Archive for October, 2009

Guitar 906 – Paua purfling installed

October 30, 2009

Installed top curly maple binding with teflon strip between 2 BWB purfling strips.  The teflon was removed after gluing to leave a channel to push in the Paua abalone strips.

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Used mostly straight strips, which cracked (normal) when going around mild curves.  When I got to the waist and the topmost section of the upper bout, I used curved strips.  I used my thumbnail and a credit card to press the strips down into the channel.

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The channel was prepped with a coat of vinyl sealer to keep the CA glue used in the final step from seeping into the side wood.  Using a pipette, I flooded the channel with the paua with CA glue (one of many applications).

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When the first flood dries, I’ll apply additional CA glue until the paua is full covered.  Once covered, I can proceed with scraping the binding/purfling down to flush.

Guitar 906 – Binding

October 29, 2009

Hey Carl, I’m back to working on your guitar after weeks of diverting my attention to building the spray booth.  I’m tackling the binding now, and very excited about the paua inlay for the top.  First I trimmed the curly maple binding with BWB then put in the bender to shape for the parlor body.   Next I routed out the channels on the back as it is the simple clean BWB Maple BWB setup.

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After installing the binding for the back I moved to routing the top, after giving it a shellac whack, protecting it from dirt, tearout, and grain pullout after using binding tape.

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I installed binding on one side and will do the other side tomorrow.  The top binding has a teflon strip installed which will be removed to give a channel for pressing in the paua.  Oooh, excited.

Back in the shop

October 20, 2009

Yes, it’s been three weeks since I laid hands on any guitar work.  The primary distraction  has been the building of a new spray booth.  I constructed an enclosed booth in the garage with an exhaust fan, lighting, electricity, and units to hang guitar components for spraying and drying.  The majority of the work is done, it just needs a few wrap-ups from the punch list.  I will complete those wrap-ups just prior to my next need for spraying guitars 905 and 906.

I have a considerable backlog of work.  The following list is to help me prioritize.

1.  Guitar 905:  Back is attached to sides, next step is to finish brace shaping and sanding for the top, then installing the top.

2.  Guitar 906:  Box is assembled, next step is to bend binding, route, then install binding.

3.  Guitar 903:  This guitar still has no identity, yet I’m leaning toward a dreadnought, just because.  After I adjust the drum sander, I can thickness sand the sides then bend.  I need to identify and prepare a top.  The Ovankol back is joined and ready for thickness sanding.

4.  Oliver Classical Guitar Repair:  Thank God my brother in law is understanding.  Starting this repair is hard to think about.

5.  Oliver A  Mandolin Repair:  I’ll begin tackling this repair ASAP.  I know what needs to be done, it just needs to be done.

6.  Tepp A  Mandolin Repair:  Much progress made, much to go.  It will be a good companion to the Oliver A Mandolin repair.

7.  Tepp Ukulele:  Modest repair can be done now that I have my RARE Earth magnets.

8.  New Repair Job:  Expecting a guitar to come into the shop Wednesday to improve intonation, probably through a bridge saddle replacement.

Stand by, the Dude Abides.

Guitar 904 – Gallery

October 2, 2009

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Guitar 902 – Gallery

October 2, 2009

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Guitar 901 – Gallery

October 2, 2009

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Guitar 802 Gallery

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