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luthier school (with pictures)

Started by getoverit, March 13, 2007, 08:00:40 PM

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getoverit

I have been gone for a short while to a luthier school in eastern PA and have come home with my first hand built guitar. I know it is mine and that I am somewhat biased, but I would put this guitar up against anybody's guitar. It blows away any of the factory built guitars.

I thought I would show a few pictures from the ordeal so that you would get an idea on what is involved.

First, we started out with quartersawn walnut and italian spruce (with bearclaw figure). In this pciture, we had already sanded it down to working thickness and then edged and glued the bookmatched pieces together




next, the back got a center brace installed and then the opther braces were added and glued up





the sides were bent and then the front and back were glued to the sides and clamped in place



then the binding was added along with a lot of hand sanding



thent he neck was shaped, sanded and glued to the guitar



then there was a lot more sanding and fitting and then the frets were added and then the bridge and strings were temporarily added.




this was one sweet sounding guitar and I am really proud of my accomplishment on building it by hand.

Now, I've got to educate myself on the art of french polishing it with shellac before I can take it on the road.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and sleep all day

Dan_Shade

awesome!  I built a guitar when I was a junior in high school, a good luthier can do amazing things while building an instrument!

i used wood for the perfling and bindings.  I also made my own "mosaic" out of small walnut veneers.

I used walnut for the back, sides, and neck, and redwood for the top.  my fingerboard and bridge was white oak.  it's at my folks place.  I remember when I went to buy the tuning machines at the tuning shop, they were $39 or so, and I only had $15, so the guy let me send him a check when I got home (I was super embarrassed), but looking back now, he was an older fella, and when he heard my story of what I was doing, he was probably proud to be a part of it!

Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Jeff

Here is da proud papa with his geetar. I got a chance to strum it a bit today first hand and it is SWEET!  Ken did a great Job. Mebby I can take lessons from him one day and build my own.


Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

woodbowl

Ken, that's a fine piece of work. It makes me want to build one myself and I've always wanted to build a fiddle. Are you gona let me pick that new gitbox of yours?
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

Burlkraft

Way ta go Ken......

Ya built it fer entertainment at the P. Roast...didn't ya.... :D :D :D
Why not just 1 pain free day?

TexasTimbers

Ken that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that with us nice job on the hitting the highlights I know it was much more involved.
I want to build my own marimba one day. If I live long enough I will do so ;D
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

getoverit

thanks to all for the kind words :)

woodbowl, I'd be honored for you to try it out at the next piggy roast too!
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and sleep all day

pigman

When I saw the title of this thread I thought getoverit was going to school to become a Lutheran. ;D

Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

woodbowl

Quote from: pigman on March 13, 2007, 11:03:54 PM
When I saw the title of this thread I thought getoverit was going to school to become a Lutheran. ;D


8)  8)  8) ...... I did too Bob. I did a google search to make sure.  ;D
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

brdmkr

Lucas 618  Mahindra 4110, FEL and pallet forks, some cant hooks, and a dose of want-to

Mooseherder

I think someone could teach me how to make a geetar.
Dey would have funhard time trying to teach me how
to play da geetar.  :D

Larry

 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Looks like a great guitar!!!
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Norm


thurlow

All I can say is, "WOW!!!!!!!!!"  I'm continually amazed at the capabilities and different interests of folks who are initially drawn together by their interest in/love of woodworking/sawmilling/chainsawing/logging/forestry, etc.

There is a program which I sometimes see (alway accidentally/never know when it's coming on) on TLC or one of "those" channels, titled "Handmade Music"; it's about hand-built musical instruments...........
Here's to us and those like us; DanG few of us left!

sawguy21

Beautiful work, you have every right to be proud of it. Thanks for sharing.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Ron Wenrich

So, where about in eastern PA was that?  Did you happen to get near the Martin plant in Nazareth, PA  (outside of Bethlehem)?
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

getoverit

believe it or not, I was just 20 mins from the Martin Guitar plant in Nazareth. I was in Easton, PA at the shop of one of the top luthiers in the world, Frank Finocchio . You can see Frank in one of the pictures that I posted (the one with the familiar pose :) )

We were so busy in the school that we didnt have time to go over to the Martin plant and take the tour. One day I still hope to be able to take that tour.

I might add that I own a Mrtin D35p guitar, and the one I just built blows it away by a long shot. There *is* a difference between a factory built instrument and a hand made one.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and sleep all day

WDH

I am ready to play the bass  8).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Dan_Shade

the best part is it will sound better as it seasons up :)

at least that's what "conventional wisdom" says...  and who's to argue with that!
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

ScottAR

Taking commissions yet???  I have a buddy that can play...
Scott
"There is much that I need to do, even more that I want to do, and even less that I can do."
[Magicman]

Radar67

"A man's time is the most valuable gift he can give another." TOM

If he can cling to his Blackberry, I can cling to my guns... Me

This will kill you, that will kill you, heck...life will kill you, but you got to live it!

"The man who can comprehend the why, can create the how." SFC J

getoverit

Actually, I am building my second guitar now, which will be an Indian rosewood/ sitka spruce dreadnaught guitar with herringbone trim. 

The first guitar is mine to keep and pass along when I'm gone. All others will be for sale.

The first guitar has over 70 hours of labor in it already and I am expecting another 40+ hours after putting a hand rubbed french polish on it.

I will be listing guitars for sale on my web site soon, and will be taking commissions on builds later this year.

Stew, the school was for 7 days.  There was a video course that I took prior to going up there to get the hands-on training though. This took me another week.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and sleep all day

Dan_Shade

have you joined the guild of american luthiers?  i used to get their magazine, it had a lot of good info.

it seemed that the guys who made any money built the guitars in batches of 5 at a time or so.
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

getoverit

I am a member of the G.A.L.

Most likely I will start building 5 or so at a time also. There are times when a piece is clamped up and cant be worked on, so by doing several at a time you can stay busy with others while the glue drys on the other.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and sleep all day

Dan_Shade

that used to be a goal of mine, but upon the realization that i'm pretty much a hack at doing things, and my attention to detail suffers at times :), i gave up that method of starving myself!

How did you bend the sides?  did you use a form, or did you bend it over a pipe?  I lucked out when I built mine, I didn't know the difference between quarter and flat sawn, and luck had it my pieces were quartersawn.   i tried to do another one, but the sides were flat sawn and the grain broke apart while I wasy trying to bend it.  I used a pipe heated by a torch.

Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

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