Why guitars don't get built

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Morecowbell
Posts: 280
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:51 am
Location: Fishers, IN

Re: Why guitars don't get built

Post by Morecowbell »

Well, more reasons why my guitar isn't getting built:

FIrst, I decided to build a mini-hammered dulcimer for my brother, got a bit more involved than I had planned but just shipped it to him yesterday so hoping it makes it:
HD1.jpg

And then this popped up on my local FB marketplace feed as a "vintage leather jacket". Its an original A-2. However, it's in pretty rough shape with a tear in the left shoulder and some cracking so I did a lot of research on how best to handle it. After all of that I have now learned to repair leather!
A2 1.jpg
Back to the guitar, quick, before something else happens....
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"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Why guitars don't get built

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Finished a Stauffer neck, Redwood on Maple , 00 size guitar and thought "what now"

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 622855926/

Ed M
Ed M
Morecowbell
Posts: 280
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:51 am
Location: Fishers, IN

Re: Why guitars don't get built

Post by Morecowbell »

Ed,

That's a beauty! Do you paint or stain them? I never made a full size continuous arm, but made several continuous arm high chairs. Such an iconic design.
"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Why guitars don't get built

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

I helped a friend make one entirely of cherry so that it could be varnished - never again. Very difficult to find wood good enough to bend and making a seat out of cherry was a PIA> This one is White Oak for spindles and back, Basswood seat (fantastic wood for the purpose) and Hard Maple legs, so because it is different woods, it will be painted. Here are a couple of guitar playing stools I made for my daughter's shop (brooklynlutherie.com) patterned after the Nakashima stools in the Martin show room

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 213899421/

Ed M
Ed M
Stray Feathers
Posts: 677
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:39 pm
Location: Ladysmith, BC

Re: Why guitars don't get built

Post by Stray Feathers »

I love these chairs, but I don't have the talent to make one. I have two Windsor chairs, but without the one-piece arms, that I salvaged and refinished years ago. On the undersides, they have a metal label that says "Owen Sound Chair Co." (Ontario). One of the factoids I have remembered over the years is that in the early part of the 20th Century there were 80 piano factories in Canada. Today there is not one. So it is good that there are still people making beautiful things out of local material. And Ed, the forsythia is blooming in our yard too! Bruce W.
Morecowbell
Posts: 280
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:51 am
Location: Fishers, IN

Re: Why guitars don't get built

Post by Morecowbell »

Haha! I used to use white oak for bent pieces and spindles, poplar for seats (wide boards, easy to carve), maple for legs, and mahogany for the arms if it was a mortised-arm chair. Staining was a challenge! I started on chemical stains (potassium dichromate, tannic acid, etc.) and moved to aniline dyes, with different formulations for the different woods. The things you do when you don't know any better! :-)
"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Why guitars don't get built

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Some woods, like pine, maple, popular, and birch, to name a few, will come out blotchy when stained due to uneven density. The stain or dye absorbs unevenly. You have to use a wood conditioner first. I've used a wash coat of 1/2# cut of shellac then lightly sanded to ready difficult woods for stain.

Gotta love good ol' shellac!
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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