In a couple of day’s time, a report is to be handed down to our Premier of Qld, as to the reasons why our lives have been turned upside down, and our livelyhoods destroyed. My guitarmaking has been put on hold for 6mths while I attended to making our home liveable. It has been a massive task, and I could not have done it without the help of friends and relatives and tradesmen. While my home is liveable again, there is still much to be done, but now I am getting my guitarmaking workshops in order. With the help of [...]
The making of a harp guitar had been at the back of my mind for some time. I had seen several of them in a museum in Vermillion, Sth Dakota, USA, during one of my trips.The Shrine to Music Museum had one Stradivarius guitar on show. He only made a handful of guitars, so it was great to see it. Anyway, you can’t make a harp guitar from normal guitar wood sizes, so over the years, I kept aside longer pieces of top wood and back and side pieces. Finally, after hearing fabulous harp guitar players like Stephen Bennett play, it just spurred me on to get one finished. I dug out my old issues of the guild of american luthiers mags, and poured over all the pics of harp guitars. A lot of the pics were of the inside of instruments, so the top bracing pattern was on show, and I could get an idea of the amount of bracing required.
The first thing I did was to use my drawing machine to draw up the outline of the instrument. I cheat as much as I can, so I used one of my acoustics with an M38 Martin shape as a guide. I used the pattern from when I made that shape guitar, and copied it onto the drawing sheet. I could only go as far as where the bass side of the body dives off to become the bass arm. The rest of the outline was proportioned from the small pictures I had access to. I have kept this drawing intact, and continue to use it when I make a harp guitar. I have used california redwood for the top, and black wattle for the back and sides. The neck is sapele. Hope you get something out of watching this video.
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.
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.
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.
