Virtual Non-Meeting
Aug 20, 2020
Robbie
"I now have 2 notched straight edges. A 24.75 & 25.5. The other one is a 24.90 & 25.40. Now I'm going to check the neck and frets on all of my guitars."
I also have a thickness caliper. Not from Stewart McDonald but just as good and much cheaper.
Classical Purist Tweet
Some humor from Howard
Robyn and Bryn were walking down the street one day, when Bryn spied a frog sitting on the sidewalk. "Help me, help me!" the frog said. "I used to be an old guitar picker, but an evil witch turned me into a frog. The only way to break the spell is to kiss me. Help me, help me!" So Bryn picked up the frog and put him in her pocket. They continued to walk along.
Shortly, the frog popped out of Bryn's pocket and repeated (in a most inimitable way) "Help me, help me! I used to be an old guitar picker, but an evil witch turned me into a frog. The only way to break the spell is to kiss me. Help me, help me!" Bryn, again, picked up the frog, put it back into her pocket and they continued along their way.
"Why do you keep doing that?" asked Robyn. "Why don't you just kiss the frog and break the spell?" "Frankly," replied Bryn, "you can make a lot more money with a talking frog than you can with an old guitar picker"
Larry Sakayama - Travel guitar neck fix
I had to rebuild the tenon on the neck and recarve the heel. First I sawed off the broken heel part, then added a block of wood to build the heel back up.
After rough shaping the heel, I cut the excess wood to form the tenon.
I also made the neck thinner while I was at it. I don't know what I left the neck so thick the first time around.
Covid-19 Pandemic Virtual Non-Meeting 3
Here's what we're doing while unable to meet with our fellow luthiers. Hopefully we'll be able to meet face to face soon.
Frank Riner
As usual, I never get done all the things I think I will. Its just too many things I want to do!
I finished one tenor guitar. I do not like it though. Probably because I don’t know what to do with it. Other than the string action is still a little high, it’s a great sounding guitar. The problem I have is - I wanted to play Irish tuning with it but I don’t know any Irish songs nor the chords so I set it up for standard tuning and played some basic chords on it but it just didn’t sound “filling” I guess I miss the sound of the missing strings (comparing to a 6 string)….next I tuned it like a ukulele but again my playing skills are subpar so currently it is tuned open G like a 4 string CBG and I play slide on it.
I glued the bridge down on the Ambrosia Maple tenor guitar, its actually ready to put together, I am just lollygagging.
The Bevel guitar project is still being a challenge. Since it was an experimental guitar to start with, I used a cheaper truss rod which I don’t like and I can’t rid the fret buzzes on frets 3, 4 & 5 no matter what I do. It could be the fact I used a premade board and its no good. So, I am removing all the frets to sand the actual board to make sure its even. I may even replace all the frets. If that doesn’t work, then I will start over.
Most of my time has been committed to the garden. Seems the weeds grow faster than the vegetables. We have had a good yield of squash and cucumbers so far, tomatoes are starting to turn now, the green beans are filling, and the corn is about to tassel.
I also squeezed in some time to make a keepsake chest for my 2nd grand kid. It's kind of a traditional thing. I made one for each of my kids when they were born and my daughter asked for me to make her kids one as well.
Michael Dean - New workbench...
...replacing the one I have been using for the last about years since I moved to VA. The old one was too small, too light, and honestly i just didn't do a good job putting it together.
Anyway, this one is around 72 inches long plus the vise, 20.5 inches wide. The top is southern yellow pine(SYP) I have repurposed from about 3 different workbench designs. Most of the rest is SYP too, with some scraps of fir, poplar, and white pine here and there. Still need to flatten the top, trim the vises flush, and drill dog holes. Hopefully this one will last as long as I do.
Larry Sakayama
Guitar projects are still taking a backseat to my canoe and work around the house.
After the last strips were put on, completing the bottom of the hull. The outer stems were attached and then the hull was sanded in prep for fiberglassing. First, a coat of epoxy was put on to seal the wood. (Some builders skip this step, sealing the wood and wetting out the fiberglass at the same time.) After the wood is sealed, the fiberglass is laid out on the hull and then wetted out with epoxy. When the epoxy is worked into the fiberglass, the fiberglass beomes transparent and the wood shows through.
After the hull is fiberglassed on the outside and inside, the inwales are attached. I made inwales with scuppers (holes that allow water to drain out). They also reduce the weight a bit, and add a nice design feature. I cut spacers between the scuppers with a Forstner bit to produce a rounded scupper hole. (The photo at the drill press shows spacer blocks being cut from ash, but I ended up using cherry.) The spacers were then glued to a full length piece of cherry, bent upwards at the ends to accommodate the upward curve of the bow and stern. This assembly is the inwale that gets attached to the inside of the sheer line (top edge of the canoe hull).
Then the outwales were attached.
