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Looks good Brad.


Steve

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Oops

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Hey Hesh where did you get that badge made?

Look forward to your review of that amp.

Droplight Industries you can google John has a web site and some cool stuff. He's also a great guy and I've bought from him about half a dozen times now and it's always been five star service and products.

Very cool Hesh!I always wanted to build an amp. But I have too many projects as it is already. I got 4 on the bench. 2 commemorative ukes and 2 others. Haven’t built any guitars lately.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

That was a lovely table. It's a shame the makers effort went for naught when it got cut up for guitar sets (I have done things equally bad). The wood looks less than ideal for guitar making. I guess you are following in the tradition of Torres who supposedly cut up some furniture for guitar making. Now if it was BRW......

Well there was, the door, then, the tree, and now the table.

It was ok as a table but too short to be useful, had tons of bad repairs, was refinished beyond recognition, and wasn't particularly valuable. I don't feel the least bit bad about cutting up this old piece of furniture, the maker has been dead and buried for over a century so I doubt they mind much too.

With the exception of the flat sawn 3 piece back (the original guitar this commission is modeled from has flat sawn back and sides thus the use of this) the 10 2-piece sets were all vertical grain. Cuban mahogany is very stable and I have no qualms about using flat sawn material, not sure why you'd assume it's less than ideal for guitar making.

Old used table in a second hand store versus several hand made guitars? Nothing lost, tons gained.

Good score, Brian!

Hi Brian,
No the wood is not terrible. Mahogany tends to be very stabile in the way it moves. One "leaf" appeared to have a couple of large knots where limbs came off and some compression grain around them, the other two pieces looked to be mostly flat/rift grain. Not unusable, just not ideal. The appearance of the two piece back you outlined looks quite nice and I'm sure will make a nice guitar.
The leaves of the table appear to be each made from one wide board - wood that is harder to come by these days and not really needed for guitar making. The reeded legs on the gate leg table appealed to me and the general appearance and proportions of the table looked quite nice. Things that have lasted more than a century often do have nicks and blemishes. That the table met its demise is not the end of the world, and I have done similar things in the past and only feel a modicum of regret for having done so. But still....

Hi Clay, completely understand what you mean. I was incredibly lucky in that my classical guitar shape fits perfectly around the large knots in the leaf you mentioned. These table leaves were massive and bigger than the photos let on. Considering this was made of Cuban mahogany the material has been nearly impossible to find since the late 19th century with most modern options available being storm downed trees from the Florida keys or plantation grown material from Hawaii. This is superior material and I know of a few makers, notably David Whiteman in the UK, who repurpose 18th and 19th century Cuban mahogany furniture for the same reason. I too quite like the legs and base, in fact I'm currently making a breadboard replacement top of Honduran mahogany and removing the two extra legs meant to support the outer leaves. The base is too low to comfortably sit at but I'll be utilizing the reworked table as a means to hold my turntable, receiver, and speakers. Maybe a nice potted plant for good measure as well.

Closing the box on this ziricote 00 today if it kills me, and it just might!

Wearing the PAPR for long periods sucks….









Brad


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I think it blows . . .

But hey, it's better than the rash. I look forward to seeing the 00 when it is finished!

Brad, Re papr, I’m not sure what you’re using but I went to a soft hood system which is practically weightless and I find it much more comfortable than helmet or mask style Papr systems.


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Thanks! Will look into that. I have the helmet style. I did pick up the backpack which I like and really helps when wearing for long periods.




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We made it!!



Brad


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So I finished this StewMac Deluxe Reverb, 1966 clone kit which is the most involved kit they offer. It's also my 5th amp build and they are all singing pretty in my studio including the Marshall clone half stack. The last amp I own that I did not build I sold yesterday to a friend because I only want to play through amps I built.

Deployed the Deluxe yesterday with the help of another friend to heft it I still have hernia issues.... I was thrilled to learn that when I fired it up with my insulated mat and shoes, fire extinguisher at hand and standing across the room using a long cord to turn it on everything worked fine....

Went though the checks and it was all right in spec. Got out my bias meter and set the bias and Bob was my uncle.

From the first time I applied power it worked perfectly with no errors that are stopping anything from working as intended.

Not sure I like the optional speaker I used that was supposed to make it sound played in right at the get go. But beyond that it's point-to-point, hand wired, all tube, vintage tonal nirvana and I was playing lots of tunes on it last night including Angry the first release from the Stones in 18 years.

It's pictured with my nearly-all-Strymon board which may not be a good match for this amp so I am going to build another Klon clone and tube screamer for my two levels of overdrive I like to play with.

But it was a good time and it only took me a little over two weeks to complete working a few hours in the wee hours every morning.

Great kits from StewMac and although this time I didn't need it their tech support is top shelf too.

It sure looks professional, enjoy! Please don't send me down this rabbit hole. Crap now I'm on the SM site.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Been a while since I’ve had more than one build going at the same time. I remember why.




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Ugh. I tried a batch of 2 a few years ago. Not my favorite way to work. I just don’t have room, and it’s too repetitive to be as fun as building one at a time. They look great, though!

Found a nice hunk of wood to build something at yard sale yesterday. I haven't decided what to do with it but it's beautiful piece and cost me $5.00. The handles are a bonus.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Finalizing the bridge.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I think that needs to be re-sawn and top a chambered tele. Said by someone who almost never builds electrics.


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It will most likely adorn my shop for a few years before I decide what to use it for. A tele seems like a good idea, I have the pickups.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I went to Armstrong Millworks, not far from me, and had a couple of boards resawn, and some tops, and fretboard pieces sanded to thicknesss. The tops, and the mahogany back, are a little over 1/8" thick, and the Osage Orange baroque fretboards are too (tied on frets). The Katalox board is 1/4". The long board will be 3 baroque guitar bellies. Those are only 10" wide, but fairly long. The board cut in 6, .2-.25 pieces is enough for 2 guitar backs; but only one set of sides. It is 4 5/8'' wide Sapele. I will use it with the smaller of the 2 larger bellies, a piece of red spruce for the larger of the 2 Torres plans I have. The mahogany goes with the large Hemlock piece for a dreadnaught. The rest are for old instruments.

The lightest wood is the Red Spruce. Go figure.

Those guys really know what they are doing. I helped him by catching the boards coming out from the sander. It looks like it is at least 24" wide. $25 for resewing, and $30 for sanding.

But I used the $175 rebate cards from my new tires, to contribute toward a Festool "dust extractor." The shop vacs I've got lately just don't hold up. They are just total junk.

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Why be normal?