espousing

another guitar on the way

2009-05-16T03:03:00.003-05:00

I have been slacking on Matt's latest adventure, but he is in the process of making another guitar, and I did manage to start taking pictures about halfway through. I wish I had caught the beginning, though. It is really interesting to see raw boards turn into something so curvaceous and smooth.

This time, it is an electric guitar. Made of purple heart with an ebony fingerboard.

It has a regular fretboard, and is currently awaiting pickups. It sports a fancy bridge system that allows each string to be set for 3 different tunings. It also has a nut equal to such shenanigans.

Pictures to come shortly.

2007-06-09T00:14:00.000-05:00

He's at it again!!!

2006-02-19T10:33:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is! I missed out, once again, on capturing some of the last efforts on camera. Actually, at this very moment, he is at his folks house working on the finishing touches.

In this picture at left, he strung it up to play it, as soon as he possibly could, although there was still some work to do on the instrument. He was, understandably, excited to hear what it was going to sound like.

After playing it for a few days, he took the strings off, and commenced the finish work, such as filling & sanding. Today, he is applying the lacquer, after which, he must wait a few days before playing it again.

I do have some more photos, which I intend to upload, and eventually organize this blog a bit better as well. Meanwhile, if you start in November of last year (see the archives in the sidebar), scroll down to the bottom of the page and move forward, you will get a chronological sequence of the North Coast Guitar Project.

2006-02-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

He worked on the binding while I was at work.

Once again, he had to fire up the bending tools, and get the binding into the right shape. Here is the second side of binding work, having been glued, and taped to hold it on while it sets up.

2006-02-12T10:49:00.000-05:00

It is now together. The binding is the next step.

2006-02-06T13:27:00.001-05:00

Time for the frets to be put in.

2006-02-06T13:27:00.000-05:00

Here it is! All put together & hanging on the wall. There is still a lot of work to do, but it is really coming along.

2006-02-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

Finally! The top is being attached.

Here is another view.

2006-02-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

And finally, to bring us up to date, here is the guitar, after being lacquered on the inside. This project is really coming together!

2006-02-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

The kerfing is all done. Now the edges have been masked off, so that the interior could be lacquered. This will seal the wood & protect it. The edges had to be masked so that the glue will stick to it when it is time to attach the front.

Here is another view.

2006-02-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

This shot shows the kerfing on the front edge.

The front kerfing made it so that the front could not fit on, without trimming the bracing a wee bit.

2006-02-01T12:46:00.000-05:00

Here, you can see how the sides are being glued to the back. The end block & the kerfing are glued to the sides and back at the same time, which holds the whole thing together. The dowels are bracing the kerfing, for a nice tight glue joint.

More of the kerfing has been finished at this point.

2006-02-01T12:44:00.000-05:00

Here he is, checking the level of the sides.

2006-02-01T12:38:00.000-05:00

The back is now getting attached. The masking tape is holding the sides to the back, so that the contour of the back is being followed. ||

2006-02-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

This photo shows the sides after they are fitted into the mold, and drying.

Here, the sides have been removed from the mold, and are being glued to the end-block & the neck.

Here is another view of the endblock being attached to the sides.

2006-02-01T12:33:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I have updated this project. I stopped, over the holidays, partially due to the nature of the season, but also due to a snag in the guitar works that I was hesitant to record. The orginal attempt to bend the sides resulted in major cracking, so they had to be started over. The second attempt went well, as he made them much thinner that time. He soaked the sides overnight in the tub, and then, using a propane torch and a piece of 2 inch pipe, bent them into the approximate shape. Then he fitted them into the mold he had already prepared. This first picture shows that step.

This is the setup for the heat-bending of the wood.

This shows the original sides being bent. The second attempt happened while I was at work, so I missed capturing it on film.

2005-12-20T15:22:00.000-05:00

We took a field trip out to Western Reserve Hardwoods in Perry this past weekend. The owner will be closing his store, which was rather sad. He did, however, run some of Matt's oak through a joiner so that he could begin work on the back of the guitar. It was neat to be around so much beautiful wood. He glued it that evening.

While the Sunchild & I were out yesterday, he took the coping saw to the joined pieces & cut out the back. When I arrived at home, he was using the planer on it to thin it out some. That oak is going to make a beautiful back.

2005-12-11T23:38:00.000-05:00

Here is a mock-up of the guitar. He cut the frets yesterday, using his new Japanese style draw saw. This same saw was very useful to get the grooves of the neck where the sides meet just right.

2005-12-11T23:33:00.000-05:00

This morning, he chiselled down the neck.

Then he used the rasp to smooth out the curve, and take out the big bumps.

2005-12-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

There has been a bit of sanding and planing going on, but not much that will look much different on camera.

He did rearrange his workspace, however, and the whole livingroom/dining area looks so much more spacious. Now there is room for everyone to work on something if they want to.

2005-11-30T22:43:00.000-05:00

These are the sides and back, having been thinned down considerably. These are the next phase of the project.

2005-11-30T22:41:00.000-05:00

He had a friend at work saw his board in half. This is the wood from the oak from the tree from his folks house. The saw burned the medullary rays somewhat, and it reminds us of Arabic script.

2005-11-30T22:39:00.000-05:00

Here is the bridge. It is curvaceous to account for the various tunings that different strings need..

The headstock has been veneered, and shaped, and it has been thinned down some as well

2005-11-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

He has been hard at work on the guitar today. The purple heart is very hard, and proving tricky to work with. However, the butt end of the neck is looking pretty good. He added a veneer to the headstock today.

2005-11-17T11:11:00.000-05:00

After the glue set, he began to carve the heel. The wood looks a bit funky because of the flash, but it is purple heart, and quite beautiful. He needs a few more tools in order to continue on this part of the work.

2005-11-17T11:04:00.000-05:00

He is working on the neck here- gluing the pieces together that will form the heel.

2005-11-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

I wish that I could get a better closeup of the soundhole. The grain of the wood shows beautifully through the carving....

2005-11-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah, I forgot that he also bought some lovely Purple Heart for the neck, which has been miter-sawn, and had the headstock attached.

This was all in September & October.

2005-11-11T22:10:00.000-05:00

Well, I began this particular blog in order to document my husband's adventures in dietary experimentation. As these experiments died down, so did my blogging...

So I think that I am going to revisit the idea behind 'espousing', and use to it document the various paths that my husband's interest's take. The latest adventure is guitar building. He has talked about it for years, and he recently decided to take the bull by the horns and give it a try. He researched extensively, determined where to buy the wood he needed, arranged the field trip and has done a ton of work on it.

He began with the top, which involved getting some spruce tops, & gluing them together. He then cut out the shape, and sanded it.

One night, I came home from work, and he had used his new coping saw to carve out a beautiful sun in the soundhole. It is amazing to see the amount of work that he is able to accomplish with handtools, and at the kitchen table of our wee apartment.

He carved the top, as it is an archtop which he has decided to build. Last night, when I got home, the bracings were attached.

I have been trying to take photos, but have managed to miss most of the process. I think he gets more accomplished when it is just he & the Sunchild at home.

I will be adding photos & commentary as this work progresses.

2005-09-19T23:13:00.000-05:00

we moved so slowly out of the raw food perspective that i hardly noticed it missing. it began to be replaced by qi gong, and has led to a form of tibetan yoga that he has been practicing every morning. he has even managed to get the sunchild to join him regularly. it is quite a sight to see in the mornings. maybe i should take a photo.

2005-08-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

the most recent addition to the food paradigm has been the blood type diet. based on Eat Right For Your Type, it defines diets based on whether you are A, B, AB, or O.

this has also led him to realize that the raw vegan diet may not be the best diet for every body.

we are still aiming for mostly vegetarian, although fish is a good source of a lot of things, and we will likely still eat that.

oh. and on another note, we took the sunchild off of milk a ways back. we let him do other dairy, just not the constant milk drinking that was going on earlier this year. the interesting thing is, his constant snotty nose & dark circles under his eyes have vanished. i am not certain it is the dairy- he has been getting a lot of exercise, sun, and healthy food on demand since he left daycare.... i think this may contribute to his raidiant health.

2005-08-03T20:04:00.000-05:00

today he asked me if i knew how to butcher a rabbit.

this is definitely a change in direction!

2005-08-01T00:02:00.000-05:00

the almond milk has really grown on me. when i strain it through the tea strainer, it is creamy & yummy & good.

he is still talking raw food, but some recognition of the time it may take to completely change his eating habits.

now the direction is vegetarian, mostly raw.

another new influence is the 'eat right for your type' diet. we have a blood test on order, so that he can learn his type. the boy wants to be involved too, and wants to watch his papa so that he can decide if he wants to learn his blood type too.

2005-07-19T08:10:00.000-05:00

well, the raw food adventure continues.

i gave up on reading the book. it just served to make me contentious & argumentative about the whole thing. instead, i have agreed that adding more raw food is good, but i cannot fathom going 100%.

he is aiming toward vegetarianism too. i can dig that... although it may not affect my omnivorous tendencies!

2005-07-02T22:10:00.000-05:00

raw food.

that is the current obsession.

i am trying to read a book about it that he wanted me to check out. i find it prosletizing & repetitive.

i like raw food a lot. i love salads. fruit is good.

but although i totally agree that more raw is better, i cannot see how totally raw necessarily follows as the best diet for a human.

and the book is not convincing me.

but i will keep at it & see if i can see what the hook is.

2005-06-09T10:25:00.000-05:00

today the word is the rainbow diet.

he is currently looking up food for those colors that are harder to come by... blues & purples.

i asked if the apple counts as red, or white. he tells me its both. and it is good for starting off the day. apparently, part of the rainbow diet is to go through the rainbow throughout the day. i wonder what color late night munchies are supposed to be....

2005-06-09T10:21:00.000-05:00

it's soaked almonds, just for the record. and they were very, very tasty.

2005-06-08T21:21:00.000-05:00

it started as a joke sometime earlier this evening, but the more i thought about it, the more i liked the idea.

my husband is on a quest. it is a long-term, convoluted, and mighty interesting quest: how to feel better in this body he has.

this quest takes many forms, and can be rather unpredictable, but i sure learn a lot as i try to follow his mercury in gemini down the many interlocking pathways of the adventure.

he told me today that almonds are the food of the week.

i told him he should keep a health blog.

then i realized *he* would never do something that involved a commitment to type things of length into the computer.

but i would.

then he commented that i could be "espousing the sacred word"

this rare pun was worthy of commemeration with it's very own website.