My new shop

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My new shop

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Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

My new shop

Hello all,
At the beginning of this month I moved into a new shop, and no longer share a space with another guitar maker.
I'm doing everything with a very simple setup now and loving it. No more wide belt sander, fancy binding jigs, milling machine, Chladni pattern setups or even table saw or side bending machine. Just a lot of good sharp metal tools and a lot less dust.
It hasn't really slowed me down at all... the work is going really well, although setting up the space and getting all the little things I need has eaten up a fair amount of time.
It feels amazing to be working exactly the way I want to work and I think the new guitars I make in here will be better in every way.
Anyway I got a little Instagram-happy and thought I would share a few shots. The guitar you see being made is a cedar top blanca which was started in the new place. The negra hanging up is gone now and was just finished here.

Wood storage is on the other side of the room and I don't seem to have a picture of it. Total area is 180 sq.ft.

Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px

Attachment (4)

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 28 2012 19:59:55

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

...

Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px

Attachment (2)

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 28 2012 20:01:13

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Here is the infamous time-lapse video where I really wanted to use Diego's buleria but you will just have to enjoy it with some up-tempo gypsy jazz.

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 28 2012 20:04:58

Elie

Posts: 1837
Joined: Apr. 10 2010

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

congratulation man

!!

I am so happy for you, nice music on that video

_____________________________

http://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarristaAD

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 28 2012 21:22:57

etta

Posts: 342
Joined: Jan. 20 2010

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Neat looking shop Andy; hope to see some Padauk shavings around there some day.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 28 2012 22:04:49

RTC

Posts: 667
Joined: Aug. 20 2008
From: DFW Area, Texas

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Congrats, enjoy your shop!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 28 2012 22:50:56

beno

Posts: 881
Joined: Nov. 3 2006
From: Hungary

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Andy, I just love those kind of time lapse videos, and Your is great!
It would only be better if it would take You till the complete guitar!
looking forward for some more!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 29 2012 19:50:46

Doitsujin

Posts: 5078
Joined: Apr. 10 2005

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

So that´s where u let the magic happen. Cool thing! Man Im looking for a new apartment right now..its so hard.. I wonder how you found this nice place for your workshop.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 29 2012 21:11:53

rombsix

Posts: 7813
Joined: Jan. 11 2006
From: Beirut, Lebanon

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Congrats man. About the video - you should try to make one where it shows you going through a build from A to Z. That would be super cool.

_____________________________

Ramzi

http://www.youtube.com/rombsix

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 30 2012 0:19:46

ralexander

Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Congrats, Andy! That's really exciting. Where's the stereo?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 30 2012 10:59:15

Kevin James Shanahan

Posts: 407
Joined: Oct. 10 2010
From: Wooli, NSW Australia

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Love your work and you will be happy for a lifetime . All the best Andy

_____________________________

Peace.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 30 2012 11:11:24

krichards

Posts: 597
Joined: Jan. 14 2007
From: York, England

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

I'm so jealous!
I moved house recently and was hoping to have a new workshop soon. But I fell from a loft ladder and broke my back in a couple of places last week. So now I'm laid up and won't get a new shop another couple of months.

So enjoy your new home, and don't do anything silly, like me.

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Kevin Richards

http://www.facebook.com/#!/kevin.richards.1048554

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 30 2012 13:37:53

TANúñez

Posts: 2559
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
From: TEXAS

RE: My new shop (in reply to krichards)

quote:

I'm so jealous!
I moved house recently and was hoping to have a new workshop soon. But I fell from a loft ladder and broke my back in a couple of places last week. So now I'm laid up and won't get a new shop another couple of months.

So enjoy your new home, and don't do anything silly, like me.

Your health is more important than a new shop. Take care of yourself first! Wishing you a speedy recovery.

_____________________________

Tom Núñez
www.instagram.com/tanunezguitars

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 30 2012 14:37:17

El Polaco

Posts: 155
Joined: Sep. 29 2005
From: Singer Island - Florida

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Contrats Andy!

Looks like you got the same bench as I got. I moved the vise to the front left tho. Seemed more useful there for me.
I was going to ask you about the heel construction detail for a.cutaway guitar. I need you replace my regular gig guitar with one I will make myself.
Is the side where the cutaway is just glued flat against the side of the heel block?

Jorge.

_____________________________

Jorge

Guitarras Artesanas Españolas
www.jorgedezofia.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 30 2012 18:55:20

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Hey everyone,
My girlfriend and I are also moving into a new apartment right now (yeah a lot of moving... it's definitely getting old). We are without internet for a few days before we move into our new place so I will answer everyone when I have some more time.
Thanks for all the comments.

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 30 2012 23:14:05

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1677
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Congratulations, Andy. I like your style of working.

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Ethan Deutsch
www.edluthier.com
www.facebook.com/ethandeutschguitars
www.youtube.com/marioamayaflamenco
I always have flamenco guitars available for sale.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 2 2012 2:03:46

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to Doitsujin)

quote:

Man Im looking for a new apartment right now..its so hard.. I wonder how you found this nice place for your workshop.

Are you still in the States Doit?
My girlfriend and I actually just moved to a new apartment too... a little more expensive but a lot nicer than where we were before. The workshop was a good find and the rent is very reasonable too. The building's kind of a cool old run-down office building but it has a lot of plumbing issues, etc. It's fine for a workshop though.

quote:

Congrats man. About the video - you should try to make one where it shows you going through a build from A to Z. That would be super cool.

quote:

Andy, I just love those kind of time lapse videos, and Your is great!
It would only be better if it would take You till the complete guitar!
looking forward for some more!

Thanks guys, I would love to do that, maybe some day when I'm feeling really organized and motivated (not right now

)

quote:

Where's the stereo?

Well the "stereo" is an old beat up radio that I got for free from someone I used to work for... my goal is to get an iHome thing for my iPod so iCan bump my tunes that way but I'm not sure if all the dust will be a problem.

quote:

I moved house recently and was hoping to have a new workshop soon. But I fell from a loft ladder and broke my back in a couple of places last week. So now I'm laid up and won't get a new shop another couple of months.

Sorry to hear that krichards! That sounds pretty bad. Your guitars always look great and I'd love to see more of your work once you get back to it...

quote:

Contrats Andy!

Looks like you got the same bench as I got. I moved the vise to the front left tho. Seemed more useful there for me.
I was going to ask you about the heel construction detail for a.cutaway guitar. I need you replace my regular gig guitar with one I will make myself.
Is the side where the cutaway is just glued flat against the side of the heel block?

Jorge.

Thanks Jorge... that bench is not bad at all. Some day I will build my own dream bench but this one can't really be beat for the money.
It took a lot of flattening and that Chinese mystery-wood was tough and chippy to plane but mine is in good working order now.

There are a lot of ways to do a cutaway but here's the method I've used for the 2 that I've done...
http://andyculpepperguitars.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/making-the-cutaway/

Thanks everyone for the comments!

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 5 2012 23:47:39

El Polaco

Posts: 155
Joined: Sep. 29 2005
From: Singer Island - Florida

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Thanks Andy! Your cutaway page really helps me get it together in my head. Very clever indeed I must say. I have seen some cutaway guitars where the side attaches higher up so the heel is really long and ugly looking. It is much more attractive and deviates much less than the traditional heel/side construction the way you have done it. - Thanks.

I have started my third guitar. The negra (#2) was presold and came out really nice. Still have to glue bridge on and string up. It took about 15 days construction time for the second.

I was going to do the cutaway on the third. Still haven't commited to it yet tho. I have a fishman premium blend system ready if this is the one I will cutaway. Getting some Padauk on Tuesday so I may save that for the plug in guitar.

My bench had a hump from front to back of the top. I returned the first one and the second has much less but still is not completely flat. I didn't think of planing it... Good idea!

Thanks again and keep up the good work man!

Jorge.

_____________________________

Jorge

Guitarras Artesanas Españolas
www.jorgedezofia.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 6 2012 1:37:00

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to El Polaco)

Thanks man, glad you found that useful. The main thing I wanted to avoid was the Antonio Aparicio style cutaway design-- good lord!

The one where the end of the side is actually curved and buts up directly to the heel wood, following its contour, is probably the most elegant design and some day I would like to get my mind around that and start using it.

15 days is pretty fast, that's about where I am on a good month where I'm not moving etc.

I would like to hear that negra when it's strung up...
It's so interesting in the first few guitars noticing the differences in sound as you hone your skills and try different things... if you don't have a full list of orders already I would recommend making 3 or 4 blancas in a row just to get deeper into refining your voice on one type of guitar. But I know how tempting it is to try different things and you can learn from that too.

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 6 2012 12:43:57

britguy

Posts: 712
Joined: Dec. 26 2010
From: Ontario, Canada

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

quote:

It hasn't really slowed me down at all... the work is going really well, although setting up the space and getting all the little things I need has eaten up a fair amount of time.

Hello Andy:
Congratulations on your new shop, apartment, etc.

If you have time, can you check out my recent ongoing thread on my old Japanese blanca that needs an action fix? (See notes from JShelton, estabanana, et al).

When you are settled in and maybe have a bit more time, perhaps you'd like to take a look at it?

I live about an hour's drive from Niagara Falls, and could meet up with you there if you like? You could take your girlfriend for a trip to The Falls, and we could meet for lunch. My treat!

No hurry here. . .

_____________________________

Fruit farmer, Ontario, Canada

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 14 2012 13:52:03

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Thanks britguy,
It looks like the other guys have provided you with the common fixes: planing down the fingerboard at the nut end, compression fretting, replacing the fingerboard, and of course the neck reset.
I would be happy to have a look at it and give my opinion on what should be done but bear in mind I'm not a hardcore "repair guy", and I'm not sure I even have the time to take on serious repair jobs.
It's possible I will be in Buffalo again soon, I just made a guitar for Mir Ali who lives there and I drive up sometimes, and my girlfriend actually does sound interested in the Falls, so I will definitely let you know if I'll be in the area at all.

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 17 2012 21:40:21

britguy

Posts: 712
Joined: Dec. 26 2010
From: Ontario, Canada

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

quote:

so I will definitely let you know if I'll be in the area at all.

O.K. Sounds good.

I'll P.M. you with my home 'phone # and email.

_____________________________

Fruit farmer, Ontario, Canada

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 20 2012 13:21:45

Tomrocker

Posts: 404
Joined: Apr. 18 2010
From: Italy

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Congrats Andy. It's like getting into your 1st house after moving from the parent's

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This is hard stuff!
Don't give up...
And don't make it a race.
Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 20 2012 17:40:07

yourwhathurts69

Posts: 117
Joined: Sep. 16 2009

RE: My new shop (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

quote:

... that bench is not bad at all. Some day I will build my own dream bench but this one can't really be beat for the money.

Just curious, what kind of bench is that??

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 22 2012 2:11:38

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: My new shop (in reply to Tomrocker)

quote:

Congrats Andy. It's like getting into your 1st house after moving from the parent's

Haha, exactly. Now I can have crazy parties where I glue pieces of wood together ...by myself.

The bench is from Harbor Freight.

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 22 2012 21:36:03