Tas. Blackwood/ebony

Because I am an avid pedal steel player, make lots of solidbody electric lapsteels and resonator guitars,listen to mainly instrumental music, with real musicians, then, occassionally I get to make an acoustic lapsteel. These guitars just ooze sweet tone, and until you stop and listen to one, you won’t know what you’ve been missing. My pic here does not do the wood justice. It is the most extraordinary figured wood. Tasmanian blackwood has the ability to turn heads, and make you have that second look. Except I can stare at it all day long. The tuning that I chose was dgdgbd, from thick to thin. Gauge was 13-61. There is an L.R. Baggs element under the saddle, with a volume wheel at the soundhole. Battery replacement is through the soundhole.

Polished violin

I said I would get it finished, and I did! This is an instrument that I made from a violin making book by Ed Heron-Allen. I can’t play a violin, but it has the same tuning as the F5 mandolins I make. I asked my daughter to play a couple of little melodies, and I was stunned by the quality of tone and the power of the notes coming out of that little box. I can see why craftsmen get mesmerized by this little gem. I have more adjustments to make, like, add a chinrest, lower action, find a case and bow. I thought the pedal steel guitar was difficult, but this violin playing is a real special skill.

Lacquering the violin (minus f/bd)

I am in between making guitars at the moment, so as we are on Easter holidays, I remembered I had been carting around this partly made violin for a lot of years. I got stuck into it and added the purfling, joined the neck to the body, and made the fingerboard. I am doing the lacquering before I add the fingerboard. When I looked inside the ‘f’ hole, my business card inside was dated 7/84,  so I’ve been trying to keep the bits of wood safe for 26 years! It’s truly amazing I had no dings to fix up. My middle daughter is learning the violin (3/4 size), so one day she may have the opportunity to try this one (4/4) out.

I was doing a series of short 30sec. videos, but decided to upgrade to a full length video showing the whole process in one hit. There are more than 60 photos strung together.

I get pretty excited when I finish a new project. This is my latest custom order, a doublenecked 6 string guitar and 4 string bass. It has my own P90 style handwound pickups in the 6 string section and Stewmac “select” bass pickups. There are two output jacks, so the bass can be played through a bass amp, and the 6 string guitar can be played through a separate guitar amp. I would envision this instrument to be handled much like a harp guitar, where both necks are utilized at the same time. My client has a one man show called “the loose and nasty show”, so if you are in Sth-east Qld., keep a lookout for him.

silky oak/sapele double neck guitar/bass

Fitting m/hds and nut

The finished instrument

Here’s a couple of more pics that should have been with the previous post, to do with the finishing touches.

Clamping bridge to top

First coats of sealer

Tail binding strip

One of the last things I do to finish off the binding scheme, is to fit the back tail inlay. This will be from the same wood as the rest of the binding. The guitar is held between two 1″ dowels protruding out from the workbench.The waist cradles the dowels while you work on routing out the area of the endstrip. An amount equal to the depth of the sides is removed, and the wood inlay is glued and clamped in place with a long klempsia clamp.Once dry, the inlay can be scraped flush with the sides. The instrument is given a thorough sanding through the different grades of paper, and lacquering can begin.

The lacquering process can quite long and tedious, especially if you are wanting to fill the grain without using grain filler.I find that grain filler, once applied and sanded off, changes the overall colour of the wood. I prefer to use lots of sanding sealer and keep sanding until there are no sparkly bits (where the pores are deepest), and then apply the finish coats. I hand sand everything. I never use electric palm sanders. I suffer from all sorts of strain injury from using one side of my body for too long. I try to use my left arm as much as I can, and rest often. Being tall and lanky doesn’t help either. Breathing in the dust from sanding the lacquer sets off  nose and throat irritations, and one can become quite ill. I would apply at least 10 coats of sealer, and 5 coats of high gloss lacquer. Allow to dry at least a week before sanding and polishing to a high gloss.

Once the soundboard is finished being polished, the bridge can be glued on, but not before the lacquer is scraped away where the bridge will sit. You have to carefully place the bridge in its correct location, and with one hand hold it in place while the other hand scribes around the perimeter with a sharp knife. Use a 1″ wide chisel to scrape away the lacquer. Put a burr on its cutting edge to speed up the removal. The bridge can now be glued and clamped in place.

The machine heads and nut and saddle can now be fitted. String up the guitar and adjust the nut slot depths and saddle height.