Bade's Lutherie Web Log

Well I'll be darned!!! It's a mandolin!!

2011-08-24T20:52:00.000-05:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page expand the October entries and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

So ... after only 22 months ... it's a mandolin!!!

Truth be told it's been a mandolin for some while now but I hadn't done the setup and actually put strings on it until tonight ... no real excuse other than life getting in the way ...

Regardless, I decided tonight was the night so I dug out my nut files and rooted around until I found a pack of D'Addario J62 strings ... these are pretty light gauge but I knew I wanted a more mellow tone from this instrument AND I really hate stringing up mandolins ... I'm always sure I'm going to pop one of those high E strings and put my eye out ... kinda like a Red Rider BB gun at Christmas!

I filed the nut slots to approximation and the bridge saddle slots (I used an adjustable bridge rather than the older non-adjustable bridge that I think was more traditional on the F4's because I really didn't know what the setup was going to be like). I had previously fit the bridge foot to the body. I guessed at the location for the bridge and put the strings on ... heard the first notes of the voice and was impressed by the ringing volume this instrument has.

I completed the string-up, made several adjustments on the location of the bridge to get the intonation "pretty close" (I'll dial it in really close after it's had time to stretch the strings a bit) and played a couple of tunes.

The action is really very good with these J62's ... might be a teensy bit high if I J72's on it but none of the frets buzz, it frets cleanly further down than I will ever play and has a pretty pure sound to my tin ear.

So ... a few pictures ... and at some point I'll try to post an MP3 clip of the sound.

From Lutherie

Gotta show that YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS !!!

From Lutherie

Hope you enjoyed the long long journey from Roger Siminoff's first ever Lutherie Camp to the completion of this instrument ... thanks for looking in!!

Bade

"Rub a Dub Dub ..." ... or ... gettin' my shine on ...

2011-07-22T17:23:00.001-05:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page expand the October entries and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

I'm getting close to the end now ... at this rate I'm afraid lutherie as a 2nd career isn't in the cards ... completing one instrument every two years or so probably wouldn't pay the bills ...

The following photos are after the I applied 13-15 coats of Tru-Oil, allowed that to cure for 9 days and then spent a couple of hours rubbing the finish with Behlen's Deluxe compound and Ming #11 polish. What I believe this shows is that a Tru-Oil finish can definitely provide a very high gloss finish if that is what you are after. In this particular case I could have done better with the underlying wood finish but honestly when one of these things sits around the shop unfinished for over 18 months you get a few dings you simply fail to notice until it's pretty much too late. Oh well ... live and learn ...

One note here ... I should have done a step before applying dye to enhance the grain in the quilted maple ... truth be told I simply forgot until it was way too late. So ... the quilted maple grain SHOULD be a little more defined than it is ... a fault of my skipping that step not the Tru-Oil finish.

So ... the story so far ...

... and the BACK STORY ...

Next is to install the hardware, do the set-up and see what kind of voice it has ...

Dying to burst onto the music scene ... or ... hoping to scrape by ...

2011-07-05T13:07:00.002-05:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page expand the October entries and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

The whole business of trying to stain an acceptable sunburst is a bit like making chili ... you throw stuff in the pot, stir, taste, add some more stuff, stir, taste, add some more stuff to counter the last stuff you put in that turned out to be too much, stir, taste, and repeat and repeat and repeat until at some point the magic happens (at least to your satisfaction it happens) and all of a sudden you're finished ... so to speak ... at least that is the way it is for me ... I've only done a few sunburst finishes but it always seems like it's an iterative process of adding stain, removing stain, over and over again until it 'seems right' ...

So I started with the back figuring if I screwed it up completely I could always go for a black back and sides ...

From Lutherie

Once I was satisfied with the back ... I decided to go the "full monty" and plunged ahead with the rest ... the photos below are after all stain was applied and the masking tape was removed ... it is evident that I have NOT done the scraping of the binding ... that is the next step and one I do not look forward to ... BUT I can say doing at least SOME masking of the binding was a huge improvement over not doing it ... next time I will likely spend much more time on the masking step and try to get it all .. I really recommend this!!.

So without further ado ... stained and unmasked ...

From Lutherie

This would be the "butt burst" I suppose ...

From Lutherie

Overall I'm pretty happy with the result so far ... next a lot of scraping and color touch up ... then a coat or two of shellac to seal ... and then the Tru-Oil finish process ... did I mention I hate to scrape binding!!!????

We who are about to dye salute you ... or ... a slacker's confession ...

2011-07-03T21:19:00.001-05:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page expand the October entries and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

It's true ... it's been about 18 months since my last confession ... errrr ... my last work on the F4 mandolin I started way back in October of 2009 at Roger Siminoff's Lutherie Camp ... what can I say ... I've done lots of other things ... I retired for one ... then took a really extensive vacation with some friends through Great Britain and Ireland ... rebuilt several antiques, built a really nice greenhouse for the wife ... OK OK ... it's true ... I was avoiding the hand work of cutting the binding notch around the scroll ... so shoot me ... I just didn't want to face it ...

But I have ... and it was about as miserable as I remembered ... but just like everything else .. if you just suck it up and face the music ... it can be done ...

Here's a shot of the way I strapped the binding on the top during the glue set ..

From Lutherie

I put several pegs in the scroll opening to pin the binding ... I'm, fortunate on the F4 that there is only a single layer of binding which alleviates the nastiness of getting the miters just right ...

From Lutherie

After the glue has dried and a bit of rough sanding ...

From Lutherie

The back has some really nice figure in the quilted maple ...

From Lutherie

So ... I sanded ... and sanded ... and sanded some more ... down to 500 grit ... and then I decided that to avoid as much binding scraping as possible ... because I really hate to scrape binding ... I got some automotive striping tape and masked off as much as I could ... I might have been able to do more but decided that it was a trade off of time spent masking or scraping and stopped at the point I thought it was a toss up ...

From Lutherie

This whole "hole" (oval sound hole that is ... business with a rosette) has been a real issue for me during this build and I hope this masking job will suffice ... worry worry fret fret ...

From Lutherie

So ... next step is to apply the sunburst dye job ... I've done it before so I am more confident than I probably have a right to be ... this will be a traditional for the F4 "red sunburst" ... as my friend Chris has said ... "a sunburst finish can hide a LOT of mistakes" ... I'm counting on it!!!

A return to Mr Wizard's Workshop ... Tools and Fixtures camp with Roger Siminoff

2011-03-22T22:11:00.001-05:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page expand the October entries and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

This past weekend (3/19/2011, 3/20/2011) I had the good fortune to attend Roger Siminoff's first "Tools and Fixtures" camp. This is a short two day camp where Roger demonstrates the many different tools, fixtures, fasteners, jigs and so on that he uses to fashion the parts of his mandolin, mandola and banjo parts.

This camp is much different than the week long "building" camps Roger offers. In this camp, the curtain is pulled all the way back and any and everything is open for discussion regarding the fabrication of parts. The focus is on "how to visualize and build a fixture or jig" to get you from the "part needed" point to the "part in hand" stage.

There are many salient points of discussion such as:

When it is appropriate to construct a fixture or jig and when it is better simply to make the part "one off".

What materials are appropriate for jig and fixture construction.

What tools should one have in the shop.

An overview of the camp can be found on Roger's site at this link look at camp "D"

I believe this camp would be of great value to the luthier interested in building for sale. In my case I build as a hobby without any aspiration to sell my instruments but I wanted to try an get a handle on the "creative process" Roger goes through when he plans and constructs a jig or fixture. I got some terrific insight into this process and while it would be impossible for Roger to "teach" the creativity he has for jig and fixture building, just seeing the process, understanding the possibilities and getting a better handle on how I might go about doing it was well worth the entry fee.

I was joined at this camp by three of my previous camp mates as sort of a mini-reunion and we were happy to have a new camper join the fold. Welcome Mack and Carl, Mike and Annette it was great to see ya'll again!!

I'll only post a couple of pictures below since many of the jigs and fixtures "look alike" although when you see them in action you quickly come to understand their unique function and construction.

This is the pin router setup that Roger uses for the fabrication of many parts:

From Lutherie

One of the many jigs/fixtures that uses a bottom bearing router setup:

From Lutherie

A "smart" jig used to fabricate the critical intonation cuts in a mandolin bridge saddle:

From Lutherie

A look at the bottom bearing router setup with a jig that will be used to fabricate the bridge foot:

From Lutherie

All in all another great experience ... if you have an interest in learning about "jigs, tools and fixtures" used in lutherie ... I don't think you can find a better resource!

And now for something completely different ... or an interlude with "the Dude" ...

2010-02-23T13:08:00.008-06:00

From Lutherie

Lynn had brought with him the mandolin he built during the DIY Channel taping of Handmade Music and used it to demonstrate how and where to take significant measurements for proper set up.

From Lutherie

After showing how the measurements are taken Lynn took the F5 that Chris Jenkins had started while we were attending the Roger Siminoff Lutherie Camp back in October and proceeded to do a complete set up on that instrument. (Lucky you Chris!!! Two of the world's recognized F5 experts have had a hand in the construction and setup of that instrument before it is finished!!) This setup included being sure the frets were level and properly crowned and trimmed, the bridge properly fitted and the nut properly cut and slotted ... all the while Lynn managed an entertaining dialog with the audience (about 25 lucky souls) explaining what he was doing and answering many questions covering all sorts of lutherie topics.

From Lutherie

and then the moment of truth ... first notes played while in the white ...

From Lutherie

And as would be expected ... it sounded great and played like butter!!! How could it be otherwise???

Lynn is a very approachable guy and a fountain of information ...

From Lutherie

This is a shot of the F5 Lynn built for the DIY series ...

From Lutherie

SO ... it was a wonderful day ... 9AM to 5PM with a great lunch of Cajun Gumbo served to all attendees ...

Driving home I was thinking ... It's not a bad life when you can meet and learn from the absolute world's best in the field of your chosen hobby ... it was a good day!!

Headstock bound!!! ... or ... Getting the angle on the dremmel ...

2010-01-31T16:46:00.002-06:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page expand the October entries and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

The celluloid binding on an F4 is a bit less 'decorative' than a typical F5. The F4's are traditionally "single bound" meaning there is only one 'color' or 'layer' in the binding strip ... the good news for me is that means that in the miters of the joints in the bindings on the F4 it is a little easier to hide poor craftsmanship since there aren't multiple layers of colors to match up ... this is a good thing it turns out.

The headstock of an F style mandolin (whether F4 or F5 or basically F anything I guess) is traditionally kinda 'curvy' with some pretty tight bends and corners around the edges that makes cutting the binding channel somewhat tricky to cut. Add to that the fact that the headstock of these mandolins is actually cut on a 15 degree angle from perpendicular adds to the joy dictating that at least on the "end" the luthier needs to respect that 15 degree angle and incorporate it into the ledge being cut so that the binding lays 'flat' across the headstock edge. ... kinda reminds me of the line from Saturday Night Live ... "... it just goes to show there's always something! ..."

So first I had to fashion a 15 degree base for my dremmel tool so it would ride at the appropriate angle over the headstock ...

From Lutherie

It took longer than you might guess just to get that cut like it needed to be ... but this is how it rides over the headstock ...

From Lutherie

After that it was just a matter of using the pilot bit around the edge of the headstock and getting in the tight spots as far as I could go ...

From Lutherie

Then I cut the 7 pieces of celluloid binding and started dry fitting them trying to get the right lengths and the right angles cut on the ends for a tight fit ...

From Lutherie

Glued each piece one at a time mostly with Cyno ...

From Lutherie

Sooo ... I'm getting close to the point where I HAVE to finish up the body scroll work by hand ... not looking forward to that but I AM looking forward to hearing this things voice!! ...

Inlaying the headstock ornament ... or "The Yellow Rose Of Texas ...."

2010-01-17T11:30:00.001-06:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

On the F5 I built in 2006 I had an inlay fashioned for me in Vietnam (I bought it on ebay) and had intended to use another of the same design on the F4 ... I had in fact sent Roger the already inlaid ebony overlay for the headstock prior to the camp thinking he could just glue that on before shaping the headstock. Roger and I exchanged a couple of emails and decided that since this particular inlay was etched, there was a better than even chance some of the etching would be lost when sanding down the headstock in the finishing process ... I'm not sure how I managed to avoid that on the F5 but agreed I didn't want to risk it on the F4 built at camp so I purchased another inlay not already 'inlaid' in ebony from Andy DePaule at Luthier Supply and would then do the inlay at home after camp.

The great thing about inlay in ebony is that it's fairly easy to blacken the glue (epoxy or even elmers) one uses to stick the ornament into the cavity and fill any 'gaps' caused by in-exact routing ... a VERY GOOD THING for me !!

So ... here's the simple "Yellow Rose" I chose as the headstock ornament for the F4 ...

From Lutherie

I traced the outline onto the headstock ...

From Lutherie

I in-expertly scribed the line to mark where to carve/route ...

From Lutherie

I hacked at it with a scalpel, a chisel, a machete, a broad axe, a pick axe, a bit of nitroglycerin ...

From Lutherie

Then I used my dremmel ...

From Lutherie

I mixed up some "please forgive my lack of skill!" epoxy with some ebony dust ...

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I said a short prayer, waved an enchanted rabbit's foot over the piece as I gently laid it into the glue filled cavity ... and clamped it flat (but not too tight ... didn't want to break the pearl/abalone) ... and left it overnight ...

From Lutherie

... and after a bit of sanding to remove the excess glue ... by the grace of the rabbit's foot and "ebony that allows even club handed miscreants to look skilled ..." ... I revealed The Yellow Rose Of Texas ...

From Lutherie

It's not "perfect" and I will do better next time .. but I'm satisfied for now ...

Binding with The Beatles ... or ..."jumping off the ledge..."

2010-01-12T19:39:00.004-06:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

OK ... here's the deal ... cutting the "binding ledge" or "binding notch" is one of those tasks that I suspect most luthiers have obsessed over more than once. It's kinda like what a car enthusiast might go through when contemplating serious body work on his or her prized ride ... it probably has to be done but you really don't want to start and then discover you've botched the job! People are gonna notice, point fingers and snicker behind your back! It isn't that the task hasn't been completed successfully thousands of times by countless individuals ... it's that now it's your turn and people are watching!!

Added to this already "clinched posterior" circumstance is the realization that the instrument I am about to attack with a motorized, wood eating, razor sharp, madly spinning power tool, is one that I have significant funds and time invested in and it could all go very South in the blink of an eye ... Basically I had driven over three thousand miles round trip to attend a class taught by the recognized world expert of F style mandolin construction at an appreciable monetary cost and investment of personal time and effort and am now faced with the very real possibility of instantly turning the cherished result of that investment into a small pile of firewood that wouldn't produce enough heat to successfully roast a marshmallow. No pressure at all big fella ...

So I turned on my MP3 player in the shop blasting The Beatles Mono remaster collection at a volume that would drown out both the high speed whine of the laminate trimmer and my pounding heart and proceeded to set the mandolin in the carriage I had fashioned ...

Ooops ... problem number 1(geeze ... already???) ... I had decided to route the back of the mandolin before the top for a couple of reasons ... I wanted to put off routing on the top that people would most often see as long as possible and I wanted to get a little more 'experience' with the jig (on real wood) before dealing with the soft spruce of the top where I anticipated likely tearout problems around the points. The problem is ... unlike say a dreadnought guitar or an A style mandolin for example that is the same shape looking at the top or the bottom an F style mandolin is not symmetric! ... you might THINK I had already noticed that but apparently while mentally thinking about using the jig for the last several months ... it never crossed my mind! ... So ... first I need to make a carriage for the back side (or I could have just turned the first carriage I made over and drilled appropriate mounting holes but since I had the "dummy" body blank I just decided to press it into service since it was otherwise of no other value).

So here are the "twins"" ...

From Lutherie

And I'm happy with the backside result ... the following several pictures show various views of where the binding notch for the back has been routed with the TrueChannel jig ... I have also pointed out where I could go no further with the routing jig because either the attached neck was in the way or the pilot bit setup I used was the limiting factor ... so obviously some tedious benchwork hand cutting will be required.

From Lutherie

This is as far as I can go on the scroll with the jig ...

From Lutherie

Happily I didn't get any tearout on the points on the back!

From Lutherie

So ... the back is done as much as I can do with the jig ... and I'm happy with the result! Now ... it's time to crank up the Beatles a little louder and dive into the task on the top ... aaaaggggghhhh ....

From Lutherie

A look before cutting at how the mandolin sits on the jig ...

From Lutherie

As far as I will be able to go on the top as well ...

From Lutherie

... and some views of the results ...

From Lutherie

No tearout!!! Yea!!!!

From Lutherie

As far as I can go on this part ... hand work to follow ...

From Lutherie

and that pesky scroll area ... some long hours at the bench await ....

From Lutherie

So ... whew!! I am very glad that particular ordeal is over ... I still have some significantly difficult work ahead of me around the scroll top and back AND I still have to route the binding ledge on the headstock which will not be done with the TrueChannel jig but another fixture altogether and I will document that in another posting.

As far as the TrueChannel jig itself ... I have to say that it works exactly as advertised and is seemingly made of quality materials. I would like to see a little closer tolerance on the "sliding" rollers and the tower but it seems to work fine as is ... as far as the "carriage" I fashioned that myself with no real difficulty. The leveling/height adjustment mounts were well made and easily installed on the carriage. It took me longer to 'seat the mandolin in the jig' and get it level and "tight" than I expected but it was worth the time investment because once I had it set it seemed very stable and easily moved around the jig table.

I would definitely suggest cutting the binding ledge before gluing on the neck if at all possible ... I think I could have gotten further in the scroll area had that been my situation. I also believe that with a little different cutter bit setup I could get even further into the scroll and will experiment with that before my next build.

So ... much more tedious work to come but really only one more task (headstock binding) left to do with a power tool ... please tune in again ...

Learning a new jig ... or ..." we need to make mandolins out of MDF !!!"

2010-01-11T16:46:00.004-06:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

Well if it hasn't been obvious I'll tell you a small secret ... I've been avoiding the binding task like I avoided the H1N1 flu!!! My previous binding experience on the StewMac F5 I built in 2006 was traumatic and I'm pretty sure damaged my psyche for life. It's simply NOT a pleasant experience in my mind ... the binding on an F5, particularly around the scroll and headstock is the first place I look to determine the craftsmanship with which the instrument was built. A sharp, clean scroll with tight even binding is a thing of beauty ... it's why F style mandolins (assuming of course they sound good!) are so much more expensive than A style mandolins ... the carving of the scroll, the difficulty of artistic binding are things that take incredible patience and skill to master and when done by a master are obvious marks of quality. At this point in my lutherie efforts I aspire to be an "average or better student" ... "journeyman skills" are several builds down the road but I am enjoying the journey!

So ... since I received the TrueChannel jig for Christmas I had procrastinated to the point where action had to be taken. My thought was to fashion a "dummy" mandolin body just to run thru the jig to see if there were any obvious trouble spots ... now a couple of important points here ...

1 - I used MDF for the dummy .. MDF has no grain ... basically it's "paper" ... and as such it routes very cleanly with essentially no danger of tearout. Not the case at all with spruce, maple or other typical woods one would use to make a mandolin. That being the case this testing will not reveal any trouble spots in that regard.

2 - The MDF is FLAT ... as in NOT CONTOURED like the body of an F style mandolin. But, in fairness that is one of the touted advantages of this jig ... "the contour isn't supposed to effect the routing because of the 'floating' nature of the jig ...". So ... if we believe the premise then we can at least "tell ourselves" that this won't hide any real trouble spots ... I'm TRYING to believe that ... really I am!!

3 - This test is on a dummy blank with NO NECK attached ... unlike the F4 I started in camp with Roger. I believe that future builds I do I will choose to route the binding ledge BEFORE attaching the neck ... that's the way I do it with guitars and it seems to me to give me much more movement freedom than having the neck attached ... but regardless, the F4 I'm building DOES have the neck attached and I'll deal with it when the time comes. That is one suggestion I need to make to Roger for future camps .. consider finding a way to cut the binding ledge in camp ... I understand the time constraints Roger and his team are working under to get a mandolin "in the white" finished in just under five days but the the difficulty of the binding ledge has lead to several anxious emails between us Class #1 campers discussing the task and how we wish it could have been done "under supervision".

So enough rambling ... this posting will only be the testing of the TrueChannel jig and not the actual cutting of the ledge on the F4 ... I will save that for another posting! Kinda like a "cliff hanger on TV" ain't it ???

This is the body blank I fashioned ... showing the direction of the cuts I would make on an actual "wood" body ... it took me quite a bit longer to fashion the dummy body and attach it to the jig than it did to do the actual routing!!!

From Lutherie

A shot showing how I fashioned the dummy to sit up on the carriage of the jig ...

From Lutherie

I decided a little baby powder would make the movement of the carriage around the board smoother ... it worked fine!!

From Lutherie

Almost slipped up here ... it is important to have clearance around the whole body on the jig ... since this "dummy" is considerably 'thinner' than a real mandolin body I discovered I needed to raise it up a bit (the jig provides leveling screws that make this easy) to clear the pilot bearing set screw...

From Lutherie

Time to rock and roll!!! When the "real moment" comes ... I'm gonna be sweating bullets!

From Lutherie

Drum roll .... and in about 3 minutes it was basically all over but the shouting ...

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Close up around the scroll area ....

From Lutherie

How far I could go on the scroll ...

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Easily around the heal cap treble side ...

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These next few pics show where I would CONSIDER stopping to avoid tearout ... I MIGHT risk the climb cut indicated by the arrows just to see if I'm having a lucky day ... on MDF as will be obvious ... it isn't an issue since there is no grain ...

From Lutherie

see why we should make mandos out of MDF ...

From Lutherie

This is a close as I could come with the pilot ...

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... and just a couple of shots of showing that the binding would lay in this channel very nicely ... just dry fit of course ...

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So ... that would be "the test" ... at this point and taking into account the things that I know are "different" from the real thing I have to say I am encouraged! ... It LOOKS like this jig works as advertised and although I fully expect some difficult benchwork ahead on this task I think this will be "better than the last one ..." (he said hopefully and with just a smidgen of trepidation ... )

I have at this point also inlaid the headstock ornamentation and will reveal that as soon as the glue dries and I have it sanded down to my satisfaction ...

We return you now to your regular programming ...

Ring around the Rosette Bush ... or "Oval is harder than Round !!"

2010-01-09T18:14:00.008-06:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

I have to say ... when I decided to build an F4 vs an F5 at the Siminoff camp, ONE of the things that drew me to that decision was what I considered the simple beauty of the oval soundhole on the F4 mandolin vs the "f holes" on the F5 style ... I have 3 mandolins with "F holes" as it is and wanted to change things up a bit .. and I had read that the F4's have a more mellow less "cut through" sound than the F5 ... of course that is what the F5 is designed to do! Regardless once Roger said it was OK for me to do an F4 at camp that beautiful oval soundhole surrounded by that elegant multi-layer rosette was often on my mind as the camp approached.

Now I was fully aware that I couldn't use the same techniques to cut the channel for an oval hole that I had employed on several steel string acoustic guitars I had built in the past ... heck those were easy ... slap a cutter in a jig on a drill and in a couple of minutes ... viola!! a perfect round channel for the inlay! I hadn't REALLY thought this whole "oval thing" through though ... basically ... "there ain't no jig!" ... you may dance a jig while you cuss the effort ... you may play a jig while contemplating how you are going to recover from your most recent disastrous effort of cutting the oval channel but ... I could find no good "jig" to ease the task.

The following couple of pictures were taken while still at camp as I discussed the upcoming ordeal with Roger ...

From Lutherie

... now the instructions that come with the rosette (purchased from Roger) are pretty clear and simple ... basically 'trace the outline of the rosette on the soundboard and cut to fit ...' ... uh-huh --- I built a banjo once from a kit and the instructions for that were pretty simple too --- "Open Box, remove contents, assemble banjo..." ... pretty much the same thing here ... no real mention of "the best way to carve out the channel..." or ... "watch out when you do this ... because ... you aren't gluing into a dark wood like ebony where you can hide poor craftsmanship with colored glue .... " ... oh no ... here you are cutting a channel for a fixed size piece of inlay that will be laid in a basically "white" spruce soundboard ... so ... have a nice time buddy cause you only get one shot ...

I'm not the most skilled "carver" on the planet ... and the intimidation of knowing I wanted to keep the soundboard basically light toned in color (perhaps a sunburst haven't decided yet) coupled with the "arch" of the soundboard and lack of any helpful jigs has made my workbench life fairly miserable for the last couple of weeks as I tried one thing and then another ... some I'm not willing to reveal due to their complete failure and obvious poor choice ... but after all is said and done if you don't look too close!! the result is "acceptable" but by no means as good as I had in my early visions of F4 bliss ... so ...

Here we have the effort early in the game and one of the tools I used to do much of the work ...

From Lutherie

... there's already storm clouds brewing at this point ...

From Lutherie

I was feeling KINDA OK at this point but the fit is already not "perfect" ...

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Ahhh yes ... the whole "how do I glue this thing ??? " question ... this was one of several dry fit glue configurations I tried ...

From Lutherie

... and even after I had settled on one clamp scheme that SEEMED to be reliable ... when I put the wax paper under the cauls ... all "heck" broke loose and clamps, and cauls were sliding all over the place ... and NOT holding a darn thing ... and of course by that time I was gluing for real ... regardless I "... danced a jig while cussing the whole situation ..." (at least I suspect it LOOKED like I was dancing as I was racing around the workbench trying to figure out how in blazes I was going to get the clamps to hold!!) ...

I did FINALLY get it clamped as best I could but there was some significant "less than perfectness" to deal with afterward ...

From Lutherie

So ... after "playing a jig" or 10 ... and sanding ... and trimming ... and a bit of witchcraft and magic ... I ended up with ...

From Lutherie

It doesn't bear real close examination and I'm hoping to hide a few flaws with creative finishing ... but ... it is what it is ...

Now on to laying in the headstock decoration ...

Setting up the TRUECHANNEL Binding Jig for a mandolin F style ...

2010-01-03T19:49:00.003-06:00

If you got here looking for the Siminoff Lutherie Camp photo essay just click on the 2009 entries link on the left side of this page and you will be jumped to that part of the web log ... or just scroll down and you'll see them ...

As I hoped, my wonderful wife of 36+ years gifted me with a Stewart McDonald "TrueChannel" binding jig for Christmas ... it pays to hint and email with links!!

I got the #5651 setup since I can build my own carriage and already have the appropriate cutter bits. So my task was to assemble the jig and get a feel for how it may or may not work on an F style mandolin ... the following pictures show the setup I made. A later post after I have had a chance to experiment on some "dummy" blanks will detail any success or failure I have with this jig on the F4.

This is the carriage I made from MDF

From Lutherie

The pieces parts after I assembled them ...

From Lutherie

Normally I would not have the neck attached before I cut the binding ledge BUT since we attached the necks at the camp with Roger ... I'll deal with it as best I can ...

From Lutherie

Kinda shows the 'gist' of why this works ...

From Lutherie

I set the carriage up so that the top edge of the rim is at 4" all the way around the mandolin ... since the router "floats" and thus keeps the cutter perpendicular to the edge/cut I'm not absolutely sure that is mandatory but it satisfied my ascetic preference if nothing else ...

From Lutherie

My initial thoughts (having made ZERO CUTS at this point) are that the jig is well engineered and made of quality materials ... tolerances SEEM to be adequate although I personally would like to have seen a slightly closer tolerance on the rollers in the shaft but "movement" is probably only .002" or so.

Once I have done some testing on scrap blanks I'll post more detail.

Some progress on F4 after returning home from Siminoff Camp ...

2010-01-03T19:25:00.003-06:00

First I want to say how pleased and surprised I am at the number folks that have viewed my web log here since I posted the "dailies" while at Roger Siminoff's Lutherie Camp in October 2009. I set up a simple counter after I got back home and to date (since the counter was initiated) the site has been visited over 635 times and by people in 14 different countries! Clearly Roger is getting some well deserved interest in the camp and has fans across the globe. One slight disappointment for me is that not one of the visitors has chosen to leave me a comment ... it's easy to do just click on the word "comments" at the bottom of any day's posting and let me know what you think, why you visited or just say "Hi"!!

So if you linked here specifically looking for the photo essay I did on the Siminoff camp just scroll further down to the October entries ... it's all there and it was a blast!!

Now, since I got back home my work on the F4 has been sporadic ... the first thing I did was fret the board that we had bound at camp.

Here is a picture of the frets I cut oversized (length) and laid out so that I could trim the tangs to fit over the binding.

From Lutherie

To trim the tangs I used a modification of a technique Roger showed us ... I took a scrap block of wood and cut a groove in it that fit the tang of the fretwire moderately tight and then attached a cutoff wheel on my Dremmel tool and slipped the fretwire just over the edge of the block and in about two seconds per end was able to cleanly trim the tang flat ... it didn't take but one fret to realize those suckers get HOT during this little operation and a glove was called for!!

From Lutherie

I made a point of using a granite backboard when I seated the frets because I wanted a clean strike and seat ... worked like a champ!

From Lutherie

Once a fret was "set" I "seated" them with a flat iron strike ...

From Lutherie

This is what the frets look like hanging over the edge of the binding before I trim and profile them ...

From Lutherie

The finished fretboard will show up in later posts ... the next step will involve the TrueChannel binding jig I received for Christmas and then getting the Rosette channel cut and the Rosette laid in ...

Siminoff Lutherie Camp Day 5... all good things ... graduation day ....

2009-10-09T23:22:00.003-05:00

Day 5 is a happy and sad day ... the "campers" are all thrilled with our mandolins (and it's important to note ... they aren't "finished" ... there is much work left to do as far as fretting, binding, final sanding, finish ... but for all intents they are mandolins "in the white" )and at the same time we are sorry to leave our new friends and the incredible learning environment we have been privileged to enjoy.

I think it is important to insert a disclaimer here ...

Roger, nor any of his team asked me to chronicle this week's lutherie camp. Until I signed up to attend, I had never spoken to Roger and we had only exchanged a couple of short emails. Once I was notified that I was selected as one of the attendees I called and asked Roger if I could take pictures during the sessions and perhaps post a few impressions to a web log ... he invited me to do so at will. My enthusiasm for this experience is heartfelt. If you have even an inkling of interest in trying it yourself I urge you to give in to the moment and give Roger a jingle ... you won't be sorry!

Like all of the other camp days today was jam packed ... but on a shortened schedule ... we were due to wrap up by 3:30PM to give people a head start on going home.

We started with demonstrations by Roger on various fretting techniques ...

From Mandocamp2009

Next Roger demonstrated his preferred method of binding ... first the fretboard since we would be doing that here at camp and then the body and headstock ...

From Mandocamp2009

... and then we all went to work binding our fretboards ...

From Mandocamp2009

Cutting the binding notch ... always a fun filled task ... sadly not a lot of short cuts around the scrolls ...

From Mandocamp2009

Roger showed us how he preferred to use a long cloth binding tape to secure the binding while being glued ...

From Mandocamp2009

Finally we had a really dramatic demonstration of staining and how to bring out the figure of the wood ... Roger used a "rough sanded body blank" and used rubbed aniline dyes and lacquer to transform a rather boring piece of wood into what could obviously become a beautiful carved back ...

From Mandocamp2009

And then all too soon it was time for "graduation" and goodbyes ...

From Mandocamp2009

Each of us got a picture with Lloyd Loar's Loar ... mine ...

From Mandocamp2009

I told Roger I would save the honor of the posting of the "class photo" for him on his website ... so that I won't reveal here ... but I CAN share shots of our incredible hosts and instructors ...

Ken, Kali, Rosemary and Roger ...

From Mandocamp2009

and the campers ...

Mike

From Mandocamp2009

Haustin

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Chris (and his hide glue)

From Mandocamp2009

Annette

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Carl

From Mandocamp2009

and me ...

From Mandocamp2009

I do hope my camp mates will post their thoughts and impressions and I invite any readers to please do the same ... at some point I'll be posting progress on my F4 as I work it towards completion but I don't expect to do much until after Christmas ... I made it clear I believe that I believe this was a worthwhile endeavor and an incredible opportunity ... I hope some of you readers are moved to give it a try.

Bade

Siminoff Lutherie Camp Day 4 ... strings, fretboards, bridges, tap tuning and closing the body ... IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-08T23:19:00.001-05:00

Day 4 ... it is becoming a routine now ... everybody is at the shop early, we stand around munching on breakfast (love those boiled eggs!!! Thank you Rosemary!!) and discussing the previous days dose of "firehose lutherie". Checking out each others mandolin in progress and doing touch up sanding, chiseling, and generally panting for the next session to begin. Today was no different but with the added excitement that today is the day we tap tune and close our mandolin bodies basically birthing our mandolins. Confidence was high!

The day started with a lecture on strings and bridge compensation. One very interesting thing for me was to learn that regardless of the number of "brands" of strings there are on the market ... there are basically nine manufacturers ... who knew?

From Mandocamp2009

After the lecture we went to the "lab" to get demonstrations of fretboard and bridge construction. Ken did a great job of showing us every step from ...

selection of wood for the board...

From Mandocamp2009

... to careful layout with a template ...

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... to cutting the rough shape ...

From Mandocamp2009

... to shaping the board using a router ...

From Mandocamp2009

Next Ken demonstrated the gang saw that is used to cut the frets to an exact depth and perfect spacing ...

From Mandocamp2009

This is the fixture used to radius fretboards ... an amazing creation! ...

From Mandocamp2009

Ken also showed us how to create a compensated bridge ...

From Mandocamp2009

Here are several photos of the scroll work being done by the campers ...

From Mandocamp2009

And then we are finally at the meat of the whole matter ... its time to tap tune these puppies!!!! .. the tone bars were glued into the F5's previously and Roger demonstrated the different tones the open back mandolin soundboards produce prior to tuning ...

From Mandocamp2009

... we discussed at length WHY we tap tune and why it works ... and then it was time for each of us individually to proceed to the lab with Roger to get our mandolin tap tuned by the master ... excitement was at a fever pitch as we each awaited our turn (it took about 30 minutes per mandolin to get the tuning done) ...

From Mandocamp2009

Once we all got the tuning done ... it was getting near time to glue the backs on and close the body ... each of the campers had a "constructed by ..." label and a "Tuned by Roger Siminoff" label glued on the back before closing ...

Here is a picture of one of the campers "inside" showing a "Virzi" tone producer installed ...

From Mandocamp2009

Labels going on before closing ...

From Mandocamp2009

... and then we closed them up ... when we take the clamps off ... we will have "tuned" mandolins ...

From Mandocamp2009

... I'll show pictures tomorrow of the "finished" (as far as camp goes) mandolins ... I had already filled my SD card before we took the clamps off but I can tell you now there are six very very happy people here at the Siminoff Lutherie Camp today!! Once we held our mandolins and started tapping on the soundboards our smiles got wider and wider and wider ... these six mandolins (5 F5's and my F4) are going to be cannons!! ... and as advertised ... each of the F5's taps out to the same note and tone ... it is an amazing phenomenon ... until you have personally experienced the obvious transformation of the tone & timbre of the soundboards as the tone bars are carved and mass is removed and seen with your own eyes the quantification of the change on a strobe tuner and then finally observed empirically the resulting consistency of tone after the whole system is closed you can't fully appreciate the legitimacy of "tap tuning" ... I've heard it and seen it and I absolutely believe it ... (there are 5 others in the class will attest to the same thing) ...

Tomorrow is graduation day ... we will be binding our fretboards and getting reviews on fretting, staining, finish and other details ...

I've asked my camp mates to please add their comments to this web log when they have time and am looking forward to their differnt perspectives as well as any readers ... I hope you are enjoying the ride!!

Siminoff Lutherie Camp Day 3 ... Gettin' Jiggy and Neckin' ...

2009-10-08T00:04:00.003-05:00

WOW!!! Today was long and intense! Same as before start at 8AM end around 7:30PM ... we are definitely getting our money's worth!

Today started with a lecture on neck joints ... specifically including examples of dovetail, bolt on and the "Siminoff V" ... Roger showed us the advantages and disadvantages of the several joints and then we proceeded to the "lab" (Roger's shop is actually a gigantic laboratory in my mind at least ... dedicated to the science of mandolin and banjo design and acoustics)where Roger and Ken demonstrated the actual cutting and fitting of dovetail and "V" joints. There are several pictures here and several more over in the gallery (a link to the gallery is on the left side of this blog) of the various stages of construction of the joints using any number of specialized "jigs" and fixtures Roher has designed over the years. Basically if it requires "shaping" Roger "... has a jig or template for that ..."

From Mandocamp2009

The jig to cut dovetail into the headblock

From Mandocamp2009

Laying out the dovetail on the neck ...

From Mandocamp2009

The neck holding jig to ensure proper angle (6 degrees for an F5) ...

From Mandocamp2009

Dovetail cut and fit ...

From Mandocamp2009

The jig to cut the "V" joint in the neck ...

From Mandocamp2009

The neck "V" now cut ...

From Mandocamp2009

Setting the mando body in the jig to cut the "V" in the headblock ...

From Mandocamp2009

Some glued up necks ... all "V" joints ... all a perfect fit!

From Mandocamp2009

Laying out a neck on stock ... checking for proper grain alignment ...

From Mandocamp2009

The way to get the headstock properly tapered ...

From Mandocamp2009

Pinning the neck joint ...

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Ken demonstrates construction of a truss rod ...

From Mandocamp2009

Headstock templates ... and cutting it out on the bandsaw ... Roger made it look easy ...

From Mandocamp2009

All of those pictures and many more cover a very full day of intensive lecture, demonstration and hands on bench work.

What isn't covered in the pictures is the wonderful lunch we enjoyed "al fresco" and the lively discussion of how Roger was called into Gibson to review the damage done to Bill Monroe's Loar and the incredible job of restoration Charlie Derrington
did restoring that important old mandolin. Roger shared many pictures he took of the damaged instrument ... if you are interested in Charlie Derrington I refer you to this wonderful Mandozine article here.

These photos courtesy of Roger Siminoff 2009

From Mandocamp2009

At the end of the work day things got very very intense as all of the campers began to shape the scroll volute and recurve on our backplates ... this is no time to slip with a chisel and everyone was very focused! ... I'll have some pictures of those incredible scrolls in a later post.

Finally after yet another world class meal (did I mention we are all bound to be gaining weight?) ... Roger did a wonderful presentation on the "art of tap tuning" and why it works ... this notion is actually somewhat controversial in the craft of lutherie but after seeing the presentation and being fully prepped for the actual tuning of our mandolins tomorrow ... none of the attendees have any doubt whatsoever that tap tuning is a real and critical process in the construction of an F5 style mandolin ... we six at least are "true believers"... can I get an "AMEN"!!

Siminoff Lutherie Camp Day 2 ...

2009-10-06T23:29:00.004-05:00

Another long day of immersion in "mandolinmania"! After a casual breakfast and the normal "... wasn't yesterday great!! ... were you as dog tired as I was when you went to bed last night? ... can you believe how incredible this whole thing is? ..." conversations we got back to the classroom.

Today's lectures covered various glues, adhesives and why we would choose one over another in the construction of acoustic instruments. These included hot hide glue, Titebond Original, Titebond II, Titebond III, "Gorilla Glue" (polyurethane) glues and Fish Glue. Roger had samples of each type for us to dab onto a test board and periodically check their drying properties throughout the day and week. After this presentation I will no longer be using Titebond II but will use either Titebond Original or Fish Glue (sort of a hide glue you don't have to heat).

After some sanding of the now dry gauze reinforcements we each had our F-holes (or in my case Oval soundhole) and scroll cutouts done on the pin router setup ... for a production shop this is clearly the way to get this task done ... for the 'occasional builder' it may or may not be worth the setup ...

From Mandocamp2009

After installing the kerf lining for the top plate and sanding the top rim edge totally flat it was time to "GO" as in "Go-bar deck" ... this is a very efficient way to glue the top plate to the rim and is fairly traditional in the construction of acoustic stringed instruments ... a couple of pics of the glue ups in the Go-bar decks ...

From Mandocamp2009

While our topside glue ups were drying Roger and Ken did several demonstrations on ways to layout, cutout, and carve top and bottom plates. Roger showed several methods one can use to do this fairly tedious task including simple chisels and planes, a sanding disk on a drill press, routers to hog out the bulk of the waste and so on ... obviously having a CNC machine or a pattern carver is the only way a large production shop can do this efficiently but a small builder or hobbyist may very naturally go the more traditional and laborious route ...

From Mandocamp2009

Our next hands on task was to cleanup the glue runout after our top plates came out of the Go-bar decks and start to finish sand the "scroll" on the top plate ... there was significant discussion about exactly how the scroll should flow and then Ken suggested we might want to examine "the Loar" to settle the matter ... Roger and Ken brought out both the F5L prototype and "the Loar F5" and we all spent some time touching, eyeballing, picture taking of these two masterpieces and then went back to the bench to try our hand at reproducing "the scroll" as it is suppose to be ...

From Mandocamp2009

Next it was time to shape and glue in the tone bars (in the F5's ... the cross brace in my F4) ... it takes a little time to get the bars sanded to an exact fit against the carved dome of the soundboard but a little patience and elbow grease gets the job done ...

From Mandocamp2009

After yet another wonderful meal it was time for Roger and a few of his friends (and any of the attending campers that chose to join in) to treat us to some fine bluegrass music ... it was great and Roger was playing Loar's Loar... what a treat ...

From Mandocamp2009

Again ... a LONG day ... but we are all looking forward to another one tomorrow!!

Siminoff Mandolin Lutherie camp ... day 1

2009-10-05T23:19:00.002-05:00

Today was a jammed pack day of lectures, demonstrations and hands on building!

Exactly as advertised, Roger gave us an informative and entertaining lecture on the "science" of acoustics, how the ear "hears" a stringed instrument, how a steel string guitar (which has a bridge glued to the top soundboard) differs acoustically from a mandolin or a violin where the bridge is movable (not glued) and how the "box" that is the body of the mandolin must be constructed and tuned to sound "the best".

We also got a detailed overview of wood species used in lutherie, why some woods are better than others, how the grain direction as a result of the sawing of the lumber (flat sawn, quartered vs quarter sawn, slab sawn..) all relate to the way sound is amplified and conducted and why we make the choices we do because of this as we select various pieces of wood for construction.

Roger demonstrated several methods of bending the side rims including the traditional bending iron method shown here ...

From Mandocamp2009

And the "steam" method they prefer here ...

From Mandocamp2009

Afterwards we returned to our work spaces to assemble our pre-bent ribs into the mold and get the headblock, heelblock, and point blocks all glued in to make the "skeleton" of our mandolins ...

From Mandocamp2009

Roger's daughter Kali demonstrated the installation of the supporting gauze that will re-enforce the F holes...

From Mandocamp2009

The day ended with an incredible slide (Powerpointish) presentation by Roger on the "Lore of Loar" ... very informative and an excellent insight into the life of Loar and the impact he had on acoustic musical instruments we are familiar with today.

Today was basically 8AM until about 7:30PM and we will start again tomorrow at 8AM.

If people wondered if we are getting our money's worth ... the answer is a resounding YES ... this isn't "just a seminar on how to build a mandolin from a kit ..." it is a full bore immersion into the craft, the science, the history and the execution of the workbench tasks ... Roger is an excellent instructor and has clearly forgotten more about his passion than most if any will ever know.

For my "woodworking" friends I have included several "shop pictures" in the Picasa Album pointed to HERE ... there are also several other pictures of our days progress and this is where I will continue to post pictures through the week

Camping with Roger ... or ... "I got to HOLD a LOAR!!!!!!!!!"

2009-10-04T23:42:00.002-05:00

Ok, this is the first of what I expect to be 4 or 5 web log entries specifically about my experiences at the Roger Siminoff Lutherie Camp (Mandolin F construction) in October of 2009. This "camp" is being hosted and taught by Roger Siminoff ... one of the de-facto world experts on F-style mandolin construction. Roger literally "wrote THE BOOK on construction of this style of mandolin". Roger was a working consultant at the Gibson Instrument factory and was the driving force in the 1970's that got Gibson to renew their commitment to the mandolin and re-start building world class mandolins like they built in the 1920's and 1930's.

I could blather for many more paragraphs on Roger's contributions to lutherie and the current state of mandolin construction in the world but rather, suffice it to say he is "the man" when it comes to the history and construction of the F5 style mandolin. Lloyd Loar was the acoustic engineer working for Gibson in the 1920's and essentially defined the F5 mandolin characteristics we are familiar with today ... the sound or "voice" of these astounding instruments were a direct result of Loar's background in acoustical engineering and his "tuning" of these instruments during the build process. It is a glimmer of that "tuning" process that I hope to gain as a part of this week long class.

Today, a "signed Lloyd Loar" from the 1920's ... IF you can find one on the market (and it won't be there long!!) ... will cost you OVER $200,000.00!!! ... Yep ... upwards of a quarter of a million dollars ,,, here's a link to one on the net ... 1923 Loar recently sold ...
Kinda like a Stradivarius violin.

Tonight the 6 students in the class were invited to Roger's home/shop (where we will be working for the next 5 days) for a dinner and to meet everyone involved.

Roger's home is beautiful and his attached shop is exactly like you would expect ... many many machines, lots and lots and lots of wood in various stages of becoming mandolin and banjo parts and many many jigs, fixtures and tools all designed and constructed by Roger. Roger's wife Rosemary and his daughter Kali are integral parts of the whole operation and were on hand to meet the campers, answer questions and serve a wonderful meal. Roger's other shop hand Ken was also on hand ... these 4 people are Roger's complete operation ... they do all the work of manufacture, design, marketing, shipping and whatever else needs to be done. It is very much a "cottage industry" run on a VERY efficient scale. You can see all about his operation at Siminoff's website.

After everyone had arrived and had a few minutes to meet and greet we were invited to sit down to a meal and had a wonderful discussion with Roger and his team about what we could expect for the week, how the Gibson F5L model came into being in the 1970's and other general topics.

At one point Roger brought out one of the 3 prototypes that Gibson (and Roger) produced to get the mandolin line going again in the 1970's ... and NOW ... I KNOW what a mandolin is supposed to sound like ... it didn't sound like the mandolin I built in 2006 ... but then that's why I'm at the camp!

And then ... Roger brought out the holy grail of mandolins ... not JUST a 1920's Lloyd Loar ... oh no ... it was Lloyd Loar's PERSONAL F5!!!!! Loar's wife, who Roger knew well, has entrusted Roger to "look after" this basically priceless piece of musical instrument history ... and he graciously passed it around the table for each of us to hold, examine, gently play .... basically gush over ... and I did my part you may rest assured ...

So ... TOMORROW morning we begin the class ... tonight set great expectations in our minds and for all of us provided a moment of incredible mandolin bliss as we carefully cradled "the Loar".

More after a class or two!!

A little historical housekeeping ...

2009-09-14T18:30:00.002-05:00

I actually started building stringed instruments sometime around 1984/1985.

One of my IBM co-workers had just bought his 8 year old daughter a "Chiquita" guitar made by Mark Erlewine in Austin. ( The Chiquita guitar ) ... some might remember the little guitar that Michael Fox was playing in the first scene of "Back To The Future" ... that was a Chiquita. Anyway, my friend brought this little guitar over to the house and after looking at it I opined that I "could build one of those ..." ... understand I had never done ANY woodwork of ANY kind at that point in my life ... I had a new "shop" and basically no tools ... so ... several hundreds of dollars in various tools later I had managed to built this

From Lutherie

Since then I have, over the years ... 25 years or so ... built several more guitars, a banjo, a couple of mandolins ... and a failed effort at a hammered dulcimer (ask me to relate the tale sometime when I have had several drinks!!)

I've also managed to destroy a huge Mexican Bass Guitar (Guitaron') --- I'll need several more drinks to relate THIS story ... and ... learned several things about wood, tools, glue, dyes, paints, varnish and a number of new expletives ...

Below I have included a few pictures of instruments I have built over these past 25 years and a link to a photo album that has many more photo's with some captions on the photos trying to explain what you are seeing ...

The whole album can be see by scrolling thru the pictures at Bade's Lutherie Photo Album

A few pictures ...

My 1st Acoustic build ...

From Lutherie

My best solid body effort to date

From Lutherie

A "better" Acoustic effort around 1989 ...

From Lutherie

An "unfinished" (long story) beauty ...

From Lutherie

My 1st Mandolin

From Lutherie

My current "player" and most recently completed ... 2006

From Lutherie

Well ... that more or less brings us up to date ... there were some small "Chiquita" sized guitars I built in the 1988 timeframe that I sold to various people and didn't keep a copy for myself ... I think I still have the wood parts around for one so I might do that at some point just for completeness ...

Next up will be the F4 mandolin build starting in California next month.

From now on out I HOPE to do more "build detail" logging in this web log but felt like I needed to drive a stake in the ground of progress to date ...

Later ....

Welcome to my "Lutherie" web log ....

2009-09-13T11:27:00.003-05:00

I am creating this separate web log to keep things a little more organized than just dumping everything into my "personal catch-all" blog.

My intent is to limit entries on this log to all things "lutherie" ... that is ... all things related in some way to my hobby of building stringed instruments. I suspect that occasionally something more "music related" and less "building" related will sneak into this log but for the most part I will try to keep things "build" related ...

In October of this year (2009) Carolyn and I will embark on a "road trip" to San Luis Obispo California. The stated purpose of the trip is that I will be attending a Mandolin Building Lutherie Camp under the direct tutelage of Roger Siminoff. Roger is a well known and respected luthier and has written several books on the subject of building stringed instruments including the de-facto written guide on building a "Bluegrass style" Mandolin (Books by Roger Siminoff). The camp will be an intense 5 day lecture and hands on building experience at Roger's shop in California. There are six registered students and over the course of 5 very intense and action packed days we will each begin construction on an F style mandolin with the objective of leaving with a mandolin ready to finish, install hardware and string up for play.

I will be building an F4 style mandolin (F4 photo) and I believe the rest of the class will be concentrating an F5 style mandolin (F5 photo). I have already done one F5 from a Steward MacDonald kit and asked Roger if I could branch out a bit at the camp with an F4. Roger graciously agreed and so that will be my task.

I intend to detail "class" notes and experiences in THIS web log and our "travel and trip" experiences over in the general log.

We depart for "the wild West" on Friday October 2, 2009 ... stay tuned.

You should be able to "subscribe" to this web log by clicking the link at the top left corner where it says "Subscribe ..."...