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Yesterday I got some things done.

I found that the belly should work without the purfling around the edge. So that's the way it will be. I have the "humbucker" ready to glue on, all I need is some 5 minute epoxy.

I put rib patches on the guitar and the cello. They look pretty rough now, especially in photos; but it should be fine when they are done.





I'm doing some trials on varnish, and thought about filling the grain on the Padauk (MASSIVE HOLES) and the Mahogany neck. I tried Katalox dust and some translucent pigment that is used like a oil paint filler. I got it from Natural Pigment, but I don't remember what it was. I mixed them about 50/50. Then I put in some shellac to make a wet paste.

It might work. Only one coat so far, and I haven't sanded or scraped.
I haven't done much filling, and have never gone for smooth gloss. We'll see.

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Why be normal?

I enjoy seeing how you work, much more imaginative than I am

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

The fill experiment looks good. I put a second layer with a little red pigment in. Then a coat of my varnish (the varnish glows yellow in the UV box) that I put on way too thick. That is my biggest problem with finish. Rushing. Finish can't be rushed. But, now I see that it looks so good that I HAVE to slow down, and make it work. It moves too!

The Mahogany looks good with the varnish, but I think I'll use the Osmo on it for the nice feel. It will still be filled. The Osmo can be reapplied very easily, if hands wear it off.

Every build you learn more and more.

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Why be normal?

Well. I have the fake humbucker glued in. Now I can glue the top on. I'll start at the top, where it has to be, and then bend up the back to where it has to be. The top should bend down into place. So I'm adding stress to everything. Pre-stressing? I don't know. That's just the way it has to be! You can see how much the bottom needs to be pushed in.



I need to make some more clamps. I broke some a while ago, and made replacements out of a closet rod, but I made them too thin on the top. The tops usually break. So I cut up my Oak dowel, and snapped the bandsaw blade when I was almost done. The cutoff wasn't going through, and it jammed.

Then halfway through drilling the ends on the lathe, the tailstock cylinder got stuck. I took it apart last night, and it
is a very simple design. The cylinder has a key slot, but there is no key. The clamp for the cylinder rides on the bottom of the hardened disc under the little lever. As it is tightened, the cylinder twists, and at a certain point, the edge of the disc locks on the top edge of the key.

I don't see anything wrong, or broken. Add some oil and put it back together. Then I'll have to cut the ends of the clamps like the others, and clue on a little strip of leather.

Then I can glue the guitar belly, and then switch the bolts to 6" instead of 5" and glue the cello together.

I got the cello neck glued in place. I had to finish the fluting on the scroll first, and the shaping of the neck. Some scrolls leave some of the gouge marks on the scroll. I don't carve crossgrain there; my fingernail chisels slide along the curve. So mine are fairly smooth. But I do carve crossgrain with the same 3 tools on the fluting. So I left the carving in place, and didn't go over it. I like it, but it has to be consistent.

The hard maple is more difficult to carve than what I usually use, but I like doing cellos better. This is the only one, but I like the bigger size. Carving arch tops is good too.

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Why be normal?

Nice carving work.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I glued the top on last night. HHG in a 57 degree basement. It worked fine. It is all tight all the way around. I especially wanted the blocks glued well. I used 2 wood screw clamps? to clamp the long area of the upper block, and 3 bar clamps on the lower. The other 22 clamps that I have for the rest. I bought 6 more carriage bolts for guitar clamps, and 12 more for cello clamps; but forgot the washers and brass thumb nuts. Washers I can get, the thumb nuts I can only find in packages of 25 online. I'm pretty sure that's how I bought them before; I think I have a spare.

I'll need the purfling around it. It seemed like it would work in the mock up, but glued and clamped tight, it didn't. I don't know why I didn't cut it 3mm large everywhere? You would think that I would learn that some day. Well, I do have a little SM attachment for my Dremel that works ok for little things like that.

I picked the hole sizes well. The heimholtz mode? of the body is just a little lower than the little Stauffer. I thought they were the same, at C# on the guitar, but it is 256, and the Stauffer is 266 according to Audacity. Close. They are totally different animals I think. The Archtop is lower, around A, but with the 80/20 bronze strings it sounds brighter and louder. I have no idea what range guitars run in air mode.

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Why be normal?

The purfling will be double wide. How cool. The little SM Dremel binding thingy worked on the Stauffer, but it didn't like the cedar ElectroLess Paul. Very inconsistant. I ended up marking it with one of my purfling markers, and cutting it out with knives. I didn't do it by hand at first, because the marker can't do smaller than 3mm or so. I only wanted 1.5. Blew that out of the water, but the end grain hardly cut anything.

I'm guessing the carbide bit is not very sharp. Maybe I can find a HHS one that IS sharp, and the thing will work.

The wood under the bridge will be something like 8mm high. I'll start at 10 or more. I want it to end up where the adjustable bridge is right on the wood, and not on the wheels. I don't know where it will go when strung up. It does have an adjustable neck, but.

I need a tailpiece too.

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Why be normal?

The purfling is on, and I but my ground coat of finish on. A thick shellac, resin, translucent filler, coat, and then a coat of something I labeled oil ground. I don't remember what it was. Oil and resins. It is thin. I "burned" the shellac, resin in with a heat gun the next day. It wasn't all dry. I told you it was thick. I did it 3 times, and then it didn't smell anymore when it got hot. Done.

I don't think you'll find that in a book. But it is FAR more fingernail proof than it was.

It WILL be textured. Now I can pore fill the rest of it, and the neck. I will try to get those parts smooth and glassy.



I'm working on getting the top of the wooden part of the bridge to fit the bottom of the metal part perfectly.



And as long as I was going to put a seal/ground coat on; I got the Edgewood done on the belly of the cello. The back was already done. I need to mix up some more for the ribs and the neck/scroll. I think that you can get a good start on varnish when the ground is already done. The glue squeeze out is easier to wipe off too.



Always tapping on things, I blew in the tone hole of the guitar, and it sounded fairly low. Far lower than I thought. Checking on Audacity, it is an octave lower than I thought; C3. Sounds like a boat whistle with the G as the next node.

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Why be normal?

Ok. I'm finally getting back to the finish on this guitar. I'm thinking corduroy on the top, and smooth everywhere else. Now, would it be better to be smooth under the bridge, or does it matter?



This is just shellac and resins on the top. It has a coat of my varnish on the back and sides. I thought I had it thin, but I got a couple runs on the back. I need to find some way to hold it. It is awkward. I'll scrape the finish down, and add coats until it is smooth; trying to stay very close to the wood.

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Why be normal?

The other day I started scraping the varnish at the table; I usually work in the basement, but I was pressing my luck after having the dumb post nasal drip thing for 2 weeks. It's only 54 degrees in the basement. My wife looked at me with shock:

"You're taking off your varnish?"

"Well, it's there mainly to fill holes, so I'm scraping it smooth."

"I'd have to have someone do that. I couldn't put it on and make it pretty, and then make it look nasty."

Ok. I get that.

Yesterday I put the second coat of varnish on. It was scraped pretty much to wood. I used a plastic card, but it was one of those cheap ones you get in the mail for hearing aids, or that old peoples club. It lasted anyway. I have this varnish in a paint tube, not a jar. Works great; not so messy. Squirt some on, and spread it out with the card. I go after it with my fingers later. Yeah, I don't use gloves. Your hands sweat in them. I think the holes should be filled, there wasn't too many of them. The varnish spread good, but doesn't self level. The one I'll use for the finish has more oil in it, and I think I can thin it with alcohol, and make wipe coats. That varnish is very tough.

My wife can't stand the smell of my varnish. She doesn't even like the smell of shellac mixed with Isopropyl!



Almost 24 hours later, and the varnish is almost dry. I'll give it another day, and then do the sides. It is too hard to hold it doing everything. I'll use some 400 grit on it, and see if it smooths up. Maybe even spot fill if there are just a few.

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Why be normal?

The final form will be glorious!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I really like the corduroy Ken!

I'm determined to get this little guitar done. The weather is helping. My varnish just would not dry in the trash can with 80 watts of UV. A morning in the sun, and it is dry. Cool.

The tape and paper is to prevent red fingerprints. I added red pigment to oil varnish, and thinned with alcohol. It works, I don't know why. Goes on with a brush, but gets sticky fast. It just doesn't want to dry fast without the sun.

Need to design and build a tailpiece and fit the bridge once the varnish is done. I'll look at some photos of old Les Pauls, and see what might work. I did change the headstock so there will be some changes with that.

A couple days, and the cello may make it outside too. Get a couple projects done before working on others. I don't want to make up a bunch of sawdust roughing out things while working on varnish.

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Why be normal?

This morning I put the first coat of "clear" varnish on the cello. It has 2 coats of color. It looks pretty much the same, back and belly now. I have 2 coats of clear on the belly of the archtop, where the bridge will sit. That should make the wood under the bridge more likely not to crush; the corduroy only has a couple coats of very thick resin on it. It will have a coat or two of Oslo everywhere else on the belly.

I was surprised how much varnish I needed for a coat on the cello. I put a bit more than a 1/2 tube (1.25 oz or so tube) of varnish; maybe 20 grams. I thinned it some with alcohol with some resins mixed in, and turpentine with some resins mixed in; and there was some leftover. I looked online, and 20 grams a coat is about right. I usually pour it into a jar, or use it straight out of the jar, so I have no idea how much I use.

The pigment is Kremer, Ruby DPP TR and is pretty transparent, and color fast. Many reds are not color fast; especially if they are transparent.

You can see from the photo that a cello is WAY bigger than a 13" archtop.

Yes. That is the saw horse the body fell off from. It is stable as long as you aren't pushing on the side of it!

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Why be normal?

Man, that is bright crimson!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

The varnish is very reflective. It doesn't look as red in person. You can see the gold underneath. I thought they would look more toward brown in the garage. They don't.



In the computer room, the bright gold color of the ground shows through on the maple ( 1 piece Slab Euro Sycamore). The belly was more of light reddish tan. Then they look different. The maple is far more reflective and white than the Sika is.



I'm thinking of calling it good.

I like varnishing them separate. I will touch up the edge, and overhang when I clamp it up for gluing.

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Why be normal?

Well the archtop needed another coat. It is out in the sorta sun. (back to snow, back in the lighted trash can.) Last night I glued the back on the cello. It seems like it worked pretty good. My HHG doesn't skin over like it always did, now that I use the brass glue pot that recommended by Don Parker; and also some on maestronet pegbox.

I heat up .75liters of water in our kettle. I set it for 175 degrees. That is just the right amount of water. Put it on the hot plate, and put the pail in, and it works great.

For this I just use a thin knifelike thing that I use for separating. Slide it between the back and the sides, and slide it back and forth. Clamp those few clamps back up, and open up a few more. I did the ends first. The back was quite warped from the varnish. It isn't now!

The varnish has texture. Brush marks and things. The varnish is not self leveling. At the last MVA zoom meeting, the day after the OLF roundtable; a maker in Cremona was showing how he makes the decorated violins, violas, and cellos of Amati and Stradivari. The originals have brush marks all over! So he does it the same way.

Many old, VALUABLE instruments have been very well taken care of, and in the process; polished, and French polished many many times. They end up smooth. But they probably didn't start that way. Others develop a cool craelature (spell check isn't helping. checkin on line doesn't help either) from not following the fat over lean.

I'll see how the I feel about it after it is all done. After the belly is glued on it is just set up stuff; nut, saddle, fingerboard, bridge.

edit. Maybe I could go over with a softer, dry bush like Bob Ross after it is all on?

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Why be normal?

Ken, I have never seen a french polish that bumpy. And it is so opaque that it is hiding the beauty of the wood. Hope you can take this criticism as constructive even though it may come across as very negative. Perhaps the finish looks better in person.

Barry.
Now I DO need to smooth it up! It is varnish, not French polish. I polished up some older violins I did, and it REALLY made an improvement. It would be worth it.

The back wood is very plain. The sides are lightly flamed, but are still better than the back. I got a cello, and an archtop with ribs out of an almost 8' long slab I bought for about $100. The more I make, the more I see the folly of wood that isn't real pretty. it just isn't worth it. You can buy average in a store. For CHEAP.

It does look better in person than in photos. In sunlight it is very cool, almost like it is on fire! But who looks at instruments in the sun?

I'll get the belly glued on and I won't have the heavy form inside. I can put the hole in the bottom for the post. I can't do it on the form; it is 3 layers! Then I can make a cradle to hold it while varnishing. I do like the large size, but good wood for a cello is expensive. Maybe double or more of an archtop. If I could sell it, I could reinvest!

First I have to get it done, and make it pretty.

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Why be normal?

Well. The archtop is still in varnish. I'm not used to going for real smooth. Found things out from mistakes. It has to be smooth in the wood. Yeah, everyone says that. But how smooth.

Smooth. That's all I'll say.

Filling little holes or grooves. LITTLE holes; with varnish is hard. I got a ring around a mound. After sanding I had a ring instead of a dot!

Sanded everything with 400 grit, and put a skim coat on. I use a little brush, and spread it with my fingers. It starts to dry; well, starts to want to stop being moved; and it squeaks. Very little varnish. I used a glue/soldier paste brush for mixing the small amount in the bottom of a jar, and used what was on the brush for the entire back. The varnish was less than 1/2 the brush thick.

I had to do the sides on the guitar too today. Yesterday afternoon I did the whole cello with a tiny brush. It looks really clear when you spread it out. Cool. The wood is very plain. Somewhere I'll find some cool cello wood. If this one sounds good! I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a practice piece.

Put it out in the sun this morning to dry. It looks like paint in photos! But the shadow on the edges looks like solid black too!

I'm much happier with it now. It is red. Nowhere to hide. The Belly still doesn't match. It is not as red, more orange.

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Why be normal?

WELL.

The ElectroLess Paul is done. Mostly.

I need to clean up some white slurry that came from the Aquacoat that I was using to try to fix the mess the CA did around my plastic binding. It came off the back and sides fairly well, but it needs more persuasion on the belly.

I need to set the string height. The high side is too high. I just strung it up last night, so we'll wait on that.

The cover for the neck adjustment, and a pit of binding that broke off around the neck has to be dealt with. I would change the bolt around, and have the Allen bolt with the head under the back. Two small holes for the Allen wrench, and Voila! No dumb cover to worry about.

The finish was really nice. Now it looks like an older well played instrument. Good or bad, that's what it looks like.

It sounds great!

The whole thing shakes in your hands when you play. I would certainly recommend making a guitar like this. Compound radius on the neck. I think it is 7.5" at the nut, and the bridge is the 16" or whatever was on the tunomatic.

The cheap tuner is a bit of a letdown. I shouldn't have tapered the headstock thickness, but a long headstock looks weird so thick at the end. It works fine with wooden pegs! Tuners with drill your own holes? Or cut the ends to the right length, and put a slot in?

Anyway, a 13" archtop is very doable.

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Why be normal?

Boy, Ken.... I'd like to play that sometime....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Awesome, Ken!!


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Looks like it should be a great couch guitar!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

That is so awesomely quirky! I love it. Bonkers in the best way.


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