banjo project

Making an open backed banjo rim.  These are pieces of curly purple heart glued up into overlapping octagons

final layer of octagons.  there is one small layer of rosewood (bois d'rose) for a contrasting ring of color.  The entire set of rings is glued to the plywood and that will be mounted on a layth.

Dale's dread cont'd

Beautiful Brazilian back.  Some of the best I have ever worked with

back resting on sides

gluing on the back reinforcement in a gobar deck

top braces glued down and part way through the shaping process

Back to Dale's Dread

clamping the side reinforcement

side reinforcements are let into the lining to avoid weak lines at the top edge of the lining

ends of reinforcement are tapered into the lining

gluing on the bridge reinforcement plate and top transverse bar

this is the glue.  Hot hide glue in bottle in glue pot

Bob's guitar in the white room. Zircote with black top

These pictures will not do the guitar justice, but here is a peek at how this zircote and cedar OM is going to look.

adding the lining on Dale's dread

If I had enough small clamps I would not have to mix my media.  Here you see solid prebent cedar lining being clamped to the sides of the guitar.  Each edge of each side will get two layers of lining.  This laminated lining, when dry, will make a very stiff side structure

Dale's Dread...workign the rosette

I cut the wood ring out of Brazilian Rosewood.  Then cut a channel in the top and glued the wood ring.  After that dried, the ring was scraped flushwith the top and two additional rings were cut in the top adjacent to the rosewood ring.  Is this picture one of the outside rings of a purfling strip, (b/w) then a teflon strip the same width as the abalone strips that will eventually replace the teflon and then another purfling strip are glued into the chanel outside  the wooden ring

This shows a dry fit of purfling and teflon (larger all white strip) in the inner groove

pearl replaces the teflon strip. 

the teflon was pulled out after all the glue dried.  (pretty easy to do since the glue won't stick to the teflon

pearl strips were fit into the teflon groove and then superglued in place. 

The top is sanded flush and the profile is cut out

Another shot showing abalone rings around the wood.  This shold really brighten up under finish

David's Mahog 000 bound and ready for finishing

Old School.  Scraping the binding with (what else) a scraper.  It's pretty quick, quicker than sandpaper, does not create airbourn dust, and it gets the sides nice and flat

rope purfling around the top

The curl and figure on this mahogany will really pop under finish.

Dale's Dread

A new project underway.  This will be a Brazilian and Adirondack dreadnaught.

Sides in the abrasive planer taken down to 3/32 thickness

Both sides thinned and ready to bend

one side in the bendinf form with two metal slats and a bending blanket (for heat)

The entire sandwich bent to shape

Whew.  Nothing broke.  Sides ready for clamping to the form

These two pieces of the back were joined on the jointer, but you can see light coming through from the light box.  This joint needs refining

A shooting table with jointer plane clamped on edge for working the joint by hand.

Refined joint.  No light

gluing the two halves of the back together.  The white is not light, its glue

The top ready for thinning and rosette inlay