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  #31  
Old 12-16-2019, 05:56 PM
Jwills57 Jwills57 is offline
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Hello, Guitar Friends--Thought I'd give this thread a little life for a drab, lifeless Monday here in the midwest. I ran into the thread by Justwo from several months ago, detailing his saga purchasing and then rebuilding a Franklin 12-fret sunburst dreadnought, and he concluded that the guitar turned out to be a fantastic instrument. The pics of the guitar he posted I thought were truly stunning. The violin burst just captivated me, honestly. I have quite a few wonderful guitars, but I don't have a 12-fret guitar, nor do I have a jumbo, as in the modified jumbo currently being built by many of the "Somogyi" luthiers, which seems like a brilliant conception and design. I had been looking at Ken Casper's website for quite some time and thought he looked like a person really in touch with the craft of guitar building, in terms of his skill and passion and commitment. So, we began to talk by email and thus the Casper Georgian was born, which will be an homage to the Franklin guitar I mentioned earlier and somewhat to the Somogyi modified dreadnought, sans cutaway, as well. As you can see by the pics Ken has posted, his work is highly meticulous and professional. I have been incredibly impressed with him as a person and as guitar builder. If you are considering commissioning a guitar, Ken would certainly be a builder I would be talking to. He has his own unique designs named after each of the Great Lakes, but I think he would be open to tackling most any acoustic guitar project. My guitars should be finished sometime in the spring, I imagine. In the meantime, enjoy Ken's pics and reporting on the progress of these beautiful instruments. Best, Jack
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  #32  
Old 12-16-2019, 06:00 PM
Nemoman Nemoman is offline
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Very cool look to the wenge as it flares out at the neck heel--schweeeet!
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  #33  
Old 12-16-2019, 07:29 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Jack, thanks for jumping in and all the kind words! Always nice when the future owner of the guitar(s) chimes in. These two builds have scratched a few itches I have had for some time, i.e, modified dreadnought, 12 fret, identical guitars but for tops, hand rubbed burst. I have really enjoyed partnering with you to bring these two guitars to life.

Nemo, glad you like the neck heel. That flaring of the laminates has pretty much become my look. I'm sure others out there have done it, but I haven't seen it. I like how it dresses up the heel and ties the neck in with the binding.

Stay tuned for the hand rubbed burst. That will be the last big hurdle to recreating the Franklin look Jack is after.

Ken
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Last edited by Kenneth Casper; 12-16-2019 at 07:57 PM.
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  #34  
Old 12-18-2019, 05:30 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Default Fingerboarding

Jack and I firmed up the design of the fingerboard over the past couple of days, and today I got one of them done. Jack thought the squares and diamond short pattern used by Dana Bourgeois would look nice on this pair of guitars. We also decided to run a thin pin of osage orange around the perimeter.

I started out by cutting the squares and diamonds for the two fingerboards from mother of pearl:


I like to have all the inlay material ready prior to cutting pockets so I can test the fit and enlarge pockets if needed. I made the osage orange string inlay by ripping a slice of osage orange, running it through my thickness sander to get the correct thickness, then ripping it into strips:


With an ebony fingerboard blank on the CNC table, I first put a radius on the top face then cut the profile, fret slots, and inlay pockets. I cut the fret slots short of the edge to give the fingerboard a faux bound look:


I then glued in the shell inlays and osage orange pins and level sanded:


I should have the other fingerboard done tomorrow. Then I will start work on the headstock laminates. I'll post more pictures then.

Hope you have a warm fire to surf by. It is cold here in Michigan.

Ken
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  #35  
Old 12-19-2019, 08:47 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Today was a good day to be in the shop as the mercury was stuck in the basement. Brrr….

I made the fingerboard for the 2nd of the pair of Georgians. I won't post pix of making that one as it was pretty much the same as what I posted for the 1st one. Only difference was I decided to inlay the osage orange pins before cutting the fret slots, so I wouldn't have glue seeping into the fret slots.

Once the fingerboard was done, I started work on the laminate for the face of the headstock. The laminate is ebony with a single pin of osage orange running around the perimeter to match the osage orange purfling I had inlaid in the fingerboard. I used my CNC to cut a channel around the laminate for the purfling. The osage orange pin is just thick enough that it didn't want to make the bend on the upper curves of my headstock without cracking, so I pulled out my bending iron and coaxed it into the proper curve:


All corners were mitered using a chisel:


I then cut the pocket for my logo and followed up by cutting the profile of the headstock. A couple of trips through the thickness sander, and the laminate was done:


I am also putting a laminate on the back of the headstock. Once I have that one made, I will mark the locations and use a jig to cut the headstock shape. I will then glue the laminates on the headstock.

I am enjoying seeing these two guitars come together. I hope you are as well.

Ken
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  #36  
Old 12-20-2019, 03:27 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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I am sure every luthier has his or her own way of doing the headstock. My process has changed over the years. I started out gluing the laminates on and cutting binding channels right into the headstock. I eventually settled into making the laminates and binding them prior to gluing them on. For me this has been less prone to hiccups and is quite a bit easier. This morning I made the laminates for the back of the headstock. Jack and I had originally talked of put an ebony laminate on the back of the headstock. I mentioned we could use some Madagascar RW remnants from the back and bind them with ebony, and Jack liked the idea.

All my guitars have an abalone representation of the lake they are named after inlaid in the back of the headstock. These Georgians are named after Georgian Bay, which is just east of Lake Huron. It is one of the more spectacular bodies of water in the great lakes. I cut out a pair of inlays from abalone using my CNC and routed a matching pocket in the mad rose we are using for the laminates:


I cut the profile of the back of the headstock then bound the laminates with ebony. A trip to the thickness sander, and they were done:


Just a brief update today. Have a nice Friday evening!

Ken
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  #37  
Old 12-20-2019, 03:34 PM
jaymarsch jaymarsch is offline
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Beautiful work! I am enjoying seeing these come together. I love the fret board inlays - more of a minimalist look but still makes a visual statement.

Best,
Jayne
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  #38  
Old 12-21-2019, 04:25 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jaymarsch View Post
Beautiful work! I am enjoying seeing these come together. I love the fret board inlays - more of a minimalist look but still makes a visual statement.

Best,
Jayne
Thank you, Jayne for the nice comment and for jumping in. Jack wanted to keep the fretboard inlays simple as we will have a lot going on with the burst. We added the purfling to dress it up just a bit.

I got the headstock laminates glued on today as well as one of the fretboards. I'll post some more pictures when I have the necks final shaped and sanded.

Ken
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  #39  
Old 12-23-2019, 03:54 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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I pretty much have the Engelmann guitar done. I still need to do a bit of sanding and make a bridge, but it is about there. The Red Spruce guitar likely will catch up after Christmas. Thought I would post a few pix of the latest progress.

I cut the headstock profile using a template and my router. The bit is massive but cuts the cleanest edge:


The plates are pinned, glued, and clamped:


I also glued on the fingerboard, and we have a guitar:


Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Ken
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Last edited by Kenneth Casper; 04-16-2020 at 04:30 PM.
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  #40  
Old 01-09-2020, 12:11 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Been awhile since I updated this thread, and I had to dig through a few posts to find it! Lot's of activity going on in the new year by all of you.

I'd like to write that I have lacquer on and waiting for it to cure, but alas, temps are too low in Michigan, so we wait a bit longer. Jack and I did exchange a few emails regarding the bridge. He wanted to go with a design that was rectangular. We talked pyramid but decided on a different design. I worked up the design on my 3D CAD program and shared it with Jack:


The bridge was what he was looking for, so I dialed in the tool paths for my CNC and ran a test in some maple. It worked. This morning I made the ebony bridges.

Starting with an ebony blank, I first rough out the shape of the bridge:


The CNC cuts the bridge profile, saddle slot, and bridge pin pilot holes. Once done, I clamp it in my vise for final shaping and sanding:


After the bridge was sanded, I worked in some wax with fine steel wool:


Both bridges are done and I positioned one on the red spruce top to give Jack a good sense of what to expect when the guitar is done:


Thanks for checking back in! I hope 2020 is off to a good start for you!

Ken
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  #41  
Old 02-14-2020, 03:11 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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I had to go down a few pages to dig out this thread. I hadn't posted for a month as I was wrapping up my other build. I got back to Jack's twins last week. I drilled the holes for the Waverly tuning machines we will be using and filled the pores in the rosewood, mahogany, wenge, and ebony:


The last step to get ready for lacquer was to burst the tops. Jack likes the somewhat uneven, splotchy look of a hand rubbed burst on spruce, and he sent me a photo of the kind of burst he wanted. I got to work on that yesterday. Before rubbing the bursts, I masked around the purflings and brushed them with shellac to keep the dye out of the osage orange. Once the shellac was dry, I went to work on the bursts. This morning I sprayed some shellac on the tops to lock in the bursts, then I taped on the bridges and installed the necks so I could get some photos to send to Jack. I thought I might as well resurrect this thread and add a few photos. I had planned on taking a few photos while I was bursting the tops, but it wasn't until I was done that I realized I had forgotten about the camera:



We are now stuck until warmer weather comes to Michigan. Would be nice to send the guitars off to be finished, but I just don't charge enough for my guitars to afford that. So we will find other things to do while we wait for my garage to warm up.

As always, thanks for dropping by for a look.

Ken
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  #42  
Old 02-14-2020, 03:15 PM
Lonzo Lonzo is offline
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Default Wahoooo !

... such beauties ! The burst lets the orange purfling pop beautifully !
I love it ! Thanks for sharing !
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  #43  
Old 02-15-2020, 08:36 AM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lonzo View Post
... such beauties ! The burst lets the orange purfling pop beautifully !
I love it ! Thanks for sharing !
Thanks Lonzo. Much appreciate you checking on the build.

Ken
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  #44  
Old 02-15-2020, 08:56 AM
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David Wren David Wren is offline
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Hey Ken ... I absolutely love the way those Wenge neck laminations flow into the heel ... exquisite!
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  #45  
Old 02-15-2020, 05:45 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Wren View Post
Hey Ken ... I absolutely love the way those Wenge neck laminations flow into the heel ... exquisite!
David, thanks for dropping in to check out my thread. Very much appreciated. The neck laminations fanning out over the heel has kind of become my thing. Folks seem to like it. We get to Toronto fairly regularly. My wife is from there and most of her family is still there. I'll have to give you a shout sometime before we go, and maybe I could swing by your shop and say hi.

Ken
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