August 2009 Blog Posts (8)

Fingerboard glued to neck, neck shaped, fitted to body

Added by Mark Riess on August 20, 2009 at 6:40pm — No Comments

beginning the finish

After much inner debate and consideration I've decided to french polish the guitar with shellac. I like the hands-on approach, the old-world technique, the non-toxicity, the fast drying, the ease of being able to work in my restricted space, etc. After several "spit" coats of 1/2 n 1/2 shellac and alcohol, I'll fill pores using the pumice method. I tried to find paste wood filler locally, but no one even knew what I was talking about. Then I discovered this method described by Milburn Guitars.… Continue

Added by Mark Riess on August 20, 2009 at 6:37pm — No Comments

Pre-order "Uncorked - Al Stewart Live with Dave Nachmanoff"

Listen to samples:

Well, I can finally share the good news! Al Stewart will be releasing, "Uncorked - Al Stewart Live with Dave Nachmanoff"! If you have ever wanted to have a live album of "Al and Dave" - an official, live release - then this is your opportunity. This CD is no bootleg or "Board Tape". Over 70 hours of work went into mixing and editing the tracks, and many more…

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Added by Dave Nachmanoff on August 16, 2009 at 5:30am — No Comments

How to make a charango (2)

With a wide chisel and a spokeshave roughly shape the body:

While hollowing the charango body in the following steps, tiny cracks may begin to appear and open more and more at the end grain (near the neck and at the end). To avoid this, moisture the wood in the critical areas regularly with a wet rag (especially when you note opening cracks - they will close again completely later on, so don't worry too much about this). Keep the…

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Added by Markus Schmid on August 14, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Adding an inlayed end piece of abalone...

I decided to run a strip of abalone down the seam where the sides meet. I glued the abalone onto the surface of the sides with "amazing goop", a fast-setting flexible adhesive, scribed the sides of the abalone when the goop was dry, removed it and began carving out the slot. First, using a razor knife I cut down the scribe lines, then I angled the razor knife from the inside area to carve out an edge. Then I chucked in the dental burr to the dremel… Continue

Added by Mark Riess on August 11, 2009 at 6:30pm — No Comments

Mark binds up the edges

So I ended up using the rosewood with basswood accent binding for the back edge and the ebony/basswood binding for the top trim. Wanted to use ebony for all, but only had 2 pieces, enough for top OR back. So I ordered more ebony from LMI, but when it came, I realized that they don't make it the same thickness anymore, and I'd already routed the rabet on both edges. So I used the rosewood binding I already had for the back, and the ebony for the top.…

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Added by Mark Riess on August 8, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

part two

Update/ blog 2

It's not just difficult to build a guitar, it's also difficult to make an accurate progress-report...

There are so many stages in building, so it's easy to forget to “archive” one.

For those who wonder how I assembled the sides:

I cut 2 pieces off a “spare” sideboard, bent them to the right contour and making sure the grain of these pieces doesn't run parralel to the grain of the sides, for extra… Continue

Added by Bart van Weperen on August 5, 2009 at 4:50am — No Comments

My first...

This is why I started "working on"guitars.

The picture shows my old “Morris” classical, that I once mistook for a chair (I sat on it...).

You can see the cracks in the top (most on bass-side), but there's more damage to it...

I was told that repairing this damage was a waste of time and money so I tried to keep this instrument as playable as I could. I just used a sports-tape (the kind that is also used by athlets) to cover… Continue

Added by Bart van Weperen on August 4, 2009 at 8:30am — 1 Comment