BERNIE LEHMANN "Roycroft" Model Manouche (Carpathian/Cocobolo)

[Kent Chasson]

Great idea for the rose. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

[iim7V7IM7]

Yeah, we'll have see how that works for a sound port. I got the idea from some metal work. I believe it will need some interior reinforcement for the cocobolo side wood.

The actual materials to be used for much of the decoration is still TBD. We are thinking about either a honey colored mission oak or cocobolo for the background wood with maple lines, boxwood tulips and rose and bloodwood squares. Bernie will need to experiment with actual woods before deciding.

[mikealpine]

Exciting and different, which makes this fun to watch. Thanks! I'm planning in a Woodstock visit, so hopefully I'll get to see and play some work like this. Love the details!

[iim7V7IM7]

Perhaps, if I visit Woodstock '014 next Autumn, I will let Bernie display it if he likes (tbd)

[iim7V7IM7]

Because Bernie as a luthier may not be a "regular name" or participant here is the AGF Custom Shop, I thought that I would share some images of the last commission that Bernie made prior to starting mine (a fretless acoustic bass):

[geordie]

yup, superb work and design, nothing holding back a player there.

[LegatoLuthier]

I am happy there seems to be such interest in the Gypsy style guitar I am building. I'm Bernie Lehmann from Rochester, NY and have been making instruments full time since 1972. I say full time, but I do repairs and have a vintage business to supplement the game. Still, this guitar will be instrument #464. and I have made ~35 Gypsy style guitars to date. My design is mainly traditional, but I have altered the top bracing to produce a richer tone with more overtones. I wrote an article for "Guitarmaker Magazine" that goes into the details if you want more info. LINK
I love the idea of a theme guitar and we have been working around designs based on the Roycroft Movement which was centered in E.Aurora, NY, not far from me. I took a field trip to to to catch the vibe of the whole thing, and found that there is an active group of artisans carrying on the tradition. It's a cool place with the Roycroft Campus - and the childhood home of Millard Fillmore to boot. Roycroft is a close relative to the Craftsman style, Mission Style, Stickley furniture and the like. Despite his claims of total originality, Frank Lloyd Wright has been associated with the late movement. Here is a link to some photos of my visit to the Roycroft campus---https://plus.google.com/photos/10360...IDwqZ_k887IuwE
I will try to figure out how to post pictures and get going tomorrow with the build story.

[SJ VanSandt]

That bass is one of the most beautiful instruments I've ever seen. I would dearly love to hear that!

[iim7V7IM7]

Well, the work has begun in earnest up in Rochester on my Gypsy guitar (Model Manouche). Some of the initial work on the plates is with a 1958 Shop Smith (Bernie's Dad's) with a sanding drum to the Cocobolo plates. It is an oily hardwood so you need to start with a fairly aggressive grit.



Here's Bernie making 1/16" square sticks for the rosette and trim from ebony, boxwood and bloodwood (shown, the sous chef aspects of being a luthier)



The back is being joined on a go-bar deck with bar clamps. Bernie has a large go-bar deck so several things can be glued at once. The ash bars are keeping the back from buckling under the clamp pressure.



These are the back braces and are made of Spanish cedar. It looks a lot like mahogany but is lighter weight and plenty sturdy.



The braces are curved and set on the back. He has to do the center strip inlay before they can be glued in place.



The sides on the Gypsy guitar define how it is different from a flat top guitar. Both the top and the back are highly domed, so from the side view it is useful to think of there being a center line that runs equidistant between the top and the back. With a flat top, the sides and blocks and everything is at right angles to the plane of the top. With this model, it is not so easy because the center line is imaginary running from the end pin to the center of the heel. (Pretty confusing, I know).



The full side is being bent on a solid mold. Bernie uses electric heat blankets to generate the steamy heat while the side is wrapped in foil wrap. Once the water is steaming, the side can be clamped to the mold and cooked for a while until the water is steamed off. The goal is for the side to end up dry to help minimize spring-back when taken off the mold.



Here is the side steaming in it's flavor packet. Yum, smells good! Like coco(bolo)...



The cutaway part of the mold switches out with the full upper bout part. Bernie establishes a thickness the sides to achieve a certain flexibility rather than a certain dimension. Cocobolo is quite dense and stiff and the final thickness ended up being .080" (2.3mm). The extremely sharp bend for the cutaway requires thinning and ended up at .055" (2mm). The sides will get stiffeners later.



More as I receive it...

[Dave Higham]

Er... your sums are a bit out.
.080 = 2.03mm
.055 = 1.4mm (is it really that thin?).

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks for the conversion (I took Bernie's numbers from his e-mail). I do believe the the sharp turn of the Venetian cutaway required thinning the side wood to 0.055" (1.4 mm). The radius created is quite tight vs a typical flattop venetian (see below an example) Perhaps Bernie will chime in?

Originally Posted by Dave Higham

Er... your sums are a bit out.
.080 = 2.03mm
.055 = 1.4mm (is it really that thin?).

[LegatoLuthier]

I work in English measurements, and they are correct. It is fine to be that thin in the cutaway because the bends stiffen everything up. I'll stick to inches.

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks for chiming in...:-)

Originally Posted by LegatoLuthier

I work in English measurements, and they are correct. It is fine to be that thin in the cutaway because the bends stiffen everything up. I'll stick to inches.

[iim7V7IM7]

Here's an example of a 3-D sketch of a backstrip concept that Bernie was discussing with me today. This type of empirical exploration is used by some luthiers with clients to create a design when trying exploring an idea beyond a 2-D drawing with the actual materials to be used.

This set of Cocobolo has some light colored sap wood at the plate seam. Bernie has cut 1/16" (1.6 mm) strips of ebony-boxwood-ebony and is looking at creating a pattern of 1/16" bloodwood square accents along its length that every 5th one would have an array of 3 staggered squares. Bernie has also made a 3/16" (4.8 mm) engraved Dard Hunter rose as an accent to potentially place toward the upper bout or heal cap (TBD). We were discussing the pattern and feature placement along the backstrip.

Thought I'd share this vs. a finished result to illustrate the creative process...

[Luca Canteri]

very nice and interesting build. love these guitars.