Mr. Sapele and his binding; PGM backstrip treatment

As you know, I have several projects underway. The sycamore SJ cutaway with the mahogany top, topic of December and January posts, has been re-assessed. I am not happy with the way the binding turned out. Top and back purfling, side purfling and binding strips need to be installed simultaneously, with lots of gooey, sticky glue. The purfling seated too deep. I've sanded too deep in spots, and still haven't gotten the purfling flush. In the process of binding Mr. Sapele, I discovered a marvelous technique for simplifying the installation of binding and purfling. So sycamore mahogany SJ will have his binding/purfling removed and replaced. Besides, I think sycamore next to flame maple looks cool.



Speaking of Mr. Sapele, here he was earlier today, bound and gagged. The last bits of binding and purfling were getting glued in on the upper side of the upper bout.



And, here he is after getting cleaned up. I am quite pleased with the new purfling technique and how well it worked on this guy.



And speaking of PGM, here's his back with the backstrip installed. It's a strip of flame maple binding set off by two tiny strips of bloodwood purfling. All these photos are taken with the laptop camera, so I'll only know if this is visible when you do. If you can't see it, well, I can, and it does look very nice.

I hope Eclectoman and PGM agree.

I am Bombadil

Here it is -- a map of the domain of the University of the South. If you click it, or open it in a new tab, you'll get a much larger view.

I live on the circle right above where it says "Clara's Point Road." I can jump on the yellow fire road either by cutting through my back yard or by walking up the street 40 yards. From there I can go anywhere. The yellow bits are fire roads, the red bits are perimeter trail, the green and dashed black lines are other trails which appear mostly to have at one time been roads. There are other roads and trails not marked.

A typical walk for me is to leave home, jump on the fire road marked as "parallel trail" (as it runs parallel to Breakfield Road, a decent gravel road beyond the equestrian center), walk all the way to the end, just past Brushy Lake, make a right and go up to Dotson point, take the P-trail back to Breakfield at Solomon's Temple trail, and come back on Breakfield. That takes about two hours. Last weekend, I took parallel almost to Brushy, made a left at the G10 cross road, took p-trail along Armfield bluff to the dashed black road that runs past Brushy's little arm, right on Breakfield, p-trail from Solomon intersection to the forestry cabin, fire road past cedar hollow lake, right on perpendicular road to equestrian center, then home on Wiggins Creek Drive. That took three hours.

Three hours of bliss.

The supply lines are moving

I am sorry to be slow in getting updates posted.

Two weeks ago I took my wife's ancient digital Kodak out to the perimeter trail to get some photos of this year's biggest snowfall. Bear in mind, that's a qualified description since we get very little snow here in Sewanee these days. Still, it was quite beautiful. I shall post once the correct USB cable is located.

For me, a really good day involves, of course, lots of sawdust and epoxied fingers, but also a 2-3 hour walk on the domain (that is, the largely undeveloped property of University of the South). Documenting the perimeter trail and the web of old fire roads is in the back of my mind as a blog project. I'll get a map up, by hook or crook, and point out some features.

But my posts have become less frequent of late due to the busy spring semester synchronized with my dwindling lutherie supplies. I have sought to correct the latter. The photo above shows Mr. Sapele -- now firmly in my mind as going to Eclectoguy -- with the flying buttress carbon fiber bracing installed. My hope is that the single end-block brace may have a sound-post like effect, transferring some of the vibration due to string pull directly from the top of the end block to the middle of the back. The neck block bracing to the waist area of the back is now standard.

The top is glued, clamped, and is presently drying in the shop. Once I've trimmed the edges, routed a binding ledge, glued and tied the purfling and binding on, I'll photograph and post again.

More re-supply is underway. I have frets, side dots, tuners and spool clamps coming in from Stew-mac. I've gotten truss rods and the killer cocobolo back and side set from Allied. Allied is also sending me a Carpathian spruce top with some bold herringbone rosettes and purfling for PGMs guitar. With the flying buttress carbon fiber tubes, I got also -- from a kite equipment supplier -- some flat carbon fiber rods for neck reinforcement. Some of this is here, some will arrive this week. As it arrives and I get time downstairs, I'll post on progress for Eclectoman and PGM.

Sorry to be a geek, this is all very exciting to me.

More snippets from Frankenstein's luthiery

I'm awaiting some more supplies, so there's little more to show for no. But, it's wintertime, which means the humidity is low and the conditions are ideal for bracing tops and backs.



Here's a freshly braced top for a parlor sized guitar. It's teeny-weeny! I only need one lower face brace, and one finger brace per side. PGM gave me his copy of "Clapton's Guitar," a very enjoyable book about master luthier Wayne Henderson; I drew inspiration from the photos of his braced tops in shaping these braces.



This is the parlor's braced back. That's mostly cocobolo with a wedge of zebrawood.



Finally, I drilled out the player port on Mr. Sapele. Both sound and reptiles are directed at the player's face. If the carbon fiber rods would ever get here, I could reinforce the neck and end blocks, then install the top, trim the overhang, rout for binding and purfling and finish off this body.



I also bought this cocobolo set from Allied in California. Pretty wild, eh?

Don't leave them cold and damp ....

Okay, so lutherie hasn't actually dominated my life in recent weeks (as it had during the holiday break). My schedule is settling down a bit, and I'm finding some time in my week when I can get some work done.

This is the braced underside of the top for the sapele guitar. Now that the sycamore and mahogany SJ (small jumbo) is done, I've returned to this Orchestra model. My aim is to make it as good a guitar as the mahogany and cedar guitar Eclectic Guy and all the fine folks at HalcyArt liked so much. So I have high hopes for it.



You can see the striped figure so prevalent in Sapele. I asked the folks at LMI (Luthier's Mercantile International in Windsor, California) to pick some super-stripy sapele sets when I ordered a few sets last fall. I wedged in an ultra groovy strip of cocobolo down the middle just for giggles.



And, here's the back's innards. I glued the back to the sides earlier today.

I like building guitars because they are alive. I mean, in the end they have voices of their own, sometimes in fulfillment of your vision, and sometimes in what amounts to an utter surprise. And they come to life at early stages, not just after the wet sanding, rub-out, set-up and strings. Sometimes the wood does exactly as you expect (and makes you feel really capable, a genius the world is aching to discover), but other times ... .

It seems to me you have to follow the wood and do what it allows you to do. A more seasoned craftsman than myself might be able to coax exactly what he (or she) wants from every piece of wood. Perhaps I'll be able to in time. I can usually win my way with every stick, but sometimes the wood doesn't do just what you want it to. Or, sometimes it does, but you reach a point at which you stand over a half-completed neck, or a freshly bound and sanded body, and re-assess just what it is you have.



Here's the sycamore and mahogany SJ cutaway. It's a big, deep box. The bracing all over is stiff, and that top is really stiff. This box is whispering to me "Coach, let me play 12-string! I know I can do it!" Coach is thinking, kid, you look like a 12-string. Maybe this is a good idea.

But, what about the 12-string body I made in December?

And, more importantly, what about Eclectic Guy? I was thinking SJ would be his guitar for some time.

Eclecto is born and bred a classical player -- he just wants to play and hear the ringing harmonics of steel. I'd thought the cutaway would give him upper fingerboard access he's not got on his nylon instruments, might open up some areas to his thinking. Of course, he's not suffering for a lack of ideas. And, moreover, when we talked about this in WV during December, he says he cares not one whit about getting more than 12 frets clear of the body. I should listen to him, he's the player.

So, now I'm thinking Mr. Sapele is for Eclecto. It's light, light, light. Back bracing is uber stiff, and flying buttress carbon fiber will make it more so. Top is less stiff, and is actually scalloped near the bridge to allow more rocking. Silk and steels will mimic nylon string tension for his left hand and feel closer to nylons for his manicured fingernails and classical technique.

I also patched the bass side upper bout rib to drill out a "player port" -- an extra sound hole aimed at the player's face.



This is the 12-string body I built in December. Or, so I thought. It actually has only two finger braces per side (rather than the three I saw in a Guild 12 top) and two lower face braces (again, rather than the Guild's three). The X members are actually only a little over 1/4" wide, and not all that tall. They aren't scalloped -- but neither were the braces on the red guitar. Now, the X does have a 120 degree spread. Other than that, the ONLY difference between this box and the red guitar is that this top is engelman spruce and red was, of course, western red cedar.

So, I think this guitar wants to be another orchestra model a la red. Mahogany back and sides, flame maple binding, minimal purfling. Oh, yeah, that's what this guy needs to be.



This is another Engelmann top, but Sycamore back and sides. Flame maple bindings, lots of bwb purfling, herringbone, and that back strip is two flame maple binding strips with a highly figured hunk of sycamore down the middle. I think this one will look really cool when it's finished -- all those medullary rays in the sycamore, all that flame maple. I hope to make PGM's guitar much like this one. He wanted the redwood top, and I don't blame him at all -- the figured white back and sides with that dark, rich, straight grained top will look really cool.

I could throw this at Eclectricity man. But it's a risk. I braced it for a tailpiece. The X is really stout, no scalloping at all. Of course, no bridge pad on the underside.

But, I did put three fan braces between the X under the bridge, and one finger brace on each side. Even without a bridge pad, I could do a pinless bridge. I did a pinless bridge for Addison Willis' guitar, and it works just dandy. A pinless bridge for eclectoman would be quite reminiscent of the classical. In fact, I could do EXACTLY a classical bridge! A 12-fret join! A slotted peghead! What a rig that would look like, if we stuck a magnetic pickup in something looking that much like a straight classical guitar!

In the end I don't know. Right now I'm leaning toward Mr. Sapele for Eclectic Guy.

Several nights of insomnia ought to straighten this out. Guitar building is a sleep disorder.

Body binding and purfling

First, I've been slow posting this past week because Tuesday (1/16/07) was the first day of class this semester. Moreover, my office was moved during winter break, and so I've been wrestling with boxes and networking in addition to the usual demands of new students.

As per previous post, binding and purfling ledges were routed. I went ahead and took care of the non-cutaway side, as it's a tad easier to bind.

Part of my reason for blogging my building is to be honest about this process. Neither am I god's gift to lutherie, nor am I without skill. I changed the name of this blog because the old title made me sound too incapable, too pathetic. I am neither. But, I have to work at this, and some times it is a struggle. The only way to improve skills is to try and fail and try some more. Now, I don't think I've failed -- far from it! But I've had to follow the "two steps forward, one step back" method as well.

Do I have the courage to say all this in a public forum? Is it not wiser (from a marketing viewpoint) to allow those folks for whom I build guitars to nurture an image of a master artisan whose every move leads to a predictable and calculated outcome? Perhaps it is. But that doesn't feel right to me. I do know what I'm doing. Still there are surprises along the way. Not all surprises are welcome. Some turn out in a way not intended. So, I have to go back and fix things. I am and will always be learning. I cannot believe this is not also true of every instrument builder, even Charles Fox, Kevin Ryan and Jeffrey Elliot. I bet Torres had to fix a few of his own mistakes now and then.

To my mind there is no shame in producing by hand an instrument which does not display the cosmetic perfection of a factory instrument. If you can tell it's hand made, that's no tragedy. It's an instrument -- a vehicle -- for the making of music. If it has an interesting voice that speaks to the musician and that musician's listeners, if it's playable and allows the musician to try new ways of playing, or to write new songs, or if it inspires a new musician to learn to play and brings the satisfaction of participating in acts of music-making, then it is a complete success. Cosmetics be damned.

That being said, I try hard to make 'em as pretty as I can. Each guitar is better than the last, and I work steadily to make that trend continue.

I'm using thin b/w purfling on the top, back and sides, as well as fine herringbone on the top. The idea is easy, but with bindings, two fine purfling strips and herringbone on top, coupled with the fact that you install the back bits and top bits per side simultaneously, it's not hard to end up with a gluey mess. It's also possible for the fine purflings to become misaligned. When they do, you have to yank it all apart, douse it with water, realign and re-clamp. Ugh!

Clamping, as you can see, is done with this mediaeval device, rope and wedges. Oh, yeah, it also helps to do it all before the power failure hits (as it did this morning, hence the mag-light illumination). Fortunately, I had everything in place and most of the ropes on. You can see that I'm clamping the binding/purfling around the lower bout, and that the upper bout remains on the "to-do" list.

Already the voice is changing quite a bit. I indicated in a previous post that the sound of the box is changed completely by the binding. At the halfway point already there was more sustain and a clearer, deeper tonal response from a fleshy-thummed thump.

Body

I installed the carbon fiber stiffeners for the tops of the neck and end blocks, let it set and glued on the top without thinking that I should take a picture. Sorry, I'm still getting used to this whole "documentaton" trip. Here's the body fresh out of the mold. Note the overhang around the top.

Some tools are just a miracle of ingenuity. To me, router bits with bearings fall into this category. I use a flush-trim bit to kill the overhang. It has a little bearing (and by that I mean not a single ball bearing, but inner and outer steel rings loaded with ball bearings in between, so that the two rings roll freely of one another) whose external diameter matches the diameter of cut of the blades. The bearing reads the bent sides as the rotating blade cuts the overhang to perfectly (or close enough) match the shape of the sides.

And, here's the result. I've also routed a channel and installed a bit of cocobolo (cut from a discarded fingerboard extension) at the top of the cutaway. This gives a very defined edge there and will provide a nice transition from body to neck heel.

At this point, what's been just a gob of sticks and glue not only begins to look like a musical instrument, but commences also to give utterance. It's certainly not singing, or even talking, but gives a sort of shrill cough. I used to think of binding as trim and nothing more, mere decoration to define the edges of the guitar. When I began this quest I read someplace that the purpose of binding was to protect the guitar, that stiffer rosewoods around the rim can protect softer cedars and spruces from breakage as the guitar receives the inevitible bumps it will receive. If the binding breaks, the guitar can be re-routed and new binding installed, then re-finished. Certainly the binding performs these two functions, but its primary purpose is much more central, and one I couldn't have guessed prior to building. It does bind the top and back to the ribs. The aforementioned router with bearing-tipped bit is used to cut a rabbet (shelf to receive the binding) around the edges for binding installation. That channel cuts through the top plate into the sides. The binding binds both to sides and top (or back), actually surrounding the top (or back) plate. I know that this has a structural effect on the instrument because the voice changes from a cough to a speaking voice once the binding is in place. The box will talk.

As the wood relaxes, it starts to sing.