"Bealtine" - modifying a guitar-cittern
Oct 12, 2015 13:05:06 GMT
Martin, ocarolan, and 6 more like this
Post by davewhite on Oct 12, 2015 13:05:06 GMT
I thought it might be interesting to show the process of an instrument being adapted rather than the usual new build threads.
In 2006 I made a guitar-cittern for Gavin Davenport (gavdav) called “Bealtine”. This was one in a series of four instruments I made – two guitar-citterns and two guitars - named after the Celtic Festivals of “Imbolc”, “Bealtine”, “Lughnasa” and “Samhain”. All four instruments had adjustable neck systems which have worked well for the two guitars in the series but not so well for the guitar citterns in terms of long term stability. For “Bealtine” I’m going to convert it to a fixed neck instrument and fit a new bridge with ten bridge-pins rather than the five with two strings per bridge-pin on the original instrument – this will work better for a gigging musician like Gavin. The instrument will also be tidied up and re-sprayed.
"Bealtine" is made of some lovely woods. The top is Lutz spruce and the back and sides are plantation grown Cuban Mahogany with a lovely flame figure. Binding is curly Koa and the fretboard, headstock veneers and bridge are Kigwood - the rosewood dalbergia cearensis.
First job is to take off the neck. You can see the setscrews that were used in the adjustable neck system as pivot and adjusting bolts. The neck was a mortice and tenon system:
Then the hardware is removed:
The K&K pickup is removed – it will be re-fitted after the new bridge is installed:
The setscrew bolt holes are filled with dowels glued in using fish glue:
The mortice is filled in with a piece of mahogany drilled to match the neck bolt holes and then glued in using fish glue:
The old Kingwood bridge is then carefully routed off using this jig:
When there is only a few mm of the old bridge remaining the bridge pin holes are drilled through with a 6mm drill:
Pieces of 6mm hardwood dowel are then glued into the old holes using fish glue:
The rest of the bridge is carefully routed off, the old clear pickguard removed and the rest of the finish removed from the top – fortunately all of the "love bites" were in the finish:
In 2006 I made a guitar-cittern for Gavin Davenport (gavdav) called “Bealtine”. This was one in a series of four instruments I made – two guitar-citterns and two guitars - named after the Celtic Festivals of “Imbolc”, “Bealtine”, “Lughnasa” and “Samhain”. All four instruments had adjustable neck systems which have worked well for the two guitars in the series but not so well for the guitar citterns in terms of long term stability. For “Bealtine” I’m going to convert it to a fixed neck instrument and fit a new bridge with ten bridge-pins rather than the five with two strings per bridge-pin on the original instrument – this will work better for a gigging musician like Gavin. The instrument will also be tidied up and re-sprayed.
"Bealtine" is made of some lovely woods. The top is Lutz spruce and the back and sides are plantation grown Cuban Mahogany with a lovely flame figure. Binding is curly Koa and the fretboard, headstock veneers and bridge are Kigwood - the rosewood dalbergia cearensis.
First job is to take off the neck. You can see the setscrews that were used in the adjustable neck system as pivot and adjusting bolts. The neck was a mortice and tenon system:
Then the hardware is removed:
The K&K pickup is removed – it will be re-fitted after the new bridge is installed:
The setscrew bolt holes are filled with dowels glued in using fish glue:
The mortice is filled in with a piece of mahogany drilled to match the neck bolt holes and then glued in using fish glue:
The old Kingwood bridge is then carefully routed off using this jig:
When there is only a few mm of the old bridge remaining the bridge pin holes are drilled through with a 6mm drill:
Pieces of 6mm hardwood dowel are then glued into the old holes using fish glue:
The rest of the bridge is carefully routed off, the old clear pickguard removed and the rest of the finish removed from the top – fortunately all of the "love bites" were in the finish:
Lutz is a hybrid of Sitka and White spruce from British Columbia and feels and behaves a lot like European spruce. Kingwood is a Rosewood (Dalbergia cearensis) and is a very dense one similar in some ways to Cocobolo. It makes a fabulous fretboard but is not that common in large pieces as it comes from small trees - Madinter very occasionally have back and side sets.
Jo whoever he is.
