Put the first wash coats of shellac on the two latest guitars. It's always fun to see the figure pop on maple and all of the woods deepen in color once they get some finish on them.
Assembly of Guitars for GFA Convention 2017
Haven't had too much time to update the blog recently, so this is a pretty big collection of photos. These are the two guitars that I'll be exhibiting at the Guitar Foundation of America convention in Fullerton, CA this year. One is a spruce/rosewood Granada/Bouchet style guitar and the other is a spruce/flame maple Torres model. I'm very happy with how these are turning out and excited to get some finish on them later this week.
Bending, Planing and French Polishing
Here are a handful of short clips and photos from the last week of building. Planed and cleaned up tops, backs and sides for three guitars, started bending sides, glued the bridge on another and started the final polish. Had to make new bridge cauls since I didn't bring them in the move. If you are wondering why there is aluminum foil on the bending iron, it's so that the residue from bending rosewood doesn't get all over that nice white maple.
Planing Rosewood and Flame Maple Sides as well as New Rosettes
Spent the day planing Indian rosewood and European figured maple backs and sides. These guitars are going to the GFA in Fullerton, CA this year. Maple Torres model and new concert model.
French Polishing the First Austrian Guitar
Finally finished cleaning up and started sealing the first guitar here in Graz. One of the many items that didn't make it in the move was the old ratty woolen pad that I used for French polishing. I had been using the same one ever since I began building guitars, but it didn't make sense to bring it. So, I cut up a new/old wool sock and made a new one. It felt sentimental for some reason.\
It's always nice to see how the shellac brings out the grain of the wood. This particular set of Indian rosewood is pretty much perfect. Dark, fine, straight-grained and light. The Spanish cedar has a bit of figure to it bordering on a flame pattern and the spruce is clean, consistant and with plenty of medulary rays.
Detail of Ladder Motif for Rosette
I've tried to document the process in a bit more detail that usual of making the ladder motif that is used in many rosettes including my Torres model. The process is simple in idea, but somewhat tedious in execution. For this particular lay-up of veneers, I'm using padouk and sycamore. From my last blog post you can see the first stack of veneers cut and piled up prior to gluing. After the glue dries, I calculate the number of cuts necessary to end up with the correct final length to use in the outermost and largest ring of my rosette. I stack the subsequent blocks and glue them again into a long strip. After that, I plane all sides of the log and take care to keep everything parallel and square. I then glue a long strip of veneer along the end grain sides. Once the glue dries, I cut these strips off, plane the fresh side of end grain to the final thickness and glue another strip of veneer. Finally, I slice off strips with a knife and clean them up with a plane. The hardest part is planing the end grain by hand to a consistent width within the tolerance of a thousandth of an inch, so that when all is said and done, the side grain is on display which results in cleaner lines and more reflective figure.
Figured Maple Torres Model and Lots of Bindings
Started working on a figured maple Torres model. Joined the back, trimmed the sides and started on the rosette. I had half-finished interior rosette tiles, but had to make up a new laminate for the outer ladder motif. I recently received some padouk veneer from a friend and I quite like it; it's a very deep red color and becomes a beautiful maroon as it oxidizes. I usually don't use red very much in my guitars in an effort to stay away from dyed woods, but this stuff is great!
Laminated a bunch of back strips, binding and purflings and spent some time trimming them into thin strips with a knife. Happy to be done with that for a while.
V-joints and Stacked Heels
Been starting on a couple other guitars while waiting for veneer to arrive from Spain, cutting out and gluing up neck blanks. Headstock joints and stacked heels. There's an interesting photo of the v-joint in a plane shaving after cleaning up the glued joint. Excited to figure out a new binding and purfling scheme for the last guitar that I recently closed up.
Final Assembly
A few photos of the final assembly just prior to gluing the back on.
Springtime and Finished Solera
Spring really showed up all of the sudden here in Graz. It's sunny and warm every day now. I'm not used to that having lived in Seattle for so long; it feels like it should still be grey and depressing outside. In any case, it's been nice to be able to open the windows and work with a breeze. The humidity is perfect as well.
Finally finished the new solera. All spruce. Light and easy to fine tune as things inevitably move over the years. I attached the little L-shaped blocks with threaded inserts and machine screws which is an upgrade over the last one. Excited to be moving on and getting the first Austrian guitar put together.
