GBG is Back in Black

So, where has GBG been? I'm sure my avid readers (all three of you) have been wondering about the progress of the black guitar.

Well, as I have now explained to M why his guitar has been delayed and decided that it's not really good enough to only blog the good parts of the project I will explain.

The black finish is proving very tricky, to say the least. On my first attempt I installed the rosette first and polished it up before applying the stain, knowing it would scrape off the rosette componants. Unfortunately, in polishing the rosette I damaged the grain of the spruce. This was only evident once the black stain was applied because the timber around the sound hole wouldn't take the stain in the same way as the the rest of the top. After several attempts to fix this I also realised that getting the finish back off the rosette was much harder than I had thought. So, I started again. I routed the green malachite back out of the top and put it aside.

I stained and finished top number 2 before routing it. I planned to create the rosette in another piece of board, polish it and then insert it in the new top complete. The finish came out very well. Then whilst routing the rings (and despite taking every precaution I could think of, vacuum suction, masking tape, sheets of paper between all surfaces) I managed to scratch the black top. I may have become a little frustrated at this point! 

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I also googled for any tips from fellow luthiers who have completed similar projects. In the top 3 search results was MY OWN BLOG! I'm sure there's a moral there somewhere...

So, after trying to repair the top and failing I completed the routing, removed the finish and started the finishing process AGAIN this time with the routed circle in place. I used the same set-up on the circle cutter to rout a channel in which to create the rosette for installation as a complete unit.

At present the rosette is complete and ready to be inserted once the top finish is complete. I have to leave it 48 hours between coats of finish so it's taking sometime to prepare.

I am hoping the mahogany back and sides will be rather easier to finish, they at least don't have a rosette to worry about!

As for future projects I think I will stick to natural coloured guitars unless the customer can be persuaded that a 'distressed' finish is the height of cool. So don't worry M, when you finally get your black guitar it will truly be one of a kind.

On the positive side I have completed the fret-board fox inlay. When the guitar has a body I'm sure this little fox will set it off beautifully.

In other news, I am just putting the final touches to my second album. Perhaps surprisingly it does not contain a song called 'Black Guitar Blues'. Maybe for album three...

BOOM!!

So... Nitrocellulose! The original plan was to use maple bindings (the bit that goes around the guitar body where it joins to the sides) but I had to rethink this. The guitar I'm building will be stained black so if the bindings were installed before staining they would also turn black. I did some experiments to see if I could fit them after the staining. Bindings are fitted so that they are slightly proud and then scraped/sanded back to flush. I found that even in my best efforts I could not get them flush without removing some of the black stain from the surrounding wood. Then of course I couldn't repair this without risking getting the black stain on the pale maple. The stain is a watery consistency and seeps into the grain so masking the maple wouldn't work, even if I could create a mask that followed the changing radius of the guitar shape. I must admit that this problem really had GBG scratching her head for a while.

Plastic bindings were one option, the stain wouldn't sink into them, but the thought of something that looks 'plasticky' (technical term) around the beautiful tone woods I'm using didn't appeal. I had a look around at the options available from luthier supply companies and decided to try 'Ivoiroid'. This is a type of plastic that has been made to look like ivory, grain lines and all.

After the Ivoiroid samples arrived I was trawling the internet for the best glue to use with them and found out a bit more about celluloid which is the plastic they are made from. Now I must confess I don't know much about plastic. I tend to think of it as 'hard', 'soft', 'clear' etc. Hubby is an engineer and is always frustrated when people come into the workshop and ask for a piece of 'ordinary metal' so I really should know better. Anyway, celluloid, or nitrocellulose, was the first thermo-plastic and I was somewhat concerned to find out that one of it's early uses was as a plastic explosive...

“WHAT!! That innocent looking band of fake ivory sitting in my workshop (which incidentally is in the garage under my BEDROOM) is a form of plastic explosive??!!??”

No wonder I wasn't allowed to import the stuff from the US!

I read the Wikipedia page on nitrocellulose with concerned interest. Most amusingly I found that the Terry Pratchett passage from Discworld novel 'Men At Arms' about exploding billiard balls was based on truth. Ivoiroid was created to make synthetic billiard balls and they did indeed explode!

I also found out that Ivoiroid can be very unstable when used with certain solvents including alcohol. As I have decided to change to a spirit based stain this was somewhat concerning.

So... having taken the precaution of sorting out the photos for my second album first (pics without eyebrows are never great) I turned the workshop into a lab and began experimenting.

Nothing caught fire or melted so I breathed a sigh of relief and discussed Ivoiroid bindings with M.

But nothing in this life is ever simple... Ivoiroid bindings are a deep yellowy-cream colour... ermm... ivory coloured in fact. The lines around the soundhole ring need to match but ivoiroid comes in a 1.5mm thickness and nothing thinner. Yes you're probably thinking that isn't very wide but the lines around a soundhole are usually 0.5 or narrower.

So, back to the drawing board. I have now settled on black pearloid bindings and M is happy with the effect. I will use a band of white either side so that there is a clear definition between the body of the guitar and the bindings.

Now the decision is made I can get on with the matching rosette. This is a time consuming but very satisfying part of the project. Here it is under construction.

Next post will be the staining and some more inlay work.

Foxy Inlay

So as the dust settles after the festivals and I continue to ponder the logistics of a black guitar (more on that in a separate post) it's time to start the headstock inlay. This is such an exciting part!

As shown in earlier posts I'm using a Fox design in green banded malachite and mother of pearl.

First the printed design was stuck to the malachite with super-glue. That might sound a bit overkill but it's the best adhesive for gluing paper to a non-porous material. It's also important that it doesn't move or peel off while I'm cutting.

 

I used a jewellers piercing saw with a 2/0 blade. This is a similar to a coping saw but much finer. More details here: Wikipedia - Piercing Saw The work is supported by a board with a slot at one end allowing the blade to cut the material but keeping it supported on 3 sides. The picture below shows the sort of thing you can buy but mine is made from an old chopping board and works just as well.

 

For both the malachite and the mother of pearl I chose to cut just outside the design and then used needle files to finish the shape. A more experienced worker would probably cut along the line. 

 

The next stage was to cut out the slot in the headstock where the design is going to sit. After sticking the design to the surface, also with super-glue, I scored around the edge of the picture with a scalpel.

I set the depth on the plunger router so that the design will sit slightly proud of the surface and routed away the shape. I used a 1mm spiral down cut bit because this gives a flat surface and good sides to the slot. This bit is actually designed for a Dremel multi-tool (1/8 shank) but I have a conversion collet that allows me to use it in the 1/4 inch router which has a more stable base.

The design was fixed in place with super-glue. To fill any small gaps I would usually use fine sawdust to match the surrounding wood and mix it with clear super-glue to create a custom filler. As this guitar will be stained black I simply used black super-glue. This is slightly thicker in consistency and therefore makes a good filler in it's own right.

 

 

When it was fully dry I filed it back to flush. Makes a lot of mess!

 

Then I worked through a series of finishing papers ending with 1200 wet and dry and then very fine wire wool.

 

 

Here it is! Around 10 hours work in all. The surrounding rosewood has had one coat of black stain but will probably require a few more.

 

The next instalment will include a science bit... concentrate!

 

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Sharpie Art

A slightly off-topic post as it's festival season. Normal (slightly more sensible) service will be resumed in the next post. 

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I've just come back from a wonderful Cambridge Folk Festival where I played my first ever slots on the Club Tent stage and in The Den. Two lovely smaller venues for newly emerging artists and a more intimate atmosphere.

I obviously needed to take a guitar with me to the festival but I was somewhat worried about taking a valuable handmade instrument camping. I bought a second-hand Yamaha guitar for £40 and took that. Yamaha build good consistent guitars and after a bit of work on the set-up it plays quite well.

So... I decided to customize it. A festival guitar should be fun after all!

 

Lots of people saw me sitting out in the sun with a dozen coloured Sharpie markers while I drew the dragonfly design. I had a mixed response. Some people said: “Wow, that's great! You should set up a stall and charge to decorate people's guitars!” Others were more sceptical: “Is that PERMANENT marker?!” My explaining the cost of the guitar did little to appease those who thought it was bordering on sacrilege to decorate ANY guitar with PERMANENT marker. Actually the design will wipe off with methylated spirit.

Hubby's shoe makes a very good festival cider glass holder

So, any takers? Would anyone like an old cheap guitar decorated with Sharpie Art? Should I set up a branch of GBG for the purpose? OK, maybe not but I thoroughly enjoyed the process and Freddie the Festival guitar is a fun talking point. 

Back to the progress of M's guitar in my next post. The black has proven more tricky than expected but I think I've cracked it now.

 

 

Bracing the back and finish experiments

I am writing this blog post from a breezy patio covered in enough Jasmine blossom to look like snow. It's hubby's night to cook and I have a glass of something cold.... Ahhhhh.... Happy GBG!

This week I have completed bracing the mahogany back of the instrument. Now I need to do some cleaning up and then stain the outside of the back.

M has ordered a black guitar and this has prompted much experimentation with stains and finishes. I have pretty much decided on the Colour Tone range by StewMac.

The black is a lovely rich and deep colour that doesn't look grey when applied to a light wood such as spruce. There are two problems however: 1. It doesn't sink very deeply into the wood and 2. It's water based. I have to install the pale wood and malachite rosette after staining as otherwise the black stain will colour the pale wood lines. The rosette needs to be installed proud of the surface and then scraped back to flush. Any scraping of the surrounding black stained wood removes the stained surface. I've practiced a few methods and found that routing the rosette timber back to flush is more precise. I have now received the malachite and will test to see that grinding this back to flush will also work. The other problem is that the final polishing of the malachite is done with very fine wet and dry paper, wet! That's obviously not a great idea if the stain is water based. So, the stain must be sealed before the rosette is installed. For that and for the final finishing I will use a WudTone product. I used their range on my first guitar and it gives a nice finish and is simple to apply.

Here is the beautifully cut malachite from Small Wonder Music. This week I will be doing a trial inlay with this before I start work on the fox design.

That's all for now folks!

Ta Daaa!!

Here is the completed rim, a nice Ta Daaa picture opportunity. Hubby eventually managed to take a picture I was happy (ish) to post.

The curved sides were reinforced with small mahogany braces, the invaluable clothes peg making another appearance.

The neck block will be visible from the soundhole on the completed instrument so I sign it with a pyrography (wood burning) tool. I've been using this logo for various things since I was a teenager.

Then I moved onto joining the back of the guitar and cutting up some old furniture retrieved from the fire wood pile to make a Go-Bar press. This is basically two flat surfaces that you can brace timbers between to act as clamps. In my case I use a wide fixed desk and the floor beneath it. My, still shiny and new, bandsaw made it possible to cut strips of wood approximately 1/2 inch square.

Here is the back strip being glued in place in the Go-Bar press. As you can see you would need some very long reach clamps to do this any other way. The most important part of this procedure is remembering to shut the office door while it dries...

"No Jessie, that is NOT YOUR STICK!"

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Sunshine and Inlay Designs

It's always a good moment when the sun comes out and GBG can move the workmate into the garden. Mmmmmm... Jessie's enjoying it too.

I've finished gluing the kerfling and nearly finished the process of chiseling it back to flush with the edge of the rim.

 

I have also finalised the inlay design for the headstock with M (the customer). He initially told me he wanted a fox design so with some trepidation I began researching inlay materials that come in a fox-red colour. I found some very interesting reconstituted rock inlay material from this site: Small Wonder Music After looking through the options M chose the green banded malachite!? I was somewhat surprised but having put together a digital mock-up of the design I think it works very well. 

Groovy!   (⌐■_■)

Jigs and Rims

Some good progress this week in the GBG workshop. I've completed the jig to hold the curved sides whilst construction is underway.

I've also cut the pre-curved sides to length and fitted the end and top blocks to join them together. 

It's beginning to dawn on me that a workshop can never have too many clamps. Some of these were borrowed from hubby's engineering workshop. I will build up my own collection in time. Especially as clamps borrowed from a metal working workshop need considerable cleaning up before they can be used anywhere near wood.

Here is the rim in the jig ready for the kerfling to be fitted. The kerfling gives the top and back something to adhere to that is thicker than the 2mm sides.

There are specialist clamps available for this process but (despite my earlier comments about clamps) the common clothes peg works just as well.

The next tasks are to complete fixing the kerfling (blogger has come up with some very funny alternatives for the word 'kerfling' which apparently doesn't exist) then onto designing the new sound hole rosette. 

Tune in soon for the next thrilling instalment! ;) 

Early Stages and Setbacks

Hello! Well after a hiatus for reasons too boring to blog about I'm back and work is starting to progress.

So far I've removed the original rosette in the Martin soundboard to upgrade it to something rather more special. It was a fiddly process but I have managed to remove the old rings without damaging the surrounding wood... Sigh of relief!!

I've also starting building a jig to support the curved sides of the instrument while I work on them. Unfortunately my toy town bandsaw wasn't really up to the job and, despite my engineer husband, Matt's, best efforts, it has gone to that big workshop in the sky. I now have a shiny new one! :)

I've done all the drilling for the dowels on the jig and should be cutting out the shape in the next few days. Just a few more practice sessions on the new bandsaw first.

A little bit about GBG...

I grew up in South Wales but now live in Hampshire with my husband, Matt, and Labrador Jessie. I teach piano, guitar and theory of music to children and adults. I also sing and play in local folk and acoustic clubs and my debut solo album was released last year. Here is the opening track.

I learned to play the guitar as a teenager in Gamlins Music Centre in Cardiff. My teacher, Rob Crocker, was a luthier and sometimes we'd have the lesson in his workshop. I was always fascinated by the half built guitars hanging around the walls and I thought... "One day, I'll build guitars."

I did think it might not be a realistic dream though. I got married and moved away so I wasn't going to be able to ask Rob to teach me to be a luthier. Then I came across Martin Guitar kits. Buying and completing a kit made the project seem just that little bit more achievable. There was also the added bonus of a kit costing only a fraction of a Martin guitar, which I've always wanted but which was definitely out of my price range.

My first guitar, who is named Martina (Yeah, corny but all my guitars have names, maybe another blog entry will introduce them) took me over a year to complete. I didn't work at it solidly though. This was something I'd always wanted to do and I was determined not to allow it to become a chore. I only worked on the guitar when I wanted too. As such, I really enjoyed the process and now have a lovely handmade guitar that I regularly play at gigs. Don't panic M, I promise I will work more diligently on your guitar!

So my next post will include pictures of the parts awaiting assembly, and the early stages in building my very first commissioned guitar!

Hello and Welcome to Guitar Building Girl

So what's this blog about? I have my first order for a handmade acoustic guitar and I will be blogging the process in this space. I've already built one guitar and I posted the stages on Facebook, see background image. This should have a wider potential audience though.

Why 'Guitar Building Girl'? OK maybe at thirty... (cough) 'girl' is stretching it a bit. 'Guitar Girl' was quickly dismissed as a blog title when the Google search for it came back. Strategically placed guitars in girly pics was not the kind of blog I had in mind! The point is I don't know any other female luthiers. Maybe if there are any out there, and they find this blog, they'll stop and say Hi!

So, I'll start with a pic of my workspace (complete with furry mascot, Jessie). Construction of the guitar ordered by M will begin shortly.

Do leave me a message, This process will be a lot more fun if I know people are interested. My next post will be a little bit about me and my other projects.

TTFN