Lewes Luthier

Busy Day Ahead . . .

Today was always going to be intense – we are all getting to the final stages of with our guitars. Patrick is on a real timeline as he cannot come on Saturday (Phil and I will be here all day) and he would like to get it finished by Friday evening. Of course he only lives an hour away in Guildford, so he could come back at another time . . . but he should make it despite his little hiccup yesterday. Phil is ahead of all of us (in more ways than one!) and he too should finish his guitar Friday evening – and he wants to spend some of Saturday making some jigs for future projects. I could push to finish at the same time, but I am in no rush and want to do everything properly . . . and I cannot reasonably take any jigs home as I will already too much crap to carry. Hopefully I can mark out some templates on paper so I can build some at home. Anyway, all three of us were in the workshop early busying ourselves with this and that when Richard arrived – it was a scene of industrial activity.

Back to the Neck . . .

My first task was to ‘finalise’ my neck and heel shapes and smoothness. This is one of those jobs were there is never an exact place to stop working – just a little more here and there is too easy, but that is what I did anyway! I did need to correct one angle in the headstock. Fundamentally, one side of one headstock curve was based on the headstock ‘plane’ and the other on the neck ‘plane’ . . . so it took some handiwork with the chisel to sort that out. I also ‘offered’ my neck to the guitar body and marked the depth of the heel and cut it to length – allowing for an Indian Rosewood heel cap, which I also prepared and stuck on.

More work - again

Trimming the heel

Heel cap in place

Back to the Body . . .

You will recall that yesterday I used 320 grit sandpaper over the back and sides of the guitar body . . . now it was time to tackle the front. The first task involved using 240 grit paper to sand back the level of the masking tape marking out the bridge and neck areas so they can be easily removed and then going over the entire front with 320 grit sandpaper.

Next job was to go over the entire guitar body (starting with the back) with superfine then ultra fine pads – these are from the automotive industry and are used to finish off paint work, especially for history and restored cars. The pads are used wet and the idea is to get a slurry going so as to make the pad work best – and the guitar needs to be gone over twice with each pad. I managed to get the superfine pad work done before Nick o’clock.

Today’s Visitors . . .

Richard brought in the left over from a delightful birthday cake that his wife Hazel had made – and the mere opening of cake brought Nick out of his workshop! Today’s technical toping was the inequity of modern society . . . and how young (and not so young) people cannot afford to get into the housing market. Later in the day Nick brought up a headstock that he is working on to show us how he sometimes puts some veneer on the back side . . . with beautiful effect. And someone else popped in to show Richard his electric guitar with transparent Perspex over the switches and rear adjusting mechanisms so you could see inside.

Back to the Neck . . .

Finisihing touches - again

Trimming the heel

Heel cap in place

Back to the Body . . .

More 'sanding'

First the mess - then the finish

Today’s Visitors . . .

Coffee time

Nick's special rear headstock veneer

The Perspex guitar

Drilling the Tuner Holes . . .

This might sound like a simple task, but both Phil and Patrick have come to grief doing this job and have had to revert to Plan B and shift their holes over to one side so things look even. I was determined mine would go well . . . so it was out with the template to carefully mark the holes and very carefully drill each one – checking and re-rechecking before the drill bit entered the wood. I am pleased to say that it went very well.

Template and holes marked

Very steady

Done!

French Polishing the Neck . . .

My next job was to start French polishing the neck. This is apparently another ‘dark art’ of guitar making. First you have to lay all the ingredients out in the right order, find the special piece of wood to test the mixture and then pay homage to the ancient French polishers so the right mixture of alcohol (no, not for medicinal purposes), French polish and ‘Three in One’ oil will be revealed to you. Application is done by using a mixture of circular and long stroking actions! It seemed to go pretty well and I managed to get two coats on today – it can be repeated every hour. I also rubbed some ‘finishing’ oil into the ebony on the headstock.

Remember to lay the material out like this!

Applying the French polish

All good so far

Bridge . . .

An interim job was to reduce some of the excess wood from the bridge – shaping and fitting the bridge will be a job for tomorrow.

More work needed

Back to the Body . . .

My next task was to use the ultrafine pad on the body . . . using the same wet method describe above. This was rather fun as you can see where you have been! At the end of the day I roughly cleaned up the guitar to see how much more is required tomorrow.

The Others . . .

From what I could see, Richard was on a bit of an agenda today because he ‘needs’ to finish his guitar tomorrow . . . and his little setback from yesterday put him behind schedule. But he is powering on he too did a lot of rubbing and bridge shaping and installation.

Phil managed to get two coats on his £5 guitar (now £8 guitar because he spent $3 on a new saddle), did some more French polishing and also shaped and installed his bridge.

Put That Thing Away . . .

We have got a bit of a running gag going with Phil’s formerly £5 now £8 guitar . . . Richard hates Phil working on it and can’t even stand it in the workshop. Of course that is like a red rag to a bull to Phil and me and we milk the joke for all we can – and Richard can see the funny side, for now! Actually, Phil (and I) and have learned a lot by attacking (whoops – repairing!) the guitar – neither of us have ever pulled a bridge off, glued together a top and sanded it back so as to get another finish. Of course neither of us would do it to one of our own guitars, but buying a cheap shoddy old thing that you don’t care about has been a great way to learn – about guitars and Richard’s personality! I am willing to be that he takes it down from the 'rack of honour' at the end of the workshop - but that too will be fun!

Phil - how about this for a label:

Lovingly repaired and restored in Richard Osborne’s fine luthier workshop in Lewes, UK, under the direct guidance and supervision of Richard Osborne and Nick Benjamin as a partial requirement for Associate Membership of the Ancient Order of Luthiers.

I'm taking bets about how long it stays there!

Happy Birthday Richard . . .

Richard came in this morning and announced it was his birthday so we celebrated with a coffee and some ‘special’ biscuits – and we bought him a nice of bubbly a little later in the day. As usual, Phil and I arrived early than the others and of course Phil started working on his ‘other’ guitar – the one that really annoys Richard.

Neck Day . . .

Today was all about my neck . . . inserting the neck markers and shaping and sanding the whole shape many times. Fundamentally, I started with a square block of wood in the morning and had a beautifully shaped neck ‘ready’ to go by the end of the day.

The first job was a rather simple one . . . marking and installing the little mother of pearl dots on the side of the fretboard. The hardest part about this job was getting the dots in the right place – which I managed eventually by shifting the bench light much closer to my work.

Drilling the holes

Mission accomplished

Starting the Neck . . .

The initial stages of shaping the neck are about ‘splitting the angles’ . . . for example, you put a 45 degree chamfer along one section and divide both of those into two more chamfers. And you typically use a range of tools including a draw plane, spoke shave, round files, scraper and chisel – and of course a lot of sandpaper. Also, you typically take the neck, heel and volute down stages rather just concentrating on the one because the compound angles and planes need to ‘flow’ from one area to the other. The neck itself is held in a special jig that goes into the vice so it can be moved around so as to offer the most convenient angle at which to work – and of course to remain in the light. With all of that in mind I started with the actual neck itself, then the volute and then the heel as it slowly took shape.

Draw plane in action

Spokeshave in action

Volute taking shape

Rough trimming with the Japanese saw

Lots of light required - and a special jig

Approaching the job from all angles

Birthday Visit . . .

Of course we had our daily visit at Nick o’clock so he could say happy birthday – and to show us a graphite fretboard that a manufacturer had sent him as a sample. The world’s supplies of ebony are running out and some of the mass producers of guitars are already moving toward alternative materials – but I think it will be some time before either Richard or Nick are convinced!

Graphite fingerboards - I don't think so!

Happy birthday again Richard

Back to Work . . .

I continued my painstaking work of planing, shaping, sanding, filing and coaxing the heel and neck into the right shape and smoothness – paying particular attention to the profile of the neck as there is quite a narrow ‘window’ of acceptable neck profiles.

My last job of the day was to use 180 then 240 grit sandpaper over the entire neck (not the fretboard though!) to begin the process of preparing for French polishing – which I think will be one of tomorrow’s adventures.

Roughing with a gouge

Using the round file

Taking shape

"Cleaning the boots"

Bodies Back . . .

During the day Richard went to the spray shop to collect our guitar bodies . . . and they all look fantastic! Mind you, we will be sanding them back with 320 grit sandpaper, a superfine pad and a rub up with ‘wire wool’. Phil has started his already and the results are looking very promising.

Lacquered front

Back - with flash

Back without flash

The Others . . .

From what I saw, Patrick also focused on his neck and heel – and binding his headstock a couple of times!

Finally got it done!!

Great save Richard!

Working back late

Apart from buying a new guitar and working on his old one to attract Richard’s attention, Phil installed his tuners and focused on sanding back and buffing his body.

This is where the neck goes

Impressive one day lacquering - with 6 coats

Sanding back the lacquer

Even more sanding

Late Breaking News . . .

Phil has bought another guitar!

We overhead someone in Richard’s workshop the other day saying that she already had too many guitars – we looked at each other and thought she must be speaking in another language! Even the 25 year old Patrick already has five acoustic guitars – so he is off to a promising start.

I can now report that Phil fell in love with a beautiful Brooks walnut back and sides guitar at the Acoustic Music Company in Brighton yesterday – and talked himself into it over a few pints in the evening (I must admit I did encourage him – but it is for a good cause). So the die was cast – we went back into Brighton to buy it today. Patrick also came in for a look thus legitimising the excursion and enabling us to receive ‘academic credit’.

The funniest thing was the look on Richard’s face when we returned . . . I think he thought Phil had bought another crap guitar to ‘do up’ in his workshop – and his jaw nearly hit the ground when the gorgeous Brooks was brought for playing. And of course Nick came in for a look and review – it is funny watching these two holding the instrument right up to their noses while they peer inside, putting their hands into places not designed for human touch and taping the woods. I guess this is our fete now we have done this course – up until now we would just pick up the guitar and play it!