#376
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Great pictures. Thanks for posting them. I've long been curious about Bruce's shop, so it's nice to get such an intimate look at the place where his guitar magic takes place.
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#377
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Bruce,
Do we need to be concerned about the dismembered body in your shop (leg and foot in top right corner of last pic) I heard your guitars cost an arm and a leg, but that is taking it too far IMO. Just joking. Actually, every thing I read suggests your guitars a very reasonably priced for the end product produced. Just couldn't resist the illusion/misperception of a foot and calf. John
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12 Fret Tinker Dread 12 Fret EJ Henderson Dread 12 Fret Hotrod Tricone 13 Fret Charis SJ Martin D-41 Halcyon 12 Fret 000 A&L Ami McIlroy A30c Taylor 610 LTD Martin DCPA1 Seagull Original Gretsch White Falcon Epi LP 60's Tribute Plus (Ebony) Epi LP 60's Tribute Plus (HC Burst) Epi Swingster Royale Gibson LP Trad Pro II Godin Exit 22 |
#378
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It's a nice shop... I'm amazed that all that madness produces such beautiful instruments. It seems builders are either OCD or they are hoarders who like to be in a shoebox. Either way, it's all about results! I'd love to visit your shop sometime being a Bay Area native and all myself.
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Sakazo Nakade Flamenco 1964 Bourgeois D Adi Tasmanian Blackwood 2011 Tom Anderson Strat 1990s Schecter California Classic Strat 1990s |
#379
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I do not mind visitors, I welcome them and am nearly always good for the 6 bit shop tour. If I have wet glue that needs clamping I will say so immediately and mean nothing personal by it, but please go away for however long I say, usually ten minutes or so. What I do ask of my visitors is that . . . unless they are planning on doing business with me. . . please throw yourself out after 45 minutes or so as I probably won't, but the truth is I can't usually afford much more time than that.
Had about 45 people in the shop for the NCAL meeting, which is about the max that fit if everyone is to hear what's going on. I demonstrated my fret slotting system, but may not have done a great job of it as I felt very few understood what is revolutionary about it. I suppose most people are reticent to adopt a new method if what they are doing seems to work. I don't think there is another system out there than can be infinitely adjusted to any scale AND slot the fingerboard accurately to that scale in 3 minutes flat. The real beauty of this system is that I am not married to a scale length, and can experiment with alternatives as easily as not. I have buffed out the Schoenberg 00 and glued the neck to the body. |
#380
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#381
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Bindings n Boards
While I am traveling on business in Europe, 5,400 miles to the West of me in Petaluma, Bruce continues to move the instrument forward. I was delighted to get today's update. Here is the "box" roped with the bindings installed.
We chose Mexican Kingwood which is also known as Camatillo (the brownish/purplish hued wood seen in the middle below among other choices that we considered) for the binding wood. It will be framed with black-maple-black purflings. Bruce also sent along a photo of the quartersawn african ebony fingerboard on the eventual mahogany neck. There's a bit of parallax because of the 1/4" multi-scale slotting (25" to 25-1/4" scale).
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#382
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If I may ask, what is your process for cutting fret slots? I still use a hand saw and a square.
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#383
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ooh - ooh ! Can I answer!!
Actually, that was the presentation at the NCAL meeting - Bruce has developed an incredibly cool fixture that allows you to incredibly accurately cut a fretboard at any scale length, or with a modified version, to cut a fan fret board just as easily - The heart of it is a template he had machined with a series of angled slots - these are spaced at the correct ratio, with one side at about a 24" scale, the other side at about 25.5". This master board is mounted on a sled assembly on the table saw, slots up. This keeps it exactly perpendicular to the blade, so it won't rock at all as it slides back and forth, exactly like a cross-cut sled. The other part of the fixture is a backing board with a reference pin that fits snugly into the slots in the master board. The fretboard blank, plus the backing board, is essentially identical in thickness to the sled assembly. The reference pin slides in and out perpendicular to the backing board, with a simple wing nut lock. By measuring along the master template from the zero to the 12th fret, you can find the scale length you want. A few common scales can be marked on the jig for quicker set-up. The fretboard is double stick taped to the underside of the backing board. The reference pin is moved in or out to align on the scale length you need, then locked down. With the slotting blade set to the correct depth, you just run the fretboard thru, lift off, pull the slide back, then put the pin in the next slot, and repeat. He can literally slot an entire fretboard in under 2 minutes, with perfect accuracy. But the fact that this one jig will do any scale length just by a simple adjustment of the one pin and otherwise has no moving parts is a genius design. There were too many people up front, but this is the best pic I got of it. Definitely should put some pressure on Bruce to put up a YouTube video on this - maybe even offer a kit - ;-)
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More than a few Santa Cruz’s, a few Sexauers, a Patterson, a Larrivee, a Cumpiano, and a Klepper!! |
#384
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Thank you so much! That jig IS genius, well Bruce is at least.
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#385
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The second quarter
Today Bruce applied and roped the second quarter (sans the cutaway) of binding to the box.
Hints of the brownish-purple hues of the Camatillo and Maple purfling used in the binding and rosette begin to glean their contrasting colors against the German Spruce top.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#386
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Bound
Bruce's design take on a hybrid florentine/venetian cutaway visually balances well against the wider lower bout proportions of the L00 form.
You can see the subtle pernambuco line in the rosette helps visually marry the brown-purple hues of the camatillo to the back and sides. I also like the grain and character that is beginning to be seen in the german spruce top.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#387
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Body Shape Comparison
For those of you interested, here is a side-by-side comparison of Bruce's 00 body (12-fret) vs. these L-00 (13-fret) body. Note the difference in the soundhole location to the waist of the body and the lower bout proportion.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 09-25-2014 at 01:15 PM. Reason: A smart luthier pointed out a grammatical failure...:-) |
#388
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#389
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Binding the back...
Here's what the Camatillo backstrip/binding looks like against the pumpkin hues of the pernambuco back and sides.
The narrow black-maple-black purflings create a beautiful edge defining highlight against the binding and back/side wood.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#390
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This sure is a beautiful build. Looking forward to seeing the finished guitars and hearing your review when you get it. All the best, berf
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