Citterns under construction.

After a long period building only guitars, I’m now working on citterns again. I hope to have two ready for spraying in the next few weeks. I’ll post pictures soon.

Double-decker guitar.

I’m also working on my first dreadnaught in several years, and my first ever 14 fret dreadnaught.

Here it is ready for its fingerboard, after which I’ll shape the neck, camber and fret the fingerboard, make the bridge, and shape it to the soundboard.

After final sanding it will go to David for lacquering.

The African Blackwood New World model (see News item 13 Feb 09) has now beem finished and strung for several weeks. It sounds excellent, and makes an interesting variation on the rosewood NW sound. I like both very much .

It’s been admired by everyone who’s played it and will be going to Martin Simpson to join his two MS models and his Model 1.

Highland pipes in Hexhamshire

Highland piper Duncan McGillivray called recently on his way to play at a wedding in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He checked his pipes before setting off, not impressing the dog but greatly interesting cattle in the field behind.

Duncan is a champion piper known to many in the folk world as the piper with an early line-up of the Battlefield band.

Here is the neck, shaped and with the fingerboard levelled and cambered. and position markers inlaid. I checked the fret slot depths before fitting the frets.

Next I’ll make the bridge and shape it to fit the curve of the soundboard, then I’ll scrape down the sealing lacquer and final sand the whole guitar before giving it to David to lacquer.

Spring is finally on its way; here is morning sunshine in Slaley Forest, some leaves out and more to come.

I shape the neck first with a draw-knife (sometimes called a spoke-shave), then with rasps and files before finishing off by sanding down through the grades.



Here the neck is fully shaped, smoothed and sanded. This is a Martin Simpson model neck so has the shallow C profile; the New World neck has a gentle V profile.

Here I’ve fitted the neck to the body, having driven in the main wedges and added more small wedges between neck extension and soundboard.

Below the neck is ready for its fingerboard, with clear tape protecting the truss-rod from glue and a dummy nut in place to locate the fingerboard lengthways.

Below right the fingerboard is glued in place. I use so many clamps not to clamp it tight but to spread pressure over the full area of the fingerboard.

A visitor this morning looked at the fingerboard glued to the neck and also the rough block glued to the other neck He commented how ‘brutal’ it looked, meaning compared with the finished guitar.

I see what he means. If you’re not used to seeing partly made guitars, the contrast with the finished instrument is striking. But in fact, the rough stage is an essential part of getting to the finished instrument. For example, the two pictures here show the rough heel block attached to the neck, and then the same piece just a few hours later.

Now the block is attached to the neck, I can cut the slots to fasten it to the body. Here the slots have been cut at the correct angle on the table saw.

Below are the neck with heel and block shaped (the block is shellac lacquered and stamped with serial numbers) and the body ready to receive the neck.

The necks started a couple of days ago are now ready for bodies, heads thicknessed and drilled ready for tuners, and rough heel-blocks attached. The heel block will be slotted and shaped ready to fit the body only when the correct angle has been determined from the body it will be joined to.

Behind are a set of New World sides just bent to shape and being left to settle, and in the go-bar jig are struts glued and clamped to a back.

Not really news, but today I’ve been working on two MS model necks.

I join the head to the neck with a scarfe joint, the strongest and simplest I know.

Here is the head glued and clamped to the neck. Because the pressure is at an angle to the joint and glue acts as a lubricant when first applied, I clamp pieces of wood at either end to stop the head sliding from its correct position.
Not a good photo – the spring clamps hold the head veneer in place while the glue dries. A plywood pad spreads the load and prevents damage to the veneer. The head will be taken to correct thickness after the tuner holes are drilled.


The neck cannot be taken to its final shape without its fingerboard; here the fingerboard is being slotted by being passed over a fine saw blade by a fret-slotting jig. The slots in the jig control the distance the fingerboard is moved each time for the next slot. This distance is detirmined by a pin which fits into slots on the jig. These are not the slots you can see, but another set on the far side of the jig.

After slotting it, I’ll cut the fingerboard to size.

Here is one neck shaped to its fingerboard (and with the head also shaped) and another about to be shaped. This is done by running fingerboard and head template past a router bearing so that the cutter cuts the wood to the same shapes.

The fingerboards are taped on temporarily and will now be removed. They will be glued on permanently after the necks are fixed to the bodies.

Tomorrow I plan to finish these necks and fit the heel-blocks. Then I shall bind the MS model I have ready and then be able to join neck and body. Then I can glue the fingerboard in place, shape the neck and fit the frets.

David Wilson (the Gloss Boss) now has a website up.

Dave has been lacquering my instruments for around twenty five years (see my news item 5 April 2008) and has a wealth of experience in all areas of finishing. He also repairs and sets up all fretted instruments and builds custom electric basses.

Dave is a perfectionist in everything he does. His website address is:

www.dwilsonguitars.com

For the last 25 years I’ve used a primitive copying machine hooked up to a router to carve my rough carved arch-top soundboards . These rough carved tops are oversize to the point that I can adjust them to allow for the stiffness of the wood and desired characteristics of the finished instrument. The final details and thicknesses are carved by hand.

Because the copying machine isn’t as accurate as I would like, I have to leave more spare wood to remove by hand than is ideal, just to allow for unintended variations by the copier. This adds to the work required and makes achieving consistant results harder.

I’m now working with Haydn Williams to carve these rough soundboards on his computer controlled routing jig. It’s an amazing machine which can carve complex and detailed 3D designs. These range from the size of a small coin up to objects nearly four feet long. Haydn has built this machine himself with components sourced mainly from ebay, a remarkable achievement.

The rough soundboards Haydn makes are carved from my wood to my design, with my arching and basic thicknesses. I can then fine tune them in my shop later. We’ve been talking about this for over a year, and I’m looking forward to finally getting results.

I’ve realised for many years I need to be dragged, screaming and kicking, into the 19th century. So this is progress.

Mandolin overhaul

In the meantime I’m overhauling an early mandolin, of which I’ve had several to work on recently. Like many of my early instruments, this has a label but no date or serial number. From the telephone number (which has had digits added at least twice since) I believe it dates from the early 1980s.

It’s in excellent basic condition, but needs a re-fret and new tuners. The tailpiece has been butchered, so I’ve made a new one (which has to match the existing holes in the tail).

The original bridge had been replaced by an ill-fitting unsuitable one, so I’ve made another which will also accept a Baggs pickup. Here is the mandolin after its refret, ready for some re-lacquering (neck, back and sides but not the soundboard) and then stringing up. Also shown are the new bridge, tailpiece and tuners.