Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

WOW Craig! ...

That is beautiful...what else can I say!

John.

BANNED!!!

Gee Craig, thats is something very special there mate!

That guitar is absolute class!

Cheers

Alan

Gobsmacked!!!

What an amazing level of detail Craig...nothing loud, just pure class. The binding and purfling work is beautiful, shows off your skills well but the wood if left to do all the talking, and I 'really' like the purfling detail on the headstock...Unique, stylish and outstanding work mate, congratulations.

Now please, give us 'all' the details

Cheers

Kim

Off to the pool room mate.

Craig what an absolute Ripper of a guitar !!!!! the design, choice of timbers and craftsmanship is amazing !!!!
you can't just post a gem like this without some specs or info!!!!

Cheers,

Christian.

[quote="Kim"]

Now please, give us 'all' the details



Many thanks John ,Martin, Alan, Kim and Allen.

"All the Details " you say......... well that may take some time , but I'll make a bit of a start.

I bought the wood as Pommele figured African Mahogany . I thought it was busy enough on it's own without adding to it , so tried to keep the appointments simple by making the bindings,purflings,rosette, headplate, endgraft and soundhole binding with the same wood. I'm pleased with the look it's achieved .
Like wise with fretboard markers and bridge pins,,,keeping it minimalist, although they took a surprising amount of time to make. Fretboard pic here before finish on the guitar
And the bridge pins to match :
more to come ....

christian wrote:Craig what an absolute Ripper of a guitar !!!!! the design, choice of timbers and craftsmanship is amazing !!!!
you can't just post a gem like this without some specs or info!!!!

Cheers,

Christian.

Onya Christian. O.K. a little more ....

The finish is french polished Shellac ( hardened shellac )

I fitted stainlesss steel frets. I like the wider crown width of .095" . A first for me but will now be my standard.A little harder to fit and tougher on your files etc., but well worth while in my book . As far as I can see , they will last a long long time before ever thinking of refretting .
The adjustable neck means no future neck resets either.As you can see I have longevity in mind .

The unbound florentine cutaway mitre was achieved by stacking both the side and cutaway pieces on a shooting board ( as you would do plate joining ) I used a block plane which I had set on the correct angle to suit . (This was done prior to bending of course ) This picture taken prior to binding and finish

exquisite !!! mitres are a joy arn't they !!!
look forward to hearing more about it.

Cheers,

Christian.

Man, between you and Paul's Nylon stringer, boy am I feeling inadequate! I can only repeat the worthy comments garnered so far Craig & as you say, to carry off that 'simple' look well takes some doing! I can see & appreciate the level of detail & craftsmanship that's gone into this cracker. Couldn't you have got a bit of Spruce with a bit more silking in it though?
Fantastic job Craig

Nick wrote: Couldn't you have got a bit of Spruce with a bit more silking in it though?
Fantastic job Craig

Thanks a heap Nick and yes that spruce ( Sitka ) is a mind blower . A huge thanks to Gerard Gilet who hand selected it for me many moons ago.That silking was more noticeable before applying the shellac finish :

Questions:

1. Was your french polishing schedule with the hard shellac the same as one would use for normal shellac? Could you indicate drying times between body and spiriting off sessions? Did you stiff off at all?
2. What method did you use to grain fill the hog?
3. What are your thoughts on ease of touch up/repair work on the hardened hard shellac?

Cheers and thanks Martin

Congrats Craig,

Stunning peice of Timber , treated just right, I'm in awe at your skills, that Mitre on the Cutaway is perfect !



Can't wait to see how you top that!.

Am I the only one left wondering how the hell you kept those mitres so nice after bending? I would have thought that wood with that type of figure would want to move all over the place on you.

Hi Allen, I'm not sure how Craig achieved his perfect mitre, but as a bit of a mitre fanatic myself, I found the trickiest part is getting the two cutaway cut angles just right,(usually achieved with a file) but once I'm happy I just glue and stretch my tape to pull up the mitre snug, you can also bruise the mitre by lightly by rollling a screwdriver shaft over it, this forces the fibres together, the beauty of a mitre you have the luxury of scraping or sanding either side of it if it doesn't quite marry up perfect.
hope that helps,

Cheers,

Christian.

".......... you can also bruise the mitre by lightly rollling a screwdriver shaft over it.........."

Tut tut Christian a true craftsman would never dream of doing such a thing. That is like using
a ball pene hammer to spread the pins in a dovetail joint to close any gaps!!!!!!

ozwood wrote:Congrats Craig,

Stunning peice of Timber , treated just right, I'm in awe at your skills, that Mitre on the Cutaway is perfect !



Can't wait to see how you top that!.

Appreciate those kind words Paul . I'm not sure how I'm going to top that either ,,yet Careful planning and lots of patience is the ticket . Thanks mate

Allen wrote:Am I the only one left wondering how the hell you kept those mitres so nice after bending? I would have thought that wood with that type of figure would want to move all over the place on you.

Wonder no more Allen . As I said in an above post . I stacked the two pieces on a shooting board . Planed them on the correct angle to suit that florentine mitre angle ( Before bending ) I didn't file ,or sand or 'bruise' the mitres as Christian suggests. All done with the block plane .
I hate to force anything. Having the pieces a perfect fit to begin with is half the battle done . Edge tools give a far crisper result . You're right Allen about this Pommele figured Mahogany not really wanting to play ball . It was a case of careful planning , lots of patience , Holding your mouth the right way. Seriously though , it was a case of a well thought out plan where I could clamp the ends to the corner block . A time when you wish you had three hands . It was tricky ..... .

Also , what you may not have noticed is that I pulled in the upper bout on the treble side about 10 mm. from the template line ( asymmetrical ) to give a much more groovy florentine .The smallest change to the template line can make a world of difference . Here's a poor picture but shows what I mean. I've been calling it a "Tucked " Florentine .
Martin , I'll get to your questions shortly

kiwigeo wrote:Questions:

1. Was your french polishing schedule with the hard shellac the same as one would use for normal shellac? Could you indicate drying times between body and spiriting off sessions? Did you stiff off at all?
2. What method did you use to grain fill the hog?
3. What are your thoughts on ease of touch up/repair work on the hardened hard shellac?

Cheers and thanks Martin

Martin ,I've had to really think how to answer your questions.

Drying times etc really depend on your current workshop conditions , so there is never a set time.

Other factors also come into play . I don't use oil where as I bet you do . I've been french polishing long enough to know what may work for me may or may not work for you . French polishing is a craft where experience is your best teacher .Very difficult to describe the whole method in just a few paragraphs .Experience will tell you when the surface is ready to take another session,,,,,or not ! . I find the back of my hand can read a fresh surface fairly reliably by VERY lightly stroking the surface , hardly touching it at all. After a while you'll feel / detect any tackyness or not.

I find applying Hard Shellac is a little different than conventional shellac . In my case I've found I've had to lay off for a few days after giving a few body sessions and let the hard shellac firm up a little . That may also depend on the climatic conditions. High humidity or colder temperatures play a large role in application. Yes I do spirit off after each bodying session.

I can't comment on repairing this new hard shellac formula as yet . Don't really foresee a problem but we will see. I did take a risk using this stuff once again as I was one who got his fingers burnt with the original formula . I've just finished stripping off a 12 stringer that checked and crazed very badly. I'm still mad as hell that that should have happened and no friend at all with the producers of the product. I'm hoping like hell that this new formula will behave like it ought to . Reports by others are encouraging thus far . French polish being the least inhibiting of all the finishes on soundboard movement , I was prepared to give it one more shot. The added bonus of the hardened shellac's properties made it worth it for me . Fingers crossed !

There is another method of applying french polish as outlined in the Gore/ Gilet book . A method developed by Brian Burns where 2 parts of Acetone are added to the shellac base .,, an Azeotropic mix of ethyl alcohol plus Acetone with traces of water which hardens rapidly ,, we are told . Again I can't comment how well this works having not used it as yet.

Sorry Martin ,but that's about as good an answer as I can think of

That is a knock-out instrument Craig!
That pull-in on the cutaway looks better than the "normal", subtle but definitely an enhancement.
Difficult to tell from a pic, but almost a 90 degree?
I take it you had to make a side mold specially for that side?

Craig, that is one stellar looking guitar!!!!

Craig wrote:Also , what you may not have noticed is that I pulled in the upper bout on the treble side about 10 mm.

Yes, of course I noticed that kink in the upper treble bout but I thought it was just a mistake!

- two times a lie, of course!
It simply looks natural and the whole guitar is just GORGEOUS!
Thanks a lot for the pics and the tech details about this beauty!

colin north wrote:That is a knock-out instrument Craig!
That pull-in on the cutaway looks better than the "normal", subtle but definitely an enhancement.
Difficult to tell from a pic, but almost a 90 degree?
I take it you had to make a side mold specially for that side?

Hi Colin , I played around with outline shapes for quite a while before deciding on what I've called this "Tucked " Florentine. It just looked so much better . A cutaway on the template line tended to look like a guitar with a bite taken out of it . The shape didn't flow quite as well. As I said above , it takes only a tiny amount of change to your template line to make a world of difference to the overall shape , look and vibe of the instrument.
I can't quite remember what degree the tip was Colin but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 90. No I didn't make a special mould for the Tucked cutaway . I just added a 10 mm. shim right at the cutaway point ,into my existing outside building mould . I did have to do an extra bit of bending to the treble side on my hot pipe for it to conform to the new "Tucked" shape .

You've absolutely nailed this one Craig.

One gorgeous instrument.