Wednesday, April 29, 2009

bouzouki.....

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

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binding channels cut....

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and bound in curly maple

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the slope shoulder dread?

outline....

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fret slots marked

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and cut

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and sides bent

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top & back joined

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Monday, April 27, 2009

Zouk progress:

got the face of the headstock sanded flat,

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then the back cut parallel.

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truss rod slot cut....

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truss rod in

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and fretboard glued on

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neck shaping started......

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

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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.

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

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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

Thursday, April 23, 2009

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

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

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

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

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then sanded off (its a small offcut of rosewood)

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

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.....

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

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

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

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

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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.

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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

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!

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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
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back braced:

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cut out

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

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

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the first of the guitar bodied zouks is nearly done.

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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!!

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Married with 4 kids, Christian, worship leader, luthier