Neck and ribs

It's always a big moment when the label gets glued in. I have counted back and decided that this cittern is instrument number eight, so I've added this as a serial number - this is probably a bit pretentious. The belly is already made, the braces are trimmed and I'm ready to glue it on.

Meanwhile, I have taken a piece of walnut and started to prepae the ribs for the bowlback. I cut 4.5mm slices with my bandsaw (with a fresh blade fitted) and then reduced them to a thickness of 2.7mm with my drum sander. Out of the 24 bits, a few are sapwood and very plain, but the rest have a nice dark colour and some attractive grain.

Mould

Here is the new mould, with the shaping finished, next to the original.

Bowlback mould

The mould is underway. Here are the first two bits (sycamore) in place - the rest builds up on either side and then gets carved to shape. I've just started the carving process and I'm remembering just how hard sycamore is! This step is going to take a while...

Cittern and bowlback mandolin

Well, it's been a month or so since I last posted a progress report - Easter has been mostly occupied with our new vegetable plot, but I have had a bit of time to push on with the cittern. The body is now complete and I'm ready to start fixing on the neck.

I'm also getting cracking on the bowlback mandolin project. I have 'dismantled' the one I bought on ebay (I think the cracked neck made it beyond repair anyway), and taken lots of photos and prepared some drawings. The detailed look at the old Neopolitan instrument was very informative - it was fun to imagine the 'production line' for these inexpensive litte instruments in the south of Italy at the turn of the last century. I have now started to prepare the mould for my own bowlback based on the technique used for lute making.

Finished!

Well... it's done. I had to fiddle about with the tuning, and in the end it seems best in fourths, to a', d', g' and c''. There's a bit of buzz on the open strings - it doesn't spoil the sound, but I wonder if it's originating in the nut. Here it is with my clumsy fingers playing it (bit of a sloppy recording on the computer microphone). It will meet its new owner, my sister, next weekend.

Tied Frets

The top pair of strings are still missing, but I have now had a go at tying the gut frets. This mostly went well, but I had a couple of breakages (actually the knots slipped and it's impossible to reuse the piece of gut) and I ran out of material! I had to use a length of nylon string as a temporary fix for the seventh fret.

The cittern was dusted off, and I made and fitted the braces to the back.

Broken Strings

The gittern is now almost finished, and only the tied gut frets remain to be fitted. I strung it up at my intended pitch (d', g', d'' & g'') but this was just too much of a stretch for the top pair of strings (0.33 mm carbons) and so... 'twang' followed by a small amount of blood! I have now lowered the pitch by a third to b, e', b', e'' and await the arrival of some replacement top strings (0.37mm).

The tone is clear and bright, with good sustain, and a bit louder than I had expected. The volume increased noticably as I 'fitted' the bridge (reducing its mass by more than half). I made the bridge from Macassar ebony as I like the colour (it looks good with the rosewood, and doesn't really need any oil finish) but I wonder if sycamore, being less dense, would have made it even louder. If I'm feeling adventurous I might try and post up a short MP3 (when the new strings are here and the frets have been put in place.

Four coats of Tru-oil

Four coats of Tru-oil so far. and probably a couple more still to go. The main remaining woodwork will be to make the bridge, but I don't want to make any dust at the moment so I'll probably tackle that job next weekend.

A few scratches have made it through the sanding process - I will have to take more time on this process on teh next instrument.

Getting Close

No picture today, but the gittern is now ready for 'finishing'. I'm going to use Tru-Oil, my favorite 'drying oil'. I have still to make the bridge and to do a final fit on the nut and the pegs, but after that it's just the strings to add!

Binding

I have made and fitted the bindings which I made out of an old 'orphan' guitar side (in Indian rosewood). The white section in the picture is bone, which the strings will wrap over.

I have also fitted the fretboard which is also Indian rosewood and tones in quite nicely. I was going to try and use authentic glues, but in the end there is a bit of everything in there: titebond, cascamite, araldite and superglue !

On with the soundboard

Here is the soundboard with the braces glued in position. I was guided by the positioning on a lute, but it's really just guesswork! I also had a go a some tap tuning (listening to the sound of the board when tapped with the end of a finger), and although the sound clearly changed as I removed wood from the braces, I was not not sure what I was aiming at...



Anyway, when I was happy with the tap-tone, I glued the soundboard onto the body.



I also tidied up the fretboard a bit, ready for gluing into place, and made some lengths of binding (rosewood) and bent them to shape on my bending iron.

The soundboard

Here is the soundboard with the rosette cut out. I followed the method in my lute book and I am reasonably satisfied with the outcome, although I think I might be needing some glasses soon!

I have made some tone bars from some nice quarter sawn Alaskan spruce (it's light as a feather) and glued the first three in place. I have put a very slight curve in the soundboard to help resist the downward pressure of the strings (although I think that this will be only modest with gut strings).

Finally, I have also started on the fretboard, by locating a lenght of rosewood in my 'woodpile'.

Rosette

Here is the design (I used a program called Kali to help make this).

I printed this out and stuck it on the reverse of the soundboard.I had thinned the wood to just over 1mm to make the cutting out easier.

Soundboard

This is the gittern soundboard being glued up. I made the adjustable base-board to save hammering pins into any old bit of wood I find around the workshop - I'm pleased with it. I was less pleased when I carelessly snapped the newly glued soundboard when I was planing it to thickness. Luckily, it snaped right down the middle, and I was able to re-joint it. Take more care..!

I have planned the bracings and rosette and made a start on them - more in the next post.

Neck Joint

I cut the neck joint today. I'm working out the details as I go, and I decided to move the nut position to make it easier to play notes at the first fret. Once I have drilled the holes for the pegs (eight of them) I will glue the pegbox on with araldite.

I've also been thinking a bit more about upcoming projects...here is the current list:

Finish the Gittern
Finish the Cittern
Bowlback Mandolin
Parlour Guitar (for daughter)
Tenor banjo with wooden soundboard
Cherry Mandolin
Electric Micro mandolin

...but I sure that this will change !

A bear head

More progress on a few different fronts. First, my soundboards arrived from Alaska. I like the quality, but the import duty is really steep. I will be using a Sitka spruce one on the gittern. I have some others for my bowlback project, and a cherry wood mandolin I've had some vague thoughts about.

Secondly, I have made some progress on the pegbox - I'm quite pleased with the bear, even if he does seem a bit stern.

And lastly, I have been bidding for (and have just won) a baby milk warmer on e-bay. "Why?"you ask. Well, I will be gluing the gittern together with hide glue, and I will use the warmer to keep the glue at the right temperature. It's a bit cheaper than buying a more traditional glue pot.

Even more like a spoon

I have now hollowed out the bowl of the gittern and added a little relief carved snail to mark it as my own. No date though otherwise my sister might get caught in an anachronism.

The bolwback arrived safely. I am going to make some technical drawings and then take it to bits so I can figure out how it was put together. I'll then make one of my own (and might be able to restore the old one too, who knows).

A big spoon

I have worked on the gittern body shape, and it now looks like an oversized wooden spoon! There's still a bit more to come off the neck area, and the bowl is yet to be hollowed out. Still, it's progress.

Meanwhile, I have finally got around to buying (on ebay) an old bowlback mandolin. I will use this to start preparing plans to construct one of my own in the future.

A new start

I have just made a start on the gittern for my sister. I sawed up the great lump of sycamore that will become the bowl and neck and started the shaping. Learning my lesson from the Les Paul I have made use of a router as well as my trusty bandsaw. It's also birthday season and I now have a copy of Robert Lundberg's book on lute construction, which is fantastic.

Finished

I took the day off work today and managed to complete the Les Paul guitar (with only a few days to spare!). The truss rod cover was fairly straightforward, but I had to make some major modifications to the bridge which was too high. I am fairly pleased with the final result, and I've certainly learnt a lot - I hope the lad likes it...

Nearly there...

I fitted most of the ironmongery today. There's just the nut (and truss rod cover) to make and fit, and some soldering to do before I get to fit the strings and see how it sounds. I just remembered that I need to order some strings

On with its neck

The mission for this weekend was gluing on the neck (using lots of Araldite - the proper slow setting stuff). This went without a hitch, and once it was well set I sprayed some dark brown nitrocellulose to blend the colour of the joint (I thought that the colour transition was a bit too harsh before). The whole thing is now getting a few more coats of clear nitrocellulose. I also made a pickguard fron some ebony to match the fretboard - I'm quite pleased with this!

The flash makes it look a bit redder that it looks under natural light, but it shows up the quilting on the maple very nicely.

Nitrocellulose

I am now in the process of spraying the nitrocellulose finish to the body and neck. After sanding everything down about 6000 grit, I sealed both with a coat of shellac (Zinsser Bulls Eye). I have been spraying the back of the body with layers of a mid brown (a couple of coats each evening), and I'm now happy with the colour (the finish is from Manchester Guitar Tech). The neck has been coated with a lightly tinted gloss. I have also sprayed a couple of coats of clear gloss to the front prior to attempting the cherry sunburst. So far so good!

Also, I have started soldering the electronic bits together.

I really feel the clock ticking now as August approaches...

Fretting

The task for this weekend was fitting and dressing the frets. With the binding on the neck, the frets needed to be undercut. I used a special tool from Steward Macdonald - it made job much easier. I'm beginning to feel the time pressure now.

"I see you have constructed your own fretbender, young Skywalker"

I've mostly been gardening at the weekend, but I did manage to make a fretwire bending tool. It worked fairly well (that's the bent fretwire in the picture).

Starting to look the part

I haven't updated in a while, but I've been making steady progress when time is available. The new bandsaw has been a real boon - I think that this will be a great workhorse in the garage. The neck is now mainly complete - just the frets to fit and a truss rod cover to make. The most recent change has been the addition of the side dots.

The body shaping involved a lot of planing, scraping and sanding and I think it looks quite nice. I've fitted the binding and I still HATE this plastic stuff. I know it's more authentic, and is easy to scrape flat, but the gluing is ever so fiddly and I always seem to be left with some gaps. These have been filled with epoxy, but I'm going to 'stick' with wood bindings in future!

The pictures show the neck in place, but there's no glue involved - I will apply the sunburst and finish (nitrocellulose from an aerosol can) to the neck and body seperately.

'ello John, got a new bandsaw

I'm now the proud owner of a new bandsaw - I needed something a bit more manly than my old one so I could make book matched fronts for mandolins and guitars. Here it is, about to resaw the front of the Les Paul.

I've glued the two halves together, fixed them to the back, and routed out the cavities for the pickups.

Neck

Well, the neck is now shaping up; the bindings are on (I remembered that I hate plastic bindings), and I have shaped the neck profile. I will put in the side dots next, but I'm going to leave fitting the frets until the neck is in place (unless I work out that this is a dumb order). My lad has checked the the neck profile fits his hand comfortably.

There was a minor issue with the wood for the front, as it turned out that the piece I wanted wasn't in stock, but I am happy with the alternative, a nice bit of quilted maple.

Fretboard

I have now finished the mother of pearl inlays on the fretboard. Here it is after all the little cavities were routed, and in the other picture everything is glued in and sanded flat. I also sanded a radius onto the fretboard.

I used a home made sanding block with the correct radius hollowed out , and with a coarse grit paper it didn't take much effort to get a nice rounded profile. I finished off by smoothing it with my micromesh pads. Finally, I prepared the tenon where the neck will join the body. The next job is to glue the fretboard into place and complete the binding.

Top

I have ordered the wood (from exotichardwoodsukltd.org.uk) for the top of the Les Paul. It appears to have a strong quilt figure which the customer, (older son), liked the look of, but I will have to see when it arrives. The outline drawn on it is not the proper shape, only a guide!

Meanwhile, I am getting on with the inlays on the fretboard. My mini rotary tool died in the process (with a small bang), so I've replaced it with one from Axminster . So far I'm very pleased with it.

Peghead

Here is the peghead - it's bound and inlayed with abalone and mother of pearl. I took out the scratches with micromesh - it gives a really nice finish.

Into the new year

Although I haven't updated this diary in a while, I have been making some progress with the Les Paul. Many of the methods are new to me, which makes it more exciting! I fitted the truss rod (a hotrod), and two carbon fibre reinforcing rods to the neck and finished the rough shaping. I made a peghead veneer from an off cut from a macassar ebony fretboard, but decided re-saw and bookmatch it (quite a challenge). I'm happy with the results though, and this is now fitted and the bindings are glued in (currently held in by all those rubber bands). I have marked out the fretboard and made a start on the inlays (XXI to mark the birthday, and my snail logo to signify slow progress). These will be inlayed into the peghead next, as the design below:

Further Indulgence

I have downloaded the Audible sound recording open source software, and I am beginning to get the hang of it. I've now mastered two track recording (well...overdubbing), so I thought I'd make a festive recording with my mandolin (it seems tiny compared with the octave) in duet with itself. All I now need to do is to master the playing a bit better. Anyway, here it is - Silent Night.

Indulgence

I fitted the carbon fibre reinforcing rods to the neck of the Les Paul, and made a start on the electronics. These are a bit confusing as I have got three diffrent wiring plans! Still, I've made my choice and done a bit of soldering. And now the indulgence...I thought I ought to have a soundfile of the octave mandola, so I've uploaded up a song - its written by Flogging Molly but mangled a bit here!

Les Paul gets a neck

I thicknessed one of my pieces of sycamore today, and with the bandsaw cut out three neck profiles (and a couple of 'ears' for the peghead). I glued them together with Extramite glue and clamped them up with loads of clamps. The cloth is there to catch the glue that is squeezed out. I'm a bit concerned about potential twisting (the sections of wood are not truly flat- or quarter-sawn) so I will probably fit some carbon fibre as well as the truss rod.

Finished (almost)

I did quite a lot last weekend and made the truss rod cover and a bridge out of an offcut of ebony from the fretboard. I tried a new design for the bridge, and I'm pretty happy with the result.

I fitted the metalwork (tuners and tailpiece) and put the strings in place. I am delighted with the tone, it has more sustain that the smaller mandolin, but still has that mandolin 'ring'. The fretboard seems huge compared with its smaller cousin, and needs a much more active left hand.

Once it has settleed down, and the strings hold their pitch for more than half an hour I will need to refit the bridge and lower the action a little bit.

I can now concentrate on the Les Paul, but already my mind is wandering to the cittern, gittern and the next two mandolins after that...




Here is a close up of the bridge. It has a bone saddle which is at a slant to compensate for the changes in pitch as the strings are pressed down onto the frets.

This is the back - the walnut has taken the finish nicely.

Starting to finish

The octave has had a couple of coats of of Tru-oil now. It will take a few more coats until the grain if filled and the surface is really smooth.

Routing out

The Les Paul body weighs a little less now as I have completed routing out the cavities for the electronics and the 'weight loss' chambers.

I have also made a little spacer piece so that my Allen tailpiece fits a bit better to the octave mandolin.

The flash has exagerated the contrast between the colours (walnut and macassar ebony) a bit. The tailpiece has a radius of about 24cm, whereas the bottom of the mandolin is nearly flat.

Les Paul gets a body

A busy weekend with loads of sawdust. I took the great slab of ash and sliced it up then adjusted the thickness with my radial arm saw. I then glued the two halves together and after some further planing I cut out the approximate shape on my bandsaw. I used the template as a guide for the pin router and finished it off with the belt sander. Result.

I have been looking of the web at some of the 'chambering' that Gibson use to hollow out their guitars. My lump of ash still weighs a ton and would benefit from a bit of a diet.

More Wood

I collected some wood from Goulden Hardwoods today, for the Les Paul. Some ash for the body, and sycamore for the neck. I was also tempted by a lovely piece of walnut (back and/or sides for a mandolin) and some cherry (I don't know where this will end up). Here it is in the back of the car with the body and neck templates on the top of the pile.

Tailpiece

I've just ordered one of these...

What's left to do

I found time today to fit the last of the frets on the octave mandola. It's now pretty much ready to apply the oil finish (just some slots to cut in the nut first). After that, all that remains is to make a bridge, and fit the hardware.

I also made a braiding wheel today - a copy of the one my sister has. Its made from a piece of santos rosewood and seems to work quite well!

Finally, I'm hoping to pick up some wood for the Les Paul on Wednesday - exciting stuff...