It began in the workshop doing the semi-final shaping of the necks for the Concert and the Baritone. Carving the necks is always one of my favorite tasks. In recent instruments I have been inscribing name, date and number on the inside of the neck to be seen through the sound hole or side sound port. I do that with this wood burner that I used to use when making feathers on duck decoys.
First you need to sketch out what you want to inscribe.
The pencil marks were really hard to see, so I switched to an ink pen. Thats better!
The final result- This will be permanent identification- no label needed. I am doing all of these minor jobs now, because my Jet Thickness Drum Sander broke down. This morning I took it to a repair shop, and It might be two weeks or more before I can thin down the soundboards, sides and back and make much progress. Maddening, but I will just do all the other stuff like necks and braces. I will also be finishing up the two Kasha tenors I have been working on, # 102 and #103. Just a couple more applications of French Polish and I will be glueing on the bridge and stringing them up.
Made a late afternoon visit to Luthier George Thomas and he showed me his latest great tool. This is a vacuum pump system for attaching bridges to the delicate tops of instruments. The rubber fabric is sucked down very tightly against the bridge sitting on top of the soundboard. Because it sucks all the air out of the chamber it also makes the glue dry faster says George.
This would sure make life easier gluing on bridges. Wonder what they cost?
This would sure make life easier gluing on bridges. Wonder what they cost?
Then this evening, after dinner, a few of us who have banjo ukuleles got together to learn from each other. Wes Lewis, our BUG leader organized this first get together, We likely will be doing it once a month. Wes is the guy with the least hair. Marc, sitting beside him, was the most experienced and showed us the "claw hammer? technique. That is going to take some practice. We actually sounded pretty good- but "gawd" they are loud instruments. Great fun th0.
