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Post by lars on Aug 5, 2018 20:09:04 GMT
Hi lars , The body has come out well- the bindings look nice and clean. You’ve beat me on the binding jig- I’ve used mine in a fixed position for my archtop’s binding but haven’t got it to go up and down yet! Keep up the good work, cheers Gary PS Glad to see that you’re doing a spliced head joint. Thanks a lot Gary! Yes, I like the spliced head joint and I also like to add "wings", even when I don't have to. I wish you luck with your binding jig, but somehow it feels good to know that I could beat you in at least one aspect :-)
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Post by lars on Aug 18, 2018 20:16:37 GMT
Making the neck - part 2
Here I've drawn the outline of head and neck, before cutting it in the band saw:
Time for the fretboard. I didn't take any pictures of the first steps, but I planed it mostly by hand (after honing my hand plane to the sharpest I'm capable of). Than I marked the fret positions with a square edge and a sharp knife and cut the slots with the fret saw. Then I made the profile with band saw and hand plane and finally glued it to the neck:
For the first time I went for a radiused fret board. I decided to go for Graham McDonalds simplified method were you plane by hand and sand it to an approximately conical shape. Here it is radiused and you can also admire my minimalistic fret position markers:
Than it was time for shaping the neck. Here I only photo documented the very first steps. They were followed by a lot of rasping, filing and sanding.
I almost forgot to add the maple heel cap:
Here is the finished neck. Here I've drilled the holes for the tuners and cut a slot for the nut:
And now it's time to finish the instrument. Pores will be filled with egg white and sand dust. The finish will be Liberon finishing oil. Tail piece, bridge and nut must be made before it's time to assemble the instrument.
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Post by lars on Sept 10, 2018 18:44:12 GMT
The last steps
A few glimpses of the last steps.
Here the body is hardening from a layer of oil finish:
Sanding the bridge blank to fit the top profile:
Some steps from the work with the tail piece of aluminium:
And here body and neck is assembled before the real set up:
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Post by lars on Sept 10, 2018 18:50:50 GMT
Say Hello to Mr Bouzouki!
And here he is:
There are some issues about the finish - the top doesn't look great and it doesn't help with more layers of oil. It must be a case of scratches in the deep of the wood (though I thought I made a perfect work). There's a bubble of air in the middle of the transparent pick guard. The body/neck joint isn't as good as I'd like it to be. But mostly it looks good. And it plays good! I hope to be able to put up some sound clips before too long. Over all I'm extremely happy with the outcome!
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Post by lars on Sept 10, 2018 18:59:43 GMT
The specificatione:
Top: Sitka Spruce AAA-graded Back and sides: Sapele Neck: African Mahogany Bindings: Maple Neck and tail blocks: African Mahogany Bracing: European spruce with carbon fibre enforcement (only for brace under bridge)
Purflings (only at the top): Black died maple Rosette and head veneer: Sapele
Scale length: 635 mm Body width: ≈ 330 mm Body depth: 90 - 80 mm
Bridge: Maple Nut: Ebony + zero fret Tuners: Gotoh mandolin tuners 4-in-row Tail piece: Home made of aluminium. Made for ball end strings
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leoroberts
C.O.G. 
Posts: 26,148 
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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Post by leoroberts on Sept 10, 2018 21:41:54 GMT
Congratulations, lars. She looks great - looking forward to the soundclips. What lesson(s) do you think you have learnt that you will carry over to your next build? |
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Sept 10, 2018 22:14:23 GMT
Looks great in the pics lars - especially like the elegant simplicity of the tailpiece. It'll be great to hear it shortly too. Thanks for sharing the build with us.  Keith |
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francis
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,483
My main instrument is: Whatever I'm building...
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Post by francis on Sept 11, 2018 15:03:56 GMT
Great build lars look forward to seeing it in the flesh |
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garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 460
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
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Post by garynava on Sept 11, 2018 15:04:10 GMT
Looks good lars. Good to see the finished instrument. Cheers Gary |
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Post by lars on Sept 11, 2018 16:03:14 GMT
Congratulations, lars . She looks great - looking forward to the soundclips. What lesson(s) do you think you have learnt that you will carry over to your next build? Thanks Leo! It's one thing learning lessons and another thing remembering them. A lot of lessons learnt and a few forgotten. The most important lesson is one that I've made some times before. It's about the need to be fully concentrated and involved with the work. It's more or less like zen meditation... Unfortunately much of the work is done after a hard day on the job, shopping food, making food etc. Most mistakes are made in those situations and it's a hughe difference in my skills depending on my mood and and ability to focus. Unfortunately I will continue to make my instruments under similar conditions until I can retire and that is at least twelve years from now on. |
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Post by lars on Sept 17, 2018 18:48:12 GMT
Here are the first two sound clips.
First just a bit of strumming on the instrument: 
And a traditional Swedish tune, the Bingsjö Lilla Långdans "the little longdance from Bingsjö", a longdance being a dance where everybody are dancing in a long row):
The tracks are recorded with my Zoom H4 (1st generation) with no reverb or other effects and with flat eq. I find the recordings lacking a bit of bass, but really showing the sustain of the instrument.
I will try to add more tracks later here or at the Plucky Duck where I let the bouzouki play as the backing instrument it's supposed to be.
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leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 26,148
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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Post by leoroberts on Sept 17, 2018 21:34:11 GMT
That's a great sound lars. I didn't think it lacked bass at all. Maybe that's just my ears  |
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Post by petebrown on Sept 25, 2018 21:36:02 GMT
The most important lesson is one that I've made some times before. It's about the need to be fully concentrated and involved with the work. It's more or less like zen meditation... Unfortunately much of the work is done after a hard day on the job, shopping food, making food etc. Most mistakes are made in those situations and it's a huge difference in my skills depending on my mood and and ability to focus. Congratulations on a fine instrument, Lars! I think you've hit the nail on the head with the comment above. For those tasks that require a highest level of concentration and attention to detail, I step back for a moment and assess what kind of day I'm having before I begin. If I'm distracted, tired or irritable, I'll leave it for another day and do something less demanding. I also find that the state of my work space plays a huge part in the quality of my workmanship. If my workbench or the area around it is cluttered with wood shavings and tools, it seems there's a greater likelihood that the standard of my work will suffer. For the most demanding jobs requiring the utmost care, I'll have a tidy up before I begin. Very "zen" indeed! |
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garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 460
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
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Post by garynava on Sept 26, 2018 15:19:30 GMT
The most important lesson is one that I've made some times before. It's about the need to be fully concentrated and involved with the work. It's more or less like zen meditation... Unfortunately much of the work is done after a hard day on the job, shopping food, making food etc. Most mistakes are made in those situations and it's a huge difference in my skills depending on my mood and and ability to focus. Congratulations on a fine instrument, Lars! I think you've hit the nail on the head with the comment above. For those tasks that require a highest level of concentration and attention to detail, I step back for a moment and assess what kind of day I'm having before I begin. If I'm distracted, tired or irritable, I'll leave it for another day and do something less demanding. I also find that the state of my work space plays a huge part in the quality of my workmanship. If my workbench or the area around it is cluttered with wood shavings and tools, it seems there's a greater likelihood that the standard of my work will suffer. For the most demanding jobs requiring the utmost care, I'll have a tidy up before I begin. Very "zen" indeed! May be Robert Pirsig should do a follow-up? You’re both absolutely correct; you have to be in the right mood to produce good work. Wood itself is very unforgiving and you can’t afford a silly mistake particularly towards the end of a build: better not to work than make a cock-up. With wood you have to be on top of your game all the time. I never start the day by doing something very challenging, e.g. fitting a neck. I like to start the day with simpler tasks first, to kinda warm-up and get my eye in. Or like Pete said a good old tidy helps too. That said, if I’m getting stressed out with other stuff, Amanda will tell me to go into the workshop, do some work and focus on something else. Concentrating on mitering some purfling clears your head! Cheers Gary |
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Jo whoever he is.
