What's you your workbench?

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Tue May 05, 2009 5:22 pm

Welcome to the forum Jeremy, some really inspiring work on that rosette.

I'm very impressed with everyones work. These threads are always so much fun, and full of ideas to lay awake at night thinking about.

Arnt · Post by **Arnt** » Wed May 06, 2009 6:56 am

Nice stuff, everyone. Gawd, I wish I had something interesting going on in the shop! My building has been on the back burner for a looong time now, I'm still trying to finish fixing up my old house... I did score a couple of bolts of local spruce the other day, when the farmer just up the road was doing some logging. Should make some nice mandolin tops by and by.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:49 am

Arnt,

I'll swap you for some Cotoneaster I chopped down the other day...

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Wed May 06, 2009 7:39 pm

A little bit of guitar work but my main achievements have been fitting out my new workshop space.

I have been inspired by reading various woodworking mags and have been setting up things to be cleaner and safer.

I made this cross cut sled from a fine woodworking mag plan but scaled down. Makes cutting large sheets safe and very accurate.

Once that was made I could safely cut up parts to make

First an out-feed table for my table saw with spots for jigs etc and drawers below that for other saw related stuff. The top is 2 pieces of 18mm MDF with some Formica top using off-cuts I got at the salvage yard. I need to cut a couple of slots to extent the mitre tracks. All of these pieces have adjustable feet so I can account for uneven floor. And all the same height as the saw so they can be used as in/out-feed tables.

I also made a new top for my drill press with T-track for the fence, hold-downs and also in the fence for stop blocks etc.

Below that is a small rolling cabinet that fits under the table to hold all my drill bits, buffing pads and other drill stuff right where I need them but mobile if I need extra room for long pieces.

And last, my new router table cabinet. Not quite finished yet. It will have a door to enclose the router at the front with dust extraction at the back and on the fence which is not in the pic. oH, Oh, and handles on the drawers.

I have been very conscious of controlling dust in my new space so all these bits have been designed with that in mind. Either to keep dust out, or to make it easier to collect.

I have some mods for my table saw in mind to keep dust down. Iâ€™ll post them as they come together.

Next thing is install my dust extraction and I am done. Pheeew.
Cheers
Dom

John Maddison · Post by **John Maddison** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:56 pm

Allen, this is an inspiring thread; thanks for kicking it off!

Got a couple of ukes on the go using plans from LMI ...

Tenor
Tiger Myrtle back, sides & headstock with King Billly top from TimS; neck of recycled mahogany from an old telephone switchboard cabinet:

Concert Pineapple
High figured Tassie BW on sides and one-piece back; top of Swiss Spruce off-cuts, and neck from the same board of mahogany. Soundholes are experimental based on the Reuleaux Triangle.

Dave Anderson · Post by **Dave Anderson** » Thu May 07, 2009 4:19 am

I haven't got much accomplished lately on my Concert Jumbo I'm working on....It's Lutz and Cherry from Bob - the famous Zootman.

This is my 1st 5 piece neck.I have always used solid mahogany up til now.

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Fri May 08, 2009 3:08 pm

This is the guitar that had the staining under the shellac finish. We re-finished it with pre-catalysed laquer. It's Tassie Myrtle and Engelmann.

It'll be re-united with it's owner in Tasmania next weekend. Dave and I (as well as Mark, the owner of our shed) are off to Tassie on a lumberjacking trip next week. (thirsty work that lumberjackin' stuff)

A pre-amp box. Much better to do this than to be hacking holes in guitar sides.

Walanut and Euro Spruce. This used to have a cedar top but I made it too thin so I decided to replace it with a nic e piece of Euro Spruce that Martin Turner gave me a while back.

The rest of the guitars below have been kicking around the workshop for a while with various things wrong with them, so we decided to finish them all off.

Cedar and Koa 12 fret O model.

Curly Myrtle Carpatian Spruce.

Goncalo Alves/Adi O model

Maple/Sitka O model with Jarrah everything else. One of the sides on this was a bit scorched so one of the kids is going to be the happy recipient of this one.

Maple/Adi OM

This is a Padauk Dready of Daves that originally had a very thin (2mm) Sitka top on it. (one of the first one's we built) The top started to buckle so it's now got an Adi top that's around 2.9mm thick

Thanks fer lookin.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Fri May 08, 2009 3:52 pm

That Myrtle guitar looks so much better under the Mirotone than the shellac Bob. It's a real stand out now. The owner is going to be over the moon with the fix up.

You guys must have had half finished boxes stuffed into every corner of the shop and at home. Good to clear things out hey.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Fri May 08, 2009 5:05 pm

Gosh that Myrtle is pretty, I just got hold of some meself.....

Hippety Hop · Post by **Hippety Hop** » Sat May 09, 2009 12:14 am

These look like twins. I just put the back on the left one. The other (right) is deformed. Pity, because it was a nicer piece of blackwood.

You probably can't notice the deformity from the picture, but I glued the braces onto the top before I cut the hole. Then I used the heat gun to take the braces off, and the heat twisted the top. I thought the sides and back would straighten it up, but I was wrong. One day I might try to make a neck to fit it, but not soon. I'll bind the good one with cream plastic and run a strip of zipflex (same as the rosette) around the top.

The lace sheoak neck and gidgee fretboard are for another uke that is hanging up at my mate's place. He's supposed to be putting a coat of tru-oil on it each day, but I suspect he's been distracted with his new telecaster kit.

This is it when I was doing the binding. The sad story about this one is that I decided to try egg white to fill, but the rope purfling softened and blistered in one spot. Apparently it wasn't properly seated in the groove when the glue dried. I'll use CA for filling from now on.

It looks nice though all oiled up. Should be playing it in a week or two.

Cheers Hip.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sat May 09, 2009 2:10 pm

bob wrote:Dave and I (as well as Mark, the owner of our shed) are off to Tassie on a lumberjacking trip next week. (thirsty work that lumberjackin' stuff)

"Oh he's a lumberjack and he's ok, sleeps all night and he works all day"
Sorry Bob, couldn't help myself. Love both the curly Myrtle and the Koa jobbies, beee ute eyefull!

Got some pics of my latest Maccaferri creation to post but I might do a seperate post as a sort of progress build thread seeing as I'm changing things up abit from my last build.

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Sat May 09, 2009 5:37 pm

I chop down trees, I wear high heels, suspenders and a bra.

Stu · Post by **Stu** » Sat May 09, 2009 6:47 pm

Everyone's got great awe-inspiring builds on the go. Bastards !!!!

This is me to date.

The Quilt maple/makore neck through carvetop is getting delivered next week and the neck through Qld walnut hollowed tele is half way through the refinishing and will be delivered in 6 weeks time.

cheers ,Stu

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Sat May 09, 2009 8:14 pm

Stu,

you rule lectric land mate,

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sat May 09, 2009 9:04 pm

I can see some banning coming soon.

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Sat May 09, 2009 9:38 pm

Hey Stu those electric's are bloody beautiful.

Is the Tele your design and would you mind explaing to me the chamber pattern inside?

Cheers and thanks for sharing the pics

Alan

Dennis Leahy · Post by **Dennis Leahy** » Sun May 10, 2009 2:14 am

Yeah, Stu, your quilt Makore guitar has got to be one of the most beautiful electrics I've ever seen. If you do anything like that again, I'll cast my vote to have you banned!

Dennis

Localele · Post by **Localele** » Sun May 10, 2009 6:32 am

Some absolutely beautiful instruments coming out of the 'Woodwork", all inspiring stuff indeed.
Stu , What brand of electric components do you prefer and roughly what cost range for pickups etc per instrument. There seems to be a minefield of components out there and matching the good ones must take a lot of trial and error.Cheers.

Stephen Kinnaird · Post by **Stephen Kinnaird** » Sun May 10, 2009 6:59 am

Holy cow, what a creative lot you blokes are.
I love these threads...very inspiring.
And Hip--that uke w/ the blistered rope purfling is some kind of sweet.
Those sides are glorious--what are they?

Steve

Hippety Hop · Post by **Hippety Hop** » Sun May 10, 2009 9:47 am

Steve the uke sides are zebrawood from RC Tonewoods. Top is myrtle.

pat foster · Post by **pat foster** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:40 am

Some great stuff going on, guys!

Here's some things I have going.

Rim and back for a koa single-ought 12-fret that my daughter and I are building together.

Bending EIR sides for an OM commission.

Getting the OM back ready for x-bracing.

Pat

Stephen Kinnaird · Post by **Stephen Kinnaird** » Sun May 10, 2009 12:16 pm

Gee Pat, you went and cut those pretty notches in the back seam, then glued the braces nearly 2" off the mark.
Oh well, spray it black and no one will know.

Steve

pat foster · Post by **pat foster** » Sun May 10, 2009 2:06 pm

Dang, Steve, you're right! Thanks for the black paint tip!

Pat

J.F. Custom · Post by **J.F. Custom** » Sun May 10, 2009 3:05 pm

Stephen Kinnaird wrote:Gee Pat, you went and cut those pretty notches in the back seam, then glued the braces nearly 2" off the mark.
Oh well, spray it black and no one will know.

Steve

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Sun May 10, 2009 3:40 pm

Ok I finally managed to get off the battleship grey little piece of "The Guff" and eventually got home yesterday. Waiting for me was a pile of lovely stiff Englemann tops from Graham Hein, some toys from Stewmac and some nice B and S sets from Allied (forgotten what I ordered but they look nice).

Too tired to do anything in the workshop today but should be back in action in a few days time.

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