it weighs 1450 pounds.




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