Official Luthiers Forum!

Good operation you have there Shane, Thanks for taking the time to post some photos.

Shane...Thanks a ton for posting this. This is a fantastic document for the archives. I'll always have good thoughts when I handle your tops because now I know the care you put into your product. This was a fantastic series! I hope you continue to educate us further with even more postings.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I will definitely be lutzing it up very soon Shane, I love the attention to detail and the hand vs machine processing whenever possible - I think that is really key to the vibe of a top.
Keep up the good work!
Cheers
Charlie

Thanks for the kind words you all!

Anthony, these particular logs were purchased locally and were fell last fall so they are several months drying now. I typically like to saw off one block, it takes about 45 minutes to split a single block to billets and then I saw the sets from that. On our last day last Friday, we had the billets from 3 blocks and it took about 7 hours to process that into about 150 sets. It was a lot of work!

Arnt, the sliding carriage I borrowed from an old Fine Woodworking article and adapted it for my saw. The clamping mechanism with all of the sharp pointy screws (I am not getting stuck on them as often as I usually was...) was my own idea. It works very well for my purposes.

Brock, all Lutz spruce.

I am in the process of working on a very xciting 'partnership' with some local harvesters that will really promote good forestry practices and will help honour the unique qualities of these ancient trees. I will definately update everyone on that as it unfolds, it will result in more pictures of the bush!

Hey John! I am hoping to add the rest of the bits to that little box this fall once I have my little studio all set up...then I have to get at a couple of commissions I have!

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

Great pictures and narrative - thanks so much for taking the time to dcument the process....

Shane,

Great post! My two-week, mini-apprenticeship with Tonewood,
AG in Switzerland this past May gave me a better appreciation
of all the back-breaking work that goes into transforming a log
to a top. It was a great experience. Thanks for your efforts!

Greg Hanson

Hey Greg,

I would be interested to hear about the similarities and differences you observed in Switzerland. I like learning things.....

Shane

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Canada

Great pictures...thanks for capturing the process.

While I dont do as much cutting as I did at one time I did have a hydraulic setup on my resaw and unless you are doing large runs all the time it can really get in the way. For production runs it is awesome but large, heavy and in the way most of the rest of the time... got rid of the hydraulic feed, kept the resaw.... laser is a must...so much easier to sight a line now a days...

I like the best practice of using the V and flipping the billet to neutralize the drift...my resaw has a 3" blade and still can drift...they all do to some extent.

I really like the low tech way you are drying by using box fans...I have an EBAC dehumification system as my setup but in essence it is just a fancier setup that does just what you are doing...for drying hardwoods it is a big plus but for tops a fan does great...

For those that dont know about your marking/identification system for labeling tops can you describe it or show it...also when do you grade and separate...before stacking/stickering or after?

Awesome post

And I thought that Spruce grew into quarter sawn perfect blanks. Hard work for sure

Very cool Shane. I have had customers want picts of how there guitars come
together. Can I use you picts to show them how that AWESOME LUTZ
SPRUCE comes from the log to me????

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

ABSOLUTELY!!

One day I will even update my website with a good story of the process.

Good luck with it Andy.

Shane

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Canada

Shane: I echo what everyone else has said. Thank you for such a gracious willingness to let us in on how hard you work to create these tops we love so much. Too neat!!!

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Shane,

Great fun looking at these pics....I bought my Lutz before I knew about you, love the stuff, I'll be looking for you when it's time to reorder.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

shane,
thanks for a great look into how all this glorious wood arrives in our workshops. along with many others, i'll be giving you a ring when it's time (and there are funds) to get into some lutz.
phil

That is just fantastic, Shane!
Thanks to you and your help for taking the time and bother of documenting this process so well.
Coe

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Who needs the Discovery Channel?! Very informative and fun, Shane. Thanks for taking the time to document your process.

A guy could hurt himself doin' the Crazy RITZ in those blocks. Sure is pretty wood, though.

Hey Shawn,

Thanks for the kind words. My saw will take 3 inch bands and was actually designed for 3 inch bands. I had stelitte tipped bands made for the saw 3 times at about $340 a pop. With about 6 to 8 hours of use they cracked. They sure cut nice until they would start to deform and walk off the wheels, so I gave up! I have since added rubber to the wheels and use these narrower bands and am quite happy with the job they do.

As for grading, that is done after they have dried so that I can better see the difference between miosture and compression in the wood. I am sanding sets a lot more these days also.

The triangle marked on the top of the set has a very simple code written around it. The triangle bridges the centre seam of a matching pair to ensure that the book matched face can easily be maintained. Inside the triangle is code that identifies the tree the wood came from and the use of the top, for instance "T2G" indicates a particular tree "T2" which I have notes on in my logbook and "G" indicates 'guitar'. Also inside the triangle will be a number like "312". This will be the sequential guitar set that has been processed from that tree. Outside the triangle will be the shortest form of the date the top was re-saw, note this the date the set was sawn not the date the tree was fell. So a typical date, like today's dtae would be "5-9-6".

There was a recent thread with a picture that I can link to if people are interested.

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

Cool stuff!

Mike
White Oak, Texas

[QUOTE=Shane Neifer] Anthony, these particular logs were purchased locally and were fell last fall so they are several months drying now. I typically like to saw off one block, it takes about 45 minutes to split a single block to billets and then I saw the sets from that. On our last day last Friday, we had the billets from 3 blocks and it took about 7 hours to process that into about 150 sets. It was a lot of work![/QUOTE]

That is a lot of work ....wow....I actually thought it would take longer...you are obviously good at it


[QUOTE=Shane Neifer]...then I have to get at a couple of commissions I have!
[/QUOTE]

The question that comes to mind is that with all the sets you have on hand....how do you actually manage to choose the set to build with?

[QUOTE=Anthony Z] The question that comes to mind is that with all the sets you have on hand....how do you actually manage to choose the set to build with? [/QUOTE]

Well, I do have my "stash" of selected tops. But it might surprise you to know taht they are not all 'perfect'! I actually keep a lot of tops that have some imperfection that can be avoided with careful planning or that have colour in them that I find interesting. Tops of both these categories are just too risky to sell for what I think their value is so I just keep them for future use. I do also have some very nice clean tops of course and my criteria is the same as any discerning builder, right on quarter, no runout, straight even grain spacing, and STIFF with a lovely tap that has a nice long sustain. That isn't really too much to expect I hope....I really don't mind the so called imperfections though. I am a woodworker and the tops are wood, there is nothing at all wrong with seeing the diversity that a single species will display.

Ah...bed time! Good Anthony and all!

Shane

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Canada

Delicious!!! A very interesting and informative post.

Shane,

Thanks for the pics. I have a walnut tree I harvested about a year and a half ago that I am ready to process. I was struggling with a means to attach the blocks to the carriage. Your method of securing the blocks to the carriage solved my last remaining problem.

Thanks again,

Cecil

Awesome and informative post Shane!

Shane,

That travelling bed for resizing the billets looks good. I may set up something like that myself. Thanks for post.

Tim

www.australiantonewoods.com