Week 4 . . . Day 20

Are We There Yet . . .

We have finally arrived at the penultimate day of the course . . . the final day for Patrick . . . and no-one is more surprised or delighted that we have achieved so much and produced such lovely guitars than me!  And the big surprise of the day is that Richard walked in and took the £8 guitar from the wall, tapped it in tonal way (without response!) and then put it back on the rack!  So I have just lost some money.  I decided to bring in a bowl turned from Tasmanian ‘blackheart sassafras’ to give it a drink of wood oil – turning is another of my interests and I brought this one from Australia.

Tasmanian Sassafras meets Indian Rosewood in the UK!

It’s All Happening . . .

Respecting a famous Australian poem, “there was movement round the workshop, word had got around” that some guitars are nearing completion in Richard’s workshop.   We had quite a few visits from Nick and then Jerome, Chip, Tony and Howard all called in for one reason or another.  And Phil put a drill through his finger and bled all over his guitar . . . just after Richard had said you cannot drill through your finger!  The reaction was interesting; we were all concerned about the guitar and left Phil to fend for himself!

I'm watching you!

Oh dear!

Oii - what about me!

Back to Work . . .

My first job was to do even more sanding!  I went back over the entire guitar with Superfine and Ultrafine sanding pads – and then I gave it a good rubbing back with ‘wire wool’ being VERY careful to go exactly along the grain.  I am very happy with the finish I am getting and we all seem to prefer a satin look over a very high gloss finish – which would have been impossible to achieve in the constraints of the course.

And then Nick paid another visit . . . he takes his inspection duties very seriously!

More sanding

The final Nick and Dick show

Interim Job . . .

A quick fill in job for me was to ‘sand’ back the bone saddle (from the shin of a cow!) so that it fits into the slot that routed sometime earlier . . . I still need to do some more on this.

Shaping the saddle

Back to the Bridge . . .

In readiness for shaping the bridge I needed to remove the masking tape from the top of the guitar – you will recall that we had to mask off the bridge and neck areas before the guitars were sprayed with lacquer.  The tape now had to come off so the neck and bridge material could be assessed for alignment – and therefore how much had to be taken off the bridge material during its shaping.  Getting the masking tape of is a very delicate operation as the Spruce can easily tear . . . and of course it is possible to mess up the beautiful lacquer finish!

Careful!

Trial Fitting . . .

Before putting the neck and bridge on to assess the alignment I needed to remove the excess 0.5mm (!) from the back end of my heel cap on the neck . . . and Richard even has a special tool made up for that task!  My brain will never be the same after this course . . . I have never measured anything so precise outside a laboratory!   Fundamentally, we needed to see if the continuing line of the fretboard was going to meet the height of the bridge at the right level – and it did within 0.5mm in my case!

Special jig for sanding the back of the heel - carefully!

Trial fit

Shaping the Bridge . . .

Before yesterday I had no idea about how a bridge was shaped . . . and today I made one!!  Once the bridge is put into a special shaping jig, the bulk of the top of the bridge is removed using the circular sander on the press drill. Then it is back to the old fashioned methods – planes, chisels, sandpaper, files and ‘a good eye’.  Within obvious tolerances, there is no prescribed shape for a bridge and you just make something respects the conventions of what everyone does!  The finished ebony bridge is then treated with some fret oil.

Shaping jig and sander

Old fashioned methods

Fairly basic really

The finished article

Affixing the Bridge . . .

Now the moment of truth . . . attaching the bridge to the top of the guitar.  Actually, it is a bit of an anticlimax as all the hard bits have already been done.  It is critical to ensure the bridge itself seats properly on the untreated Spruce right up against the edges of the lacquer – but this fit has been already established.  The main complication here is that it will feel different with the glue in place . . . and it may move as it is clamped.  So there was a lot of checking, double checking and checking again as the pressure went on with the bridge clamps . . . if you get this wrong you will never be able to tune the guitar!!  There was nothing else to do other than to let the glue dry.

Bridge in place

Another Interim Job . . .

My next job was to file back and shape the nut . . . which is the piece of bone (again) where the strings touch the headstock end of the guitar.  As with most things, this needs to be very precise as ultimately it will determine how high the strings are above the fretboard and thus how playable the guitar is – although the very last stage of setting up the guitar involves some micro shaping of the nut.  This task first involved using a flat file and then a special 20” sanding block so as to match the curvature of the fretboard.

Shaping the nut

Even more shaping the nut

Drilling the Bridge . . .

A further task on the bridge was to drill bridge holes through the top of the guitar – this will allow the bridge pins (the bits of wood that hold the strings in place) to go far enough down to get a purchase and secure the string.  And no, I did not drill through my finger!  I will also need to ream these holes a little later – but that will be tomorrow.

Drilling through the bridge without blood

Looking good

On with the Neck . . .

In a moment of great excitement (to me!), I finally got around to attaching the neck to the guitar body for the last time!  And like affixing the bridge, this is a bit of an anticlimax.  The process was to first do a final trial fit to see that everything is still going down perfectly – and then take it apart.  Finally, the glue is spread around the back neck and down it goes with four ‘quick clamps’.  And that’s it!!

The last time you will see these apart!

Glued and clamped

A new inspector - Chip giving it the once over

The Others . . .

Both Patrick and Phil finished their guitars today . . . in what seemed to be a flurry of activity and all sorts of last minute challenges and issues, they both managed to get the strings on and making noises!!  So that is a wonderful thing.

Richard gave very firm instructions to them not to play their guitars until tomorrow as they will sound completely different once the whole thing begins to respond to the tension of the strings – and then Richard’s offsider Chip walking in with his guitar and everyone started jamming!  What a sensational musician . . . I can barely imagine how he plays some of the things I saw him play.  A Richard joined in on the mandolin – and then Howard popped in and he too joined in on another guitar – so we had a bit of a band going!

Later Richard, Patrick, Phil and I went out for dinner and had a wonderful evening . . . I think we met a waitress who was up to our cheek even though English wasn’t her first language! 

Then there was a complication – there had been some questions raised by the Ancient Order of Luthiers management committee and Nick had to convene a very late night session to check some of the instruments again!  Actually Nick came and joined us for a coffee and beer . . . thanks again for everything Nick!

I'm still not sure this lot will graduate!

Hurrying to finish

Fitting the pickup

First sounds

No Phil - you cannot string your £8 guitar!!

Jerome doing another inspection

First sounds

He said don't play it!

What a team!

This is a very bad combination!!

Incredible music right in front of our eyes

Another visitor - Howard doing an inspection

This guy is really good - thanks Chip!

Finally - now we can submit these to the Ancient Order for possible Associate Membership

The happy group . . .

Late night inspection - thanks Nick