Week 1 - Day 4

So we met outside Fil’s place in the city at 7:30am and then trundled our way to Montsalvat like two ‘car-sharing’ work colleagues.  We’re both not really sure we like this work routine . . . it is getting a bit reminiscent of what we’ve given up, especially as we looked at all those parked cars on the Eastern Freeway heading towards the city.  I speak for myself, but am confident that Fil couldn’t hack this kind of drama every day – just so you can get to work!!  The eastbound traffic was bad enough but we had something to look forward to!

So we arrived and made our way across to the workshop via our secret route.  Fil said ‘you couldn’t get stressed coming here every day to day’ . . . and I agree.  And while we took a foozle (Lorraine’s new word for Fil and Suzi) around the place to enjoy the morning, we came across a male Peacock doing its sexual attraction thing by putting up its tail feathers.  Can you imagine choosing mating over flying to escape or catch your next dinner?

TLG workshop

Montsalvat grounds

Try flying with that tail!

Filibert Guitar . . .

This was always going to be interesting – Chris had asked to see one of Fil’s guitars.  As it happened, I had one about my person (the one he has entrusted me to look after and pass on to someone else), and the mini-jousting session was about to commence.

Out came the guitar . . . and I was delighted that Chris did everything else before playing it.  This included holding it, looking at and feeling its innards, checking out the back, looking for neck alignment, smelling, tapping the sound box, getting out a ruler to check the fretboard width and even holding it in one hand to check out the weight.  As I’ve said in a previous blog, normal people have a cursory glance at an instrument, agree it is a guitar and immediately start playing it.

And then the banter started.  You really need to know Fil to accept that anything is possible and life is a continuous experiment!  Respecting traditions and conventions isn’t what he does.  While this will be meaningless prattle to most – he decided to build an acoustic guitar respecting the neck of an electric guitar (much narrower for ‘shredding’ while playing lead) because someone had said to him it would be a good idea.  And so he did – upsetting all the traditionalist finger style guitarists in the world who like a wide neck.  I would say that Chris was broadly in the tradition of wider neck acoustic guitars . . . seeing he called the Filibert neck a ‘ski ramp’.  I’m not really sure what that meant, but I am guessing it wasn’t too complimentary.

And when it comes to the size of the bridge (which for normal people is the bit that is stuck to the top of the guitar body and holds the strings in place) – Chris’ only question was ‘why so small?’.  Fil’s answer was good – ‘why not?’  Anyway, it was a fun way to start the day.

Touching . . .

Measuring . . .

And finally playing!

Back to Work – Bending the Sides (Again) . . .

For the third time in this course I plucked up the courage to face bending the sides.  Like I’ve said, this had been my nemesis every time I have approached the task and it normally ends in tears.  By mutual consent, we decided to use the bending machine this morning – especially seeing that Chris said these Coobar sides are so easy to bend that we could do them two at a time!  I did not rise to that challenge.

So in went the first one . . . and everything seemed to go very well.  I thought ‘at last’, something is going according to plan!  We left it ‘cooking’ for a while in the bending machine and when it emerged about an hour later it looked fantastic.

Perhaps I should just stop here as the bits look so nice!

The ominous bending machine

Cranking it down - again!

Back to the Top . . .

My next task was to mark up, cut out and thickness my top down to 3mm.    I must reiterate that ‘thicknessing’ Bunya Pine is easy when compared to my back and sides – and that is a good thing.  That said, it took some considerable time passing the cut out top through the machine and winding the machine down about 0.0001mm for each pass.  My other friend the Walkman was of great assistance.  

This Bunya Pine top is going to look good

Marking up the CA shape

Something like that will work - and miss the messy bit at the bottom

More time with my favourite machine!

Bending – Yet Again . . .

My next job was to pop the newly bent side out of the bending machine and quickly clamp it into a mould.  There was an intermediate step here which I have not explained – Chris’ bending machine is set up for a Dreadnaught guitar (big), which is a ‘fixed variable’.  So once the side comes out of the machine it needs to go into a Dreadnaught mould – and later transferred and further bent in a CA mould.  Too much information??

So, my task was to get the first side out the machine and into the mould.  A little later I transferred it to the CA mould – and that is where the trouble started!

Can you believe it . . . the damned side was starting to crack at the tight curve.  We quickly clamped it in the hope that it could be retrieved – but frankly I was just about over this luthiering business!!

Bent side - maybe?

Even More Bending . . .

Not to be deterred by my 100% failure rate with sides, I decided we would have a stab at getting the other side bent.  I got the bending machine set up ready to go and then went outside to wet the side (they bend better when wet).  I must say, this wood is going to look lovely as part of the guitar – the wetted look is approximately its eventual appearance one installed in the guitar and fully finished.  Of course this is predicated on the fact that I can bend the damned things.

Everything was going very well – until I heard another crack on the last curve!  I chose to close my ears and think of better times!  We would have a look at it when it came out of the machine once things had cooled down OK.

Cranking down the machine - holding my tongue on the right side (thanks Dan!)

Bloody hell - did you hear that crack?

Back to the Top . . .

My next task was to mark up, cut out and thickness my top down to 3mm.    I must reiterate that ‘thicknessing’ Bunya Pine is easy when compared to my back and sides – and that is a good thing.  That said, it took some considerable time passing the cut out top through the machine and winding the machine down about 0.0001mm for each pass.  

Remarked top - and waste line also marked

How about that!

Even more thicknessing

Coming out the other side

Even More Visitors . . .

Fil and I reckon that Chris’ workshop is a bit like Piccadilly Station in London . . . there are people coming and going from all directions with all sorts of reasons for making the journey.  One bloke who came in was from the UK and he had built a Black Heart Sassafras guitar with Chris in Italy in 2014.  Naturally we thought it appropriate that the Filibert should make another appearance – which it did.  Chris was still amazed by the small bridge and narrow neck – but as Fil explained, he thought it was good to find out where the limits of tradition exist and then take five steps beyond!!

You can tell he has built a guitar - he didn't play it until he had a good look and poke around!

More Kerfing . . .

The more I looked at my kerfing that I made yesterday the more I was dissatisfied with it.  I’m no perfectionist, but I do like things to look good on a guitar where they are visible.  Much of the kerfings hit you in the face if you so much have a cursory glance inside a guitar.  So I made mine again.

New kerfing

Even More Cracking . . .

It was time to take my second (actually sixth!) side out of the bending machine and get it into the Dreadnaught mould before later transferring it to the CA mould.  Guess what – it cracked when we started to apply some heat and pressure!!  I thought ‘bloody hell’ – what is going on here!!  Actually I used a very bad word that might be shortened to an acronym for ‘felonious unlawful carnal knowledge’!

And then we took a good look at everything.  Chris applied some luthier magic with some judicious gluing and clamping.  With even more wishful thinking, we managed to get things in order such they started to look like a pair of sides.

One crack . . .

And another!

Sanding the repair

Demonstrating bending in the mould

Everything finally glued down

Time for a Little Walk . . .

Sometimes it is best to walk away let things come back into perspective.  So I headed off for a five minute walk around some of the beautiful Montsalvat grounds and came back ready to get on with things.

Other Workshopers . . . 

I have been remiss in not mentioning that on most days there is someone else in the workshop working on or finishing a guitar.  Heather and Michael each spent one or two days on an adjacent bench . . . and we particularly like Heather because she brings yummy home-made cake for everyone.  I will take some photos next time they are on the job and publish them here somewhere.

Today’s fellow luthier was Laurence.  He is building a beautiful Black Heart Sassafras back and sides guitar with a Bunya Pine top.  Laurence is on the ‘Saturday’ only course, but he was taking advantage of a few days off work over the Christmas/New Year break.  He sounds like an interesting bloke and he already has 25 guitars.  Now that’s a good start!!

Laurence hard at work

More Bending . . . 

My next job was to finalise the bending of both sides – which involved rolling the sides over the bending iron (or heat rod as it was called today) while the side is clamped into the correct mould.  I am pleased to announce that this task is now complete, finished, finalised and done!

Finally - I hope!!

Top Braces . . .

Just to be clear to everyone, the braces referred to in this blog have nothing to do with holding your trousers up!  They are the bits of wood that run across the inside of the top (and back) and their primary role is to hold the guitar together.  Unfortunately, they also inhibit the vibration of the wood which is where the sound comes from.

One of the dark arts of luthiery is knowing how much each brace can be shaved back and exactly where so as to leave the wood to vibrate freely while offering sufficient structural integrity.  George Harrison famously said that the perfect guitar will fall apart just as you play the last chord of a song!

So next task involved reading the book (what a novel idea) and making a bunch of Bunya Pine bits of wood that will become my top braces – once they have been lovingly planed, sanded and shaped.  Perhaps I will leave that metaphor right there?

This lump of Bunya Pine will become my top braces

Making them a little over sized

Back to you know who!

No I haven't finished yet - this is the reference model

Last Job . . . 

Have a guess what my last job for the day involved . . . more thicknessing!!  In guitar making the smallest things make the biggest difference in the eyes of the punters.  This cannot be emphasised more than with the rosette (the decorated circle around the sound hole) and the ‘faceplate’ – the bit where the tuners face the world.  I will come back to this in due course – if I remember!

Perhaps rather stupidly, I chose a beautiful fiddle back Blackwood for both.  This meant yet another trip to the wood shed – but a successful one!  Nevertheless, the hard Blackwood took forever to come from 6mm to the required 2mm.

Once more dear friends

It started out at 6mm - still some way to go!

Done!

Fil’s Progress . . .

I am way behind Fil given my little diversions with bending many sets of sides – and of course he is a fast worker!  I didn’t take any photos of his progress today – but it included getting his back glued to the sides and making and installing his rosette.

What a beauty!

Send me some more photos Fil and I will load them here.

Breaking News . . . 

Chris contacted us this evening to say that he won’t be in the workshop today.  Unfortunately we are not able to arrange a key as we could have both been able to get on with things.  Here’s hoping we can work out a suitable arrangement to make up the time.