Some pics of Howard's new shop in the attic of his home.

Howard's comments on his shop:
After several years without a shop I was finally able to convert some attic space into a workable area. Everything is on wheels so I can reconfigure whenever I want or need. Already feels like home!

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Luthier Exercises?

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Larry Sakayama's travel guitars

Larry is in the process of building 4 travel guitars from leftover wood cutoffs.

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Tom

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Howard Wilson's fan fret (multi-scale length) guitars in progress

One has back/sides of walnut, the other of fumed white oak (more about the process below). The top on the walnut OM is red spruce from Appalachian Tonewood.

Here are some references for how to mark out the positions on a multi-scale fretboard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8v71gBlsWM&ab_channel=CrimsonCustomGuitars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVB9QxFDQWg&ab_channel=IPGuitars

After the meeting, Howard finished both fan fret guitars.

Howard's comments on his fan fret guitars:
I chose to build two fan-fret guitars, a dread and an OM as prototypes. The fan-frets allow two scale lengths on each guitar—I chose 25.4” for the 6th string and 24.9” for the 1st string. The positioning of the frets allows better ergonomics for the left hand and I hardly notice a difference while playing (except less contortion of the wrist).

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Ammonia Fuming

Howard used the ammonia fuming process to darken the oak on one of his Fan Fret guitars. He used household ammonia.

Fuming is not just a surface process like staining. The ammonia fumes penetrate the wood so you don't have the problem of sanding through the color. Learn more about the process at woodandshop.com.

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