Official Luthiers Forum!

Here's a link to some web pages I put up of the koa Terz I posted about last week. Now, if only I could stay away from this computer.....

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Nice photo essay! Don't you hate when the rosette pieces strip or break. Looks like you did a good save.

I have never had my hands on a Terz, so let me know how it sounds.

Donovan

Looking good Pat. Thanks for sharing and documenting your work. How do you plan on finishing this one?JBreault38971.5903125

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Great photos Pat!

Nice in-progress photos, Pat! It looks like it's all coming together nicely, but then again, you had those expert helpers.

Ahhh, lovely.

Those thumb planes look right up my street...Sam Price38971.6660185185

Pat, I also want to ask where you got that tiny plane you were using to shape the braces? That is a neat little tool.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Hey Pat,

This a great post. Thanks for sharing your efforts and reminding me that my work areas CAN actually be cleaned up every once in a while.....

Lovely little guitar!

Shane

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Canada

Great thread Pat, always interesting to see your craftmanship my friend, thanks for sharing all that work with us!

Serge

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Giving back to the OLF is a good thing!

Hesh,

Thanks, man. Hope you're feeling better, not enjoying that morphine too much! Soldier's Joy, as they called it during the Civil War! Only I think they mixed it with beer! (Don't try this at home!)

I like reading these kinds of posts too. Virtual building by us couch potatos. Is video next?

Joe, Sam,

The little plane that I use for scalloping is one of my favorite tools. It's so easy to use. I got it years ago for through-the-soundhole retro-scalloping I did on some 70s Martins. It's an X-acto spokeshave that came in a hobby tool set. I cut off the handles so it's more like a finger-spokeshave. Steel quality on the blade is not the greatest, but the edge keeps OK since I only use it on soft bracing wood. There's another shot of it down the page on this thread from last week. The other larger one is a Stanley 101 from ebay. It's not one of the "sweetheart" collectibles, so it was only about $20. Again, for brace shaving the finer tool steel of the collectible ones is moot.

Serge, yes they can, but the question is, how soon after the benches are clean do we trash them again? I'm working on it, having just run the belt sander held by a vise on my workbench, shaping the BRW bridge.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Great little plane, Todd. Something I'd sure like to add to the plane shelf!

I don't have another web page put together yet, so here are some photos of the last coupla days' work.




Finished up the neck fitting.




Bending the home-laminated Mad Rose binding.




Checking the fit on a piece of scrap.




Scoring before routing with a gramil.




Channel routed.




Endgraft routing is done.



Marking the side purfling for miters.




Against my better judgement, correcting an over-short side purfling strip.




Guess it was worth the effort. It's hardly noticeable from a normal distance.




The tape-and-CA-with-acclerator really made a mess of the top and back. Lots of cleanup will need to be done. Wood bindings sure are a lot harder than celluloid!





Cleaned up pretty well.





Gotta love that z-poxy! The end graft is BRW, which happened to match the Mad rose bindings pretty well.The miters turned out just OK, but they were my first and I'm a happy camper!

I'll post more pics as she progresses.burbank38977.0595486111

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

That's great Pat, nice documentation.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Thanks for posting the progress pics Pat, really nice work, lots of great tips i'm getting from you bud, thanks!

Serge

Thanks, guys! Now that I have the purfling on, I'm wondering if it's a bit too much on such a small body. I think the smaller rope purfling, such as Karin Rost has, might have been better. Overall, I'm pretty pleased.

Serge, how's the finishing project on your mom's dread? You used epoxy under the fp, didn't you?

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Yes,Very nice work Pat. Thanks for sharing.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Pat, yes, Alain gave me some epoxy to try it out and i loved it!

Great photos. Thanks for letting me look over your shoulder. She's going to look fantastic when its all said and done.

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Aoibeann

I like the purfling, it's not too much, it gives a bit of the old fashioned feel to it. Cool.SteveCourtright38977.5743287037

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I usually dislike overstated appointments, but I must agree with Steve on this one. Your purfling looks great!

You're really good at this documenting thing. Get several more guitars under your belt, and think about offering a print version of "Guitar Building with Pat Foster!"

BTW, what about that extra screw in your cutter? Is it there to stabilize the blade or to help moving the cutter itself?

Thanks for the comments, Carlton! I find that the steps I take in setting up the shots causes me to slow down and think more about what I'm doing on the guitar work. The "extra" screw came about when I was adjusting the gramil and found one of the small allen set screws missing. The big screw that you see is its replacement, which it turns out makes the tool very much easier to adjust than the original, which requires juggling two allen wrenches at the same time. Turns out the lost screw had actually fallen into the inside of the tool and wasn't missing, but I liked the new arrangement so much better I never put the original one back in. burbank38977.9320138889

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

What a pretty instrument! And I love your photos.
I'd be embarrassed for someone to look over my shoulder that closely. You look a natural!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Pat, i gree with you about being slowed down because of the pictures but it sure helps the learning curve a lot and it is quicker to learn from mistakes looking at a pic than writing a text on it and try to find it later on!

Like Carlton said, your approach to the craft would benefit many people including me, a book or a DVD a la Robbie would be great after a couple more builds!

Serge

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier]
Like Carlton said, your approach to the craft would benefit many people including me, a book or a DVD a la Robbie would be great after a couple more builds!

Serge[/QUOTE]

Serge, thanks! Great idea, but me < > Robbie after I build a couple more?!? Maybe a couple hundred!

But you guys have got me thinkin'......

Uh-oh.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com