Jessupe Goldastini: Khaya and Redwood

[Jamiejoon]

Very unique and beautiful!

[jessupe]

Originally Posted by Jamiejoon

Very unique and beautiful!

Thank you very much Jamiejoon, I see you are a fellow Marinite, perhaps someday we will meet...thanks again'

[jessupe]

Hi agf, well here is a quick video so you can get an idea of what it sounds like. I wish I had better gear and a better player, but its what I have. I need to go easy on it as I'm trying to keep the varnish in good shape in the advent it sells, so I can't really play "freely" for fear of getting a scratch. I had to do this at night as the lot behind my place got sold and now a house is being built, so not only do I get wake up to the sound of hammers at 7 am but it also makes it impossible to record as the construction sound comes through, so the lighting is kinda wonky.

[jessupe]

Hello, here are some more shots of the build...

Here's a shot of the bridge before it's cut out. I dont use templates or anything like that. I usually just sketch the shape by hand and sometimes use sandpaper discs or other round things, I very rarely duplicate the same thing, sometimes similarity, but I try to have each instrument be it's own thing.



here's a shot of the neck being cut out using my trusty Bosch jigsaw, one of the few power tools I use.



heres a shot of the neck being shaped. I think everyone has their own way of doing the final shaping. Most times I will get my fingerboard where I want it, then I will use 3 drops of hide glue to temp tack it to the neck in order to carefully bring it to the edges of the finger board. I like to do it this way so I can feel the neck and fingerboard together in my hand. I then pop off the fingerboard and do a large percentage of the fret work with the fingerboard not attached to the guitar, then install the rod and glue them together in prep for attaching it to the body.



here another shot from the top...



working the frets.



what I call "the big scary" ...keeping with violin making principles my necks are attached quite differently than regular guitars in that they are not using a dovetail, they use a big mortise that would be like how a cello neck would be installed. The height of the heel in my work is extremely critical in that the height must be perfect less .5 to 1 mm in order to shape the very end of the finger board that must be shaped to the curve of the top where it touches down near the sound hole. This style of building using "projection" and or a neck that is above the elevation of the top creates a "elevated" fingerboard that gives the benefits of a raised fingerboard yet has distinct advantages in that where the fingerboard would normally be glued to the top constraining plate vibration my fingerboard is touching down with a foot print of a 1/4" x the width of the fingerboard, thus allowing the normally constrained top under the fingerboard to be able to vibrate.

So the heel must be traced out and the mortise is very carefully and slowly cut out by hand using very thin kerf hand saw...the prision break with a file, lol



and heres a shot of the bridge being shaped to the curvature of the top, I step the grits down starting with 80 to 220, the break out the chalk and chalk fit it refine the fit, it is very time consuming and the pitch of the bridge must always be taken into account. Every bridge will be different and need to have a different thickness blank depending on how proud the top arch is. The blank thickness is determined by using a stock bridge and placing it in its location and then peering to the sides and seeing how much gap there is from the bridge edges to the top. its generally about an 1/8" inch, so the blank need to be standard thickness plus an 1/8"

The neck has been installed and the angle that sets up the proper height to the bridge has already been determined.



Well there will probably be one more round of pics to bring the process to completion. So more to come soon, thanks for looking.

[jessupe]

Hello, so I wrap this up with this last series of photos.

Keeping with the hand made violin maker process, I do all my own varnish work, beyond that there is a very certain look that I go for that again would be like what is seen on violins, that is quite simple thick looking varnishes, that are actually very thin and varnish's that are not perfectly buffed out using buffing wheels. They are hand rubbed out using Pumice and rottenstone and they are derived from all natural materials, that being...sugar,shellac,linseed oil, amber, copal, fractured pine resins, grain alcohol and turpentine.

Aside from the materials used the surface prep is generally a little different than what "most" guitars shoot for. Quite simply in my mind guitars in general are to have "perfect" looking finish. Perfect finish happens when skilled hands use some helpful machines to achieve that look, sanders,sprayers and buffers come to mind, In my world you shoot for the most perfect you can do without the aid of these machines if possible. I do use a bosch sander for some things, but for the most part the entire process is done by hand, and therefore, looks that way.

here is a shot after the first coat which is sugar, I hope to at some point give a talk about that at one of the ncal meetings at some point as some people expressed interest in that.



here is a shot that shows the shellac coat, lmii wax free blonde



here is a coat of Joe's Balsam ground varnish



here is the copal varnish being built up



and after the last coat the stones get set. The majority of the cavity they sit in has been ground out, the final clean out happens to remove varnish that builds up in the recess in order to have good metal to stone contact.



and done



So well thanks for looking, Jessupe

[TomB'sox]

Well congrats, that looks great. I don't understand the finish process except it was a lot of steps with a lot of stuff, but I can say how great the end product looks!!!

[Jobe]

Beautiful guitar! Almost begs for a chin rest and a custom long bow. This could change everything...

[jessupe]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Well congrats, that looks great. I don't understand the finish process except it was a lot of steps with a lot of stuff, but I can say how great the end product looks!!!

Thanks so much Tom, if you have any questions about the varnish feel free to ask. Appreciate the kind words! Jess

[jessupe]

Originally Posted by Jobe

Beautiful guitar! Almost begs for a chin rest and a custom long bow. This could change everything...

Thanks, don;t think I haven't thought about it! lol...I actually have some ideas for bowable electrics...So many ideas, so little time....thanks again, Jess

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by jessupe

Thanks, don;t think I haven't thought about it! lol...I actually have some ideas for bowable electrics...So many ideas, so little time....thanks again, Jess

I wonder if you could make a bowable acoustic that was also playable fingerstyle. You'd have to have a significantly curved bridge/saddle (small radius) for bowing, but not so curved it was awkward to fingerpick.

[jessupe]

Originally Posted by rogthefrog

I wonder if you could make a bowable acoustic that was also playable fingerstyle. You'd have to have a significantly curved bridge/saddle (small radius) for bowing, but not so curved it was awkward to fingerpick.

There are such instruments called "guitar viols" of course the reality of switching from bowing to fingerpicking can be challenging...but they're pretty cool