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RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to slowpoke)
Now that is a lovely story Jeff. Say hello to the creators from me.
2 things: *The French Polish looks excellent (you want a job ) and your way of doing it is totally the way it should be. French Polishing is very organic and personal and doing stuff exacly as its said in some tutorial doesnt have to be right.
*I can imagine that you have never tried a totally new guitar before? It can be a strange process the first couple of days so dont judge it to much. I never let anyone try my guitars before they are at least 1 week old. Especially the trebles takes time and it it is a process that continues over the time to come.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Thanks for the comments!
Anders, you are right. It's like the wood is in pain, and sounds TERRIBLE when you first string it up, it was a VERY disappointing feeling the first time I played it, but I didn't say anything to Dad (he might read it now). However I was still going to keep the guitar! After I got the Golpeador installed, and started beating on it a bit, then that's when it completely changed in character. After that I was thinking, OH!!! Now I like it!!! A LOT!!!
I really like the guitar for a lot of different reasons. Aside from that my Dad built it. I also like that for example I saw a little defect that I didn't like, and I just took it out to the shop, grabbed some sandpaper and the shellac and "fixed" it. Which is nice since with French Polish it's really simple to make fixes.
Yeah, the French Polishing part is just something you have to do until you get a feeling for it. Every time the pad hits the surface is different, so it's all about "feel". Maybe too sticky, maybe too wet, maybe too much oil, not enough alcohol. You just practice until you sort of know what's right.
Now that I have done the french polishing, I would truly agree with your point, that you sort of have to develop your own way. I had to fix a lot of mistakes with sandpaper while learning though ... :)
I have a piano which I bought a while ago, which is old and has a shellac finish, so that might end up being the next french polishing project.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Jeff, that's a great looking finish and a wonderful story behind the guitar. I love the part about drilling the tuner holes to a .001" tolerance with the mill as it reminds me of working with my lutherie teacher. He has a penchant for using his 1930s Italian-made milling machine for all kinds of things. It is a beautiful machine to use, although moving it 30-40 feet across the shop (one my first jobs for him) was somewhat challenging
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Thanks Andy! Yeah it's pretty hilarious about the holes. At first Dad started to argue with me, that they were precisely where they were supposed to go! And of course I didn't want to argue with him ... But wrong, is wrong. After a while he kind of muttered, and turned a bit red, as he realized the mistake. The fix was pretty simple, but for a while I thought I was going to have a reverse tuning guitar. :)
Paul's shop has a great big industrial size Bridgeport, you would need a forklift, or a tractor to move that thing ...
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to n85ae)
quote:
Paul's shop has a great big industrial size Bridgeport, you would need a forklift, or a tractor to move that thing ...
Yep the one we moved was similar size... had to use car jacks to get it up on some metal pipes which we used as rollers, moving it about a foot at a time...
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Here is a just-completed blanca with sinker Cedar top. The guitar sounds really great IMO (will upload video soon) but I can't say the sinker Cedar had any distinct advantage over a regular Cedar top.
I did something a little different with my headstock this time as an homage to Gerundino. This guitar is by no means a Gerundino copy but I was trying to capture some of the look and sound of his guitars.
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From: Seattle, Washington, USA
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Andy Culpepper)
Here's a guitar I completed recently. I used mother of pearl (slices of shell) for the tie block overlay--otherwise it is pretty much what I've been doing. (It doesn't really look blotchy in person; something about the lighting for photography.)
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RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Thanks Ethan! That's another very elegant guitar... I have to say photography is probably the aspect of guitar making I've struggled with the most Just out of curiosity what kind of lighting do you use for your photos?
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Hi Ethan,
Another beautiful guitar. Very elegant appearing outline of body and neck. Also like the proportion of the rosette a lot.
Regarding the MOP overlay, I would had envisioned it a bit smaller / framed by the RW (though RW could be defying the protective function of the overlay ... right?) and maybe even interrupted inside by an Ikon (like say a ~ shape or such stuff). Just saying.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Andy Culpepper)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Andy Culpepper
Here is a just-completed blanca with sinker Cedar top. The guitar sounds really great IMO (will upload video soon) but I can't say the sinker Cedar had any distinct advantage over a regular Cedar top.
I did something a little different with my headstock this time as an homage to Gerundino. This guitar is by no means a Gerundino copy but I was trying to capture some of the look and sound of his guitars.
Beautiful guitar Andy. IMO, there's nothing more beautiful than a peghead Cedar top blanca.
Nothing wrong with Gerundino influences, his guitars IMO are some of the greatest ever made!
Is the Sinker Cedar from Roy Tonewoods? I really like the look of stripy soundboards.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to tijeretamiel)
quote:
Beautiful guitar Andy. IMO, there's nothing more beautiful than a peghead Cedar top blanca.
Nothing wrong with Gerundino influences, his guitars IMO are some of the greatest ever made!
Is the Sinker Cedar from Roy Tonewoods? I really like the look of stripy soundboards.
Thanks tij! I agree about cedar top blancas. I added some color to the back and sides too and it gives the guitar a very desirable antiguo kind of look IMO. I think the cedar was from Aaron Hix if I remember correctly.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Great work as always Andy and Ethan.
I miss the smell of working with Cypress. I haven't built a flamenco guitar in quite some time. I have some really lovely old real Spanish Cypress from the 70's on the wood pile but no orders for Flamenco guitars at the moment.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Thanks for the comment SEden.
I thought I would post this video even though it's a classical guitar. It's the first 7 string I've made and the low string is actually extended by 2 frets past the nut (although it's capoed at the nut position in this video). Making this guitar has made me really want to make a 7 string flamenco because that low string has this really cool droning/arabic sound to me. Very fun to play around with.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Andy Culpepper)
Thanks Andy yes these pieces are small individual pieces glued together chiseled and sanded. the fingerboard was glued first with the same woods of the binding.
RE: "Luthiers share your creati... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
I like the edge rounding with the corpus, but with the bridges tie block it seems overdone. (With a clear edge strings can be installed with just one wrap.) As the blocks edge is rounded too much, now wrapping strings end as much as in the photo seems needed to keep them from slipping.
Think I also like the waiste form and upper bout of the plantilla, though one would need to handle it to see how it fits individually.
Definitly looking good for a first guitar. (Unfortunately can´t access YT. Maybe you can upload a little mp3?)
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) and your way of doing it is totally the way it should be. French Polishing is very organic and personal and doing stuff exacly as its said in some tutorial doesnt have to be right. 
Just out of curiosity what kind of lighting do you use for your photos? 
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