Thursday 26th July '07

Reading the journal of the Guild of American Luthiers is a very interesting diversion whilst waiting for glue to dry etc, one of the articles most recently assimilated into my ethos involves the spirituality of being a luthier.. it sounds like a load of rubbish but on reflection really isn't.  It works similar to some of the things I've heard about Guitar Craft, if you play a piece of music, bake some bread build a guitar etc etc with a little passion and love for what you are doing then inevitably some of that passion will seep through into the person recieving the food, performance or guitar.?... Kharma? 

from the esoteric to the object of my passion..  the main soundhole is marked out using this nifty little device

and then cut to size carefully

after much deliberation a relatively standard bracing pattern is decided upon and marked out

and all the braces are planed, bandsawed etc to size

the x-brace is fitted and notched

and then glued using the Go-bar jig I built yesterday, the pressure of the dowels bent between the top and the brace hold everything in place while the glue dries..

later on I need to reinforce the jig, there was too much give and after about half the rods were in place the top bent and all the rods fell out... still.. nearly there.. 

a small violin-makers plane is used to trim the x-brace to size and round over the edges of it

along with a very very sharp chisel to get in the spots the plane couldn't

everything is then sanded down

the other braces are cut to size and placed on the top to make sure everything works correctly

then, using the much reinforced go-bar jig, everything is clamped in place overnight..  tomorrow should see various extra soundholes being added to the top and the body and possibly the two halfs will become one.. we shall see.

All my best,

Ben