bouzouki.....

a lot of shaping done on the neck....





binding channels cut....



and bound in curly maple



the slope shoulder dread?

outline....



fret slots marked



and cut



and sides bent



top & back joined

Zouk progress:

got the face of the headstock sanded flat,



then the back cut parallel.



truss rod slot cut....



truss rod in



and fretboard glued on



neck shaping started......



and the neck/body join started......



it looks like it might some day be a musical instrument!!

lots of work to do in the neck, the neck/body join, and the body needs bound too.

then a HUGE amount of sanding, radiusing the fretboard, fretting and shaping the headstock.

the wood for #48 a walnut slope shouldered slothead dreadnaught arrived from Spain today......

Walnut back & sides, ebony Fretboard & bridge, cedar top.



I have glued up the neck too.....



so the PLAN is to bend the sides of the dread and the bindings for the zouk on the same day when I have the bending iron hot....... but I need to make the mould for the dread first, so it'll be later in the week

Braces carved and the top onto the zouk.....



then the edges trimmed..... Hey!! it's starting to look like something that might make a sound someday!



then the neck/body tenon rough cut and the "wings" glued onto the headstock.....,



and a tail wedge shaped & glued in.......



then sanded off (its a small offcut of rosewood)

Well, the Easter Hols are over and I'm back at work.

so, work under way on the latest bouzouki, while I wait on the delivery of walnut back & sides for the slope shouldered slothead dread and the new bridge for the guitar shaped zouk.....

so, back attached to the body.....



and holes drilled for the preamp controls.....



as for the top, I cut the rosette....



glued on a soundhole patch to support the edges.....



then cut out the soundhole and braced the top....





also glued up the neck blanks for this, and a mandola that's in the pipeline for Ian who already has two on my mandolins.

and the Pew guitar is done.

unplugged it's not the loudest guitar in the world, but then it's a small body with a mahogany top. Plugged in, with a cheap artec endpin preamp & under saddle piezo its BEAUTIFUL!!! I LOVE the sound of this. I really hope Colin will be as delighted with this as I am!









on a less delighted note, the bridge that I had made for the second guitar zouk split along a flaw in the wood so until I get some more ebony it's on hold.

but, it's Easter, so I'm out of school and the workshop for two weeks. when I get back, it's finish the first zouk, get the second resurrected with a new bridge, then tear on with zouk 47, and start the other two commissions I have in the pipeline, a slope shouldered dread, and a trad shaped mandola.

Happy Easter dear reader, and please remember that Easter isn't actually about chocolate.

Its about Christ's resurrection.

the chocolate is just an add on.



a WELCOME add on, but an add on none the less!!

Bouzouki #47 well under way.

top & back joined


back braced:



cut out



and the braces partially carved (still have to scallop the ends)



sides bent, neck & tail blocks shaped & glued and linings glued in place.



the first of the guitar bodied zouks is nearly done.







still have to set up the intonation at the bridge, make a truss rod cover and generally tighten everything up, but there are strings on it!!

compared to the mahogany pew guitar it has a HUGE volume!! loads of bass on the bottom strings and still plenty of zing higher up. It's really nice (though I say so myself) though I'll have to detune the top pair of strings from E to D before I let Bart have a go as he's a proper Zouk player and not an ocatave mandolinist like me!!