April 10, 2010
Once again, sMg Guitars will be donating the construction of a custom guitar for the Phinney Neighborhood Center Auction. See http://www.phinneycenter.org/events/auctionitems.shtml# for details on attending the auction and bidding.
Last year’s auction guitar is 905. Click on the category in the list to the left to see a running commentary on the design and construction of last year’s auction guitar.
February 28, 2010
Wintergrass concludes today. Four days in the Spruce Room (Instrument Makers) where the Seattle Luthier’s Group set up a display flanked by mandolin makers, banjo makers, violin and bow makers.
We seemed to have crashed the bluegrass party as most of our guitars were decidedly not within the paradigm of bluegrass appropriate (i.e., dreadnoughts). Regardless, we did get a lot of interested pickers. Our little bet amongst ourselves has not yet been resolved: “First sale buys the beers”.
January 15, 2010
I certainly will have 905 and 906 ready for exhibition at Wintergrass in February, but I’m thinking through what might be the appropriate guitars for exhibit. I can borrow back Larry’s Green OM, Beth’s Koa OM, and Carol’s Parlor. I also have the Zebrawood resonator. That’s 6 guitars. I think I have a 2′ x 8′ panel to display, and maybe I can even use a floor stand, so 5 guitars on the wall, one on the floor.
Zebrez:
Larry’s Green OM:
Beth’s Koa OM:
Carol’s Parlor:
November 24, 2009
Here’s my public accolade to Cat Fox for the fret class she gave tonight. Great stuff, I learned a lot. I used to hate the final setup, the fret dressing and polishing etc., but tonight’s class gave me the right focus and technique to complete the job. Oh boy I’m so excited. I took Carol’s guitar with me to the workshop and now I have a very level, very shiny fret job on her guitar. I’m going to call Beth and get her to bring her guitar in for the dressing of it’s life.
Thank’s Cat.
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.
September 16, 2009
After removing the spool clamps, this little puppy is starting to look like a mandolin. I have quite a bit of sanding and scraping to do before restoring the finish. I may also install some back binding.
September 16, 2009
The back on this mando came loose, so I removed it, removed the loose braces, then sanded, cleaned, and rejoined back with added back strip. Made a jig for the back and reglued bracing.
First brace fit nicely, moved to second brace and added back strip reinforcement.
Stripped off lacquer on back, then installed onto sides with spool clamps.
September 13, 2009
Started repair of Romanian A Mandolin. CA glued cracks in sides, and rejoined back with strip insert.
Installed new frets.
And…filled top crack.
I have reshaped the back braces, and after building a clamp jig will reglue, then glue the back on again.
September 2, 2009
I offer Guardian cases for my custom guitars. You can go to the links section to bring up the Guardian case website to view the different cases available. These cases are an excellent value. The four models I carry are Standard, Deluxe, Tweed and Vintage.
The Standard is your basic case:
The Deluxe adds more padding and upgraded hardware:
The Vintage is again another upgrade in materials and padding:
The Tweed is the same construction as the Deluxe:
August 24, 2009
My brother in law Bim’s sister Lisi sent me a mandolin for repair and it arrived today. It’s very similar to the Romanian mandolin (Repair 9001) given to me by Joel Tepp.
Lisi’s mandolin is 50ish years old, with a gourd shaped back and some serious issues. It sat in an attic for multiple decades, probably going through sever temperature variations and with the strings fully tensioned the whole time. It essentially compressed itself over the decades.
This is a view of the butt end from the top showing how the tailpiece pushed against the top, compressed against the heel block and binding and shoved a center piece of spruce toward the soundhole.
The above shows the cracks in the spruce top. The soundboard dipped, once there were cracks and nothing to keep it from dipping. Another side effect was that the soundhole bowed up in response to the pressure from the cracked top.
Finally, the decorative back pieces have come loose and will need reglueing.
I think the best, and least intrusitve solution will be to remove the center panel on the top where it is cracked on both sides, get in and flatten the soundhole and add new bracing, reinstall the cracked piece and craft a new bridge.
