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Thickness Caliper

Sun, 03/06/2011 - 10:21am — Leif
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Hand Tools
Luthiery

I don't know, maybe these are as common as dirt and I'm just blissfully ignorant, but I've not seen one like this before, and thought it was interesting enough to post here.

My brother showed up yesterday and gave me this tool, asking if I what it was.  I knew what it was for almost immediately, as there could only be one use for it.  It is from the estate of a local custom knife maker here in Idaho, but that's not the original trade it was made for...

 

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Finished: Runecaster, Jörmungandr, and Mjöllnir

Wed, 12/08/2010 - 6:59pm — Leif
General: 
Luthiery

 The guitar build, the final entry...

What a blast of a project...  Challenging, fun, and a real test of skill.   It does make me appreciate just how good some of the craftsmen are out there that build some of these amazing "homemade" guitars.  I can honestly say there will be more, I don't know how I will ever resist the pull again.  My wife has other plans for me for the near future, unfortunately...  

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Assembly

Sat, 12/04/2010 - 6:26pm — Leif
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Luthiery

The last build entry on the guitars is here!

Installing the hardware on the guitar was easily the funnest part of building them (other than playing them!).  It was fun enough that I had to remind myself often to slow down, take my time, and not rush through the final stages.  The photos taken were a bit sporadic however...

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NUTS!

Sat, 11/27/2010 - 9:53am — Leif
General: 
Finishes
Luthiery

The next issue of the catalog that is the guitar build is here... 

It's not related to this article, but I'm always reminded of one of Dad's WWII stories when it comes to "NUTS!"..  He (a lowly private and radioman) was talking with General McAuliffe on a bridge somewhere in either Germany or France in November of 1944, just a couple of weeks before his now-famous reply of "NUTS!" to Germans at the Battle of the Bulge when they asked for his surrender...

It was a rarity to have such a high ranking officer talk on a personal level with a regular grunt.  He asked Dad about where he was from, what service he'd seen, and other minor chit-chat.  It made quite an impression on Dad and was one of his favorite tales.

 Anyway, apologies for the divergence and back to the present...

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Buffed Bods

Sun, 11/07/2010 - 9:01am — Leif
General: 
Techniques
Finishes
Luthiery

 With enough lacquer applied and enough time for it all to dry sufficiently (at least 3 weeks), it's time to finally buff out the finishes on the guitar bodies.

One small problem I had - no buffer.  It can be done by hand, sanding using finer and finer grits until you reach a point where you can use a polishing wheel, like perhaps a lambs' wool bonnet or foam pad for my DA.  The process is fairly labor intensive, but certainly doable.  I had another idea...

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Applying a Logo and a Finish

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 9:02pm — Leif
General: 
Techniques
Finishes
Luthiery

Another entry in the guitar build has arrived...

 Applying nitrocellulose lacquer is a test of patience.  It's a slow process to do right - but in it's defense, it's got to be just about the easiest spray finish to learn with. 

Nitrocellulose lacquer for the most part has been replaced with more modern finishes including enamels, polyurethanes, water-based finishes, and of course - acrylic lacquers. 

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Installing Plastic Binding

Tue, 09/21/2010 - 10:35am — Leif
General: 
Luthiery

 I'm getting close to the end of these posts on building a guitar...  After this entry, my focus  will shift to finishing.  Last time I shaped the bodies of the other two guitars, and in this I will add binding to the corners of the third.

Binding is a strip of either wood or plastic added to the very corner of a guitar.  Often (usually on acoustic guitars, less so on electric) these strips also have "purfling" - which is a decorative strip or inlay on either side of the binding strip - I won't be adding any purfling here, just a simple binding strip to both front and back edges making this guitar what is known as "double-bound".

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Body Shaping

Wed, 09/15/2010 - 6:03pm — Leif
General: 
Techniques
Luthiery

The guitar build continues... Now that I've got all the mistakes fixed (at least to this point!), I can do the final shaping of the two bodies (the third has binding, and won't require any shaping).

 The first part is pretty straight forward - using a router to round over the edges.  The only real thing to watch for is how close you get to the neck pocket on the top - I stopped about 1/4" to 1/2" short of the neck pocket, and finished that part by hand. 

 

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Fixing Boo Boos.

Wed, 09/08/2010 - 9:20am — Leif
General: 
Techniques
Luthiery
The next entry in the guitar build is here!  What's that you say?  Why am I so slow??  I just am, so get used to it!  In the last entry I drilled the majority of the holes in the body that are needed.  This time, I'm going to go over a couple of fixes for some tear out from the router.
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Drill Baby, Drill!

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 7:28pm — Leif
General: 
Techniques
Luthiery

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by Dr. Radut.