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I’ll get us back on track with some nonsense… this is “old things are new again”. A test panel with Simtec UV cured polyester (the old thing) put through the spray, sand and buff schedule using my new Airvantage sander (the new thing). God save the elbows!

Second shot is called “reflections of a wasted shop day”.





Brad


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Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
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Thanks for rerailing our toxic train Brad

This thread is likely the longest running thread in OLF history me thinks or at least getting close.

This is good news for those that love vacuum tube amps.

Vacuum Tubes

Tubes are still the choice for high power RF amplifiers - our final amp was 12KW. We kept looking for acceptable solid state options but up to the point I retired in 2018 nobody had anything suitable for a production environment. I like tube guitar amps too, I hope the company does well; they're just down the road from us.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

The basement is still cold, and I have two instruments getting finish, and then setup. I have a 7 course vihuela started, from D to g, but it should go fast. Roughing work is good when it is cold, so I started roughing out a 15.5" archtop. Why 15.5? That's what size wood I had!

The design is a regular, and a Terz guitar profile combined. 12 or 14 frets to the body depending on what side. It will be like a modern version of the vihuela in D instead of G. The way the vihuela is tuned, the vihuela can be considered a guitar in D with a high g string, and the guitar will be a guitar in D with a low A string. Long scale 680mm sort of like a baroque guitar in E. So it is just playing around.

It will have cutaways on the bass side, that make it look like the Terz side. I drew the f holes on later. They look stupid!

The guitar is quite a bit bigger than the vihuela. The vihuela has a 600 scale.

In an hour last night I got the belly roughed out to 12.5mm deep. I used the gouge I had, and could never get to work well. I sharpened it like Ken Parker does, and it works! I also cut the guitar profile out, and used the scrap for clamping. I also put folded sandpaper under the 4 legs of the bench so it doesn't walk! It could go all over the place.

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Why be normal?

Another example of something that we let manufacturing end stateside and in hindsight that was not a great idea.

Thanks Barry we amp builders were pretty nervous about the vacuum tube supply chain and where and only where some of them are made these days.

Drilling and routing a headstock for these Alessi tuners, from the maker's shop in Varese, Italy. Gold plated with ebony buttons. They're his low-end line, at about $450 a set, and considering the workmanship and hand engraving, I think they're a bargain. They're a joy to use.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Finished up the rims on the current instrument.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Very clean!

Bodying, freakin hard work!

Almost done with mandolin

Did a conversion on a 62 Martin D28 to a D45 The guitar had a lot of internal issues . My customer wanted this done. Usually I don't do this on a repairable guitar but with a poor refin , terrible brace repairs and cracked bridge plate I did this. The first thing was to remove the bridge and plate. Replace the back purfling to a D45 and redo the rosette. I did this on the guitar. Then reroute the binding for the 45 converstion. I replaced the fretboard and did snowflakes. The head stock veneer was remove and CF Martin inlay set. The binding and scallping was all done Currently its in the spray booth.
You can see more details on my face book page but here are the high lights

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

nice work John

I get to contribute to the longest thread ever. I wasn’t done in time for Brad’s roundup Saturday, but today it’s finished. I’ve wanted a 335-like guitar since I was in high school (many decades ago). But, they can’t be bought with a wide neck. This one has a 1 13/16 nut and 2 5/16” spacing at the bridge. To get pickups wide enough, I used Seymour Duncan 7-string Benedetto pickups. I found a Gotoh bridge that was just barely wide enough. Craig Simpson (cwsimpson1@comcast.net) made the plates for me (he acquired the forms from ACME). Freeman Keller directed me to a report on his build of one of these that I used as a guide. His well-documented experience made this much easier. When i was ready for finish, the weather was cold and windy. Rather than waiting a month or setting up my interior spray booth, I decided to brush it (em6000). It probably would have been quicker to wait until it was warm enough to spray, but it came out okay. It sounds electric (I usually build and play acoustic).

Little repair and restoration on a Taterbug/Bowlback Mandolin. Amazing what Preservation Polish can do to a dirty old instrument.

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Wud do you notice any film residual from the Preservation polish? I tried it 15 years ago thinking it's a good idea and it is but I did not like the results. There was a fine film left that would smear the next time something touched it. I tossed the bottle and then bought another one about a year later, same results. Back to Dunlap 65. Maybe it's better now?

I wipe it down several times after finishing . Is there a film? Not really that Ive noticed , I can press my fingers on it and no finger prints are left

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

I have one bottle of the preservation polish left. It's been my go to polish for many years now. I have not seen it on SM site for a long time so I think they discontinued it.

There's some fine BRW in those old bowlbacks!

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Just finished up a lefty - first guitar I have built that I could not play...:

And putting the final touches on a LP style with some unusual controls positions:

They did, and the product they replaced it with is not up to the same standard in my opinion.

Crap , I didnt know that they had discontinued it guess im going to have to find it else where

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Just not at stewmacsale dot com.


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Gluing the braces onto a top for a mandocello.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Jay, how do you like having a vacuum setup? Are you using HHG here?


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Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars