Graduation...

Today was the final day of the journeyman program. With a bit more review, and some repair lectures with Bryan, we then had our written exam. After a thorough cleanup of the shop and classroom, we had a little graduation in which our certificates and final "grades" were given to us. Jacob brought his own cap/gown combo... he was finishing the master class, and I'm expecting great things for/from him in the near future! (Mando cafe folks, this is Yellowmandolin, and I hope he doesn't kick my ass for putting up this pic!)

The goofballs in the other picture are the guys who shared Cabin 1 - Nice fellows all, inasmuch as I got to know them, which isn't very much, but some.

Farewell to Boyland... I've learned a lot here... overall a very positive learning experience despite a few crises of confidence and discouragements along the way. I'm very pleased with the guitar and feel I got what I came here for, which was to get a solid foundation in building and repair concepts, methods, tools, materials and skills-- on which to practice and grow.

I'm headed home over the next couple of days. I doubt I'll be able to retrieve the pics and audio from 5/1... the card is still not registering... which is a shame. As soon as I can, I'll make a recording of the guitar, proper... in tune and without so much background noise... so you all can appreciate its voice. I was playing it next to my Martin D-28... very different tone, but equally lovely.

Camera failure! oh no!

Actually... it's just the storage card. For some reason, neither the camera nor the computer is able to read it now... it must be damaged or something. Fortunately, all but today's pics are backed up to the computer. Unfortunately, I won't be able to photo document today's work... but I will tell you what happened.

First off, as I was prepping my guitar for it's evaluation, Bryan Galloup (the master luthier here) came by, took a look at the guitar and alerted me to the fact that the saddle was too low on the treble side... making for a poor break angle from there to the end pin. This would result in loss of tone as well as unwanted movement of the e string. The solution? Well... the saddle is at the right height for good action, so the answer is to shave down the bridge. It turns out I had shaped the bridge a little too high on the treble side. So Bryan shaved off the top of the bridge, maintaining the curve and shape... just taking down height. Re-chamfered the bridge pin holes, and then I reamed them a bit to ensure the pins would seat properly. The result is... it's better.

Then did a final polish and submitted it for evaluation. Got an 82%. I'm pleased with this for a couple of reasons... first, because it is a substantial improvement over the 74% I got on the electric, showing improvements in all the hand-skills, measurement skills, etc. involved. And also, I hear that the highest grade they've ever given is a 90%. So 82% is cool with me. For the most part, I was aware of the flaws for which points were deducted. A ding in the sound hole (from the bridge clamp), uneven shaping of the heel, file marks on the edge of the fretboard, a little gap in the purfling, string spacing slightly off, scrimshaw lines not deep enough, etc. I am aware of the skills that need further sharpening and practice... and that's the real point of the evaluation process.

Overall... it is a beautiful guitar, with a lovely voice that I think will get better with age and as the wood settles into its guitar-ness and gets used to not being tree. Russ was playing it a bit today as he was evaluating it, and I recorded some of that and was going to post it, but I may not be able to retrieve that from the damaged storage card. I am very proud of the guitar, and know it literally inside and out. I look forward to showing it off to any and all who will humor me.

What's left to do are some lectures on repair topics we hadn't gotten to yet, as well as a written exam and shop clean-up. I'll be packing and preparing for my journey home...

And once I get home, I need to figure out how to continue practicing and developing these skills. Any of you in my neck of the woods who need repair or set-up work done on your fretted instruments... let's talk!! And of course I do have a room full of projects at home... still have some equipment to get for my "shop"...

Final Buff

A couple more runs on the buffing wheels and a hand polish later... very very shiny.

Tomorrow it will be strung up, action checked, and then "handed in" for grading.

Strap button

Installed the strap button... drilled a hole, reamed it out to match the taper. The button in this pic is not yet fully installed, b/c this was done before final buffing. But you can see what it will look like. Also, btw, these pics are of the same part of the guitar, but the lighting makes the wood look different in the different pictures.

Adding a Pickguard

The pickguard is peel and stick. It's a matter of figuring out exactly where you want it to go. Then you tape it in position using masking tape as a kind of hinge... swing it up, peel off the backing and set it back down. Presto!

Seal of Approval

Already, I mentioned that the neck is bolt-on (with a mortise and tenon)... so here you see one of the bolts (there's another above it). We affixed our labels, mounted on small pieces of wood, with double stick tape over where the bolts are... not too hard to access if necessary, but in the meantime, it's a nice way to have a maker's mark...

Very first sounds

OK, so it's not in tune, and there is a lot of background noise (buffers are running, etc.), and the string height is still all wrong... but here are the first sounds of this guitar strung up. When it's all finished and finalized, I'll do this again, in tune, and in a quieter place, and will post it. But it was exciting and I wanted to share...

Now the nut

The saddle has been shaped, but before we can set the final string height, we have to put strings on. So the outside strings are put on first, and their position is determined by where they fall in relation to the ends of the frets. Once in position, the spacing for the other strings is determined and lightly notched in. The strings are put on and strung up to pitch. One at a time, the notches are deepened until they are at the proper height off the top of the fret. In this picture, you can see that the 3 lower (closer) strings have been done, and the other three have not yet. After all the strings are to proper height at this end, I'll file the excess off of the nut... and then set final string height at the other end.

b-bump saddle

Time to shape the saddle. This is called a b-bump saddle b/c it bumps the edge where the b string goes back farther than the edge for the other strings. This is because the b string needs a little more length in order to play in tune. A peculiarity of guitars. Also gives me a chance to show off another of the recent tools... this little vise that is holding the saddle is made for using with nuts and saddles... the jaws fall away steeply on either side, which allows better access for shaping with files and such. Very handy!

Fret dressing

No, it's nothing like a vinagrette. *(-;

Today, I started with the frets. First putting the guitar in the jig you see there. Adjusting the truss rod so that the neck is straight, and then the jig helps to brace the neck while the frets are sanded level. After that, it's time to crown them ... and I got to use the fancy shmancy diamond dust abrasive crowning file that I bought as part of my recent tool order. Once that's done, the frets are polished and the fretboard is cleaned up... looks good enough to eat, um I mean PLAY!

Springtime??

OK-- it was starting to seem like spring here last week... lovely and in the 70's and everything leafing out and blooming... and today there's frost on my window again... not too much, though, so I figured ok, it's just a chilly morning. Then when I was pulling out of McD's (where I stopped for McBreakfast), I saw that the sprinklers were blithely watering the shrubbery which was, yes, COATED IN ICE! It's almost May. This is just not right!

Tuners

Installing the tuners is pretty straightforward. We use another reamer to clean out and widen the holes just enough for the tuners to seat in them. Line 'em up with each other. Then drill a hole for the small screws that keep them from spinning around... and screw them down.

These tuners are Gotohs by the way... decent tuners... but I may swap out the buttons for black ones eventually. We'll see...

Time to deal with the details of the bridge. First, to drill through those bridge pin holes... clear through the bridge and the top and the bridge plate that is underneath it. Then the holes are tapered with a reamer (the pins are tapered). Then the tops of the holes are chamfered so the pins seat well in them. And finally, a notch is cut with a little saw and file so that when the string is seated in there, it pulls against the bridge plate and the pin is seated fully in the pin hole.

Neck goes on!

Using a vacuum jig very similar to the one we used for the bridge, we routed the lacquer off of the top of the guitar where the end of the fretboard (or tongue) needs to be glued. The neck is bolted on, but the tongue gets glued to the top. It is now a whole guitar...

Bridge

We last left our bridge a slab of ebony, with the slot cut. The two outside pin holes have been drilled through and, with dowels, are used in conjunction with the locator holes you just saw on the top of the guitar. The other four holes have been partially drilled. The bridge had to be shaped... first, a radius (arc) was drawn on the sides that match the radius of the fretboard... this was taken down to shape on the belt sander. Then the footprint shape is traced on and brought into its final lines using a spindle sander. Finally, the "wings" are narrowed down... also with a spindle sander. The last thing we did on Friday was to glue the bridge on... guided to the right spot by the locator holes... and clamped in place.

Making way for the bridge

I'll do my best to explain this one.

It is necessary to remove the lacquer under the spot where the bridge will be glued. But you can't really do that until after the final neck set, which we just did. Why? Because in the process of setting the neck, as one adjusts the angles in tiny increments, it can end up bring the neck farther down towards the bottom/bout. And precise placement of the bridge and saddle are really important if the guitar is to play in tune. SO... after the final neck set, you measure exactly where the bridge and saddle need to be, and drill these locator holes in the top. The locator holes are used to hold a template, which sits inside that white corian guide, which in turn is held in place by the thing that looks like plexiglass with weather stripping on the underside. There's a reason for that... that's what it is. It creates a seal, and the whole thing is hooked up to the shop vac and suctioned onto the top of the guitar... then that wooden template comes out, and the corian acts as a guide for the router to take that lacquer off in the perfect shape for the bridge. Make sense?

Shine

Rather than show more pics of me in the spray booth, I kind of skipped those this time... but we did that for the past two days, the process being the same for these guitars as for the electrics.... Spray on several coats, sand it back to smooth, spray touch ups on the places where you sanded through, then several more coats. This morning we wet sanded and by the end of the day, I got to buff my guitar out to a high shine. Here is me at the buffing wheel, and the result is magnificent. Although I tend to prefer a satin finish, the gloss on these definitely brings out the flame in the maple, which is absolutely luminous.

The balloon, btw, is to keep lacquer out of the inside of the body of the guitar during the spray process, and here to keep soapy water from the wet sanding process out.

Next we have to get the bridges finished and glued on, and the necks get their final set and they get joined up and glued in. Then it's all about stringing them up, and getting the nut, saddle and set-up finalized. Somewhere in there, we'll add a pickguard too.

I am hyper aware right now of all the flaws. And each flaw is a lesson and I'm here to learn, of course. I'm sure these will recede as I'm farther away from the building process and actually get to enjoy playing it. Today was a very exciting day... wet sanding is hard work but it was very rewarding.

Lacquer

This balloon was inflated in the soundhole to prevent lacquer from getting inside the guitar when we spray it. Clever, no? So after the first 8 layers of lacquer, we stop to sand back/smooth out the finish. Taking out the balloon reveals the layers of lacquer, and you can see how actually thin the lacquer is even after several layers... in my case, about 4/1000ths of an inch.

Spraying finish and filling pores

No, that's not chocolate sauce on my guitar neck. It is stuff that you use to fill the pores in the wood. We sprayed a few layers of lacquer, and then filled pores on the mahogany neck so that the rest of the lacquer layers would create smoothness and not keep soaking into the pores. This isn't necessary on all woods (e.g. the spruce and maple and ebony that makes up the rest of the guitar)... just some. You smear it on, wipe off excess, scuff with 3m pad... and back for more lacquer.

I'm not posting more pics of me in the spray booth cuz it's pretty much the same as last time.

Etching the Pearl

Before going into the spray booth to apply finish, the last thing we did was etch some detail into the headstock inlay. What you see in the picture are the pencil lines... it was considerably harder to do this with a scrimshaw scribe (sharp pointy thing for etching pearl). The challenge is to make the cuts deep enough that you can fill them with black pigment and not lose your line when you sand it flush. Oh, that and the fact that you only have one shot... can't erase it, once the scratch is made, it's made.

Sneak Peek

After finish sanding the guitar bodies, we rubbed them down with naphtha to get any finger oils or other residue off of them before starting to spray them with lacquer (tomorrow). In the process of doing that, I got a brief preview of what the back of my guitar will look like once the finish is on it.

Check out that figure! Pretty cool....

Final neck shaping

Having roughed in the neck shape, now that the fretboard is on and the neck is fretted, we needed to finish shaping the neck... this time bringing it down to specified contours using a template (in the pic). Another many - stepped process involving files and scrapers and sandpaper of various grits.

I do love the neck-shaping part of instrument building. I noticed this when doing the octave mandolin too. This is the part where the player meets the instrument... how it feels in the hand is critical, and so it's a lot of fun to develop that shape.

Also glued in the nut and roughed it into approximate shape to be refined later.