The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Custom Shop

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #16  
Old 07-23-2018, 11:27 AM
RGPGuitars RGPGuitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Peterborough, ONT
Posts: 175
Default

I have some 100 yr old pattern makers chisels, but not bent ones. Never thought of using them for braces. Guess I better sharp em up and try. Thanks for the idea. Russ Parker
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 07-23-2018, 01:59 PM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by RGPGuitars View Post
I have some 100 yr old pattern makers chisels, but not bent ones. Never thought of using them for braces. Guess I better sharp em up and try. Thanks for the idea. Russ Parker

The nice thing about the crooked neck is that you can then ride the sole of the chisel more or less flat even with the side or top of the brace, almost like a block plane. Give them a shot!
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 07-23-2018, 02:29 PM
Bruce Sexauer's Avatar
Bruce Sexauer Bruce Sexauer is offline
AGF Sponsor
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Petaluma, CA, USA
Posts: 7,525
Default

You’ve got my attention . . .even before you invoked me. Your take on chaotic rosette work looks great to me. And your bracing doesn’t look too heavy to me, as many do, and it turns out you’re into HHG as well. I see no reason why these Guitars shouldn’t work very well. I have been having good luck with my 15.5” bodies as well, assuming that’s what your designation means; super OMs, sort of.
__________________
Bruce
http://www.sexauerluthier.com/
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 07-24-2018, 05:41 AM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
You’ve got my attention . . .even before you invoked me. Your take on chaotic rosette work looks great to me. And your bracing doesn’t look too heavy to me, as many do, and it turns out you’re into HHG as well. I see no reason why these Guitars shouldn’t work very well. I have been having good luck with my 15.5” bodies as well, assuming that’s what your designation means; super OMs, sort of.
Hey Bruce it's good to hear from you. It's encouraging to hear that you at least find the designs palatable, given that you tend to sit on the more traditional side of things, if I may say so. I admire your blend of old and new, and you are one of the builders that I have in my head when building my guitars. It's my desire to always be somewhere between modern and traditional. Of course, I sometimes stray too far to the modern side of things, but at least it's my goal and I hope that it helps to keep me grounded.

I've learned to love HHG. I use it for everything on the soundboard, as well as the back braces.

Yes, these will all have 15.5" lower bouts. If you averaged out all the guitar shapes out there, I think you would arrive at something like a super OM as you say. In my opinion, it's an ideal size in terms of both playability and sound.
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 07-26-2018, 07:40 PM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

Things are moving along nicely with the three guitars for TNAG. I'm enjoying doing a little batch work, and it seems to be saving me some significant time.

The last couple days have been spent finishing up the soundboards and gluing them to the sides.

Here is a pic of how I like to hold the soundboard in place while marking the brace locations on the rim. I think I remember seeing Ben Willborn using the same kind of antique iron as a weight.
[IMG]IMG_5409 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]

Using the go-bar deck to glue the soundboard to the sides.
[IMG]IMG_5415 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]

The assembled soundboxes.
[IMG]IMG_5418 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5428 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5422 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5420 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5419 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]

I needed a little break the other day from working on the guitars, so I decided to make a new tool! I've always been a little finicky about getting the binding and purfling channels just right before installation. For various reasons, I never get a good result straight from the binding router. The channels aren't perfectly square, the depth varies around the guitar, etc. So my standard procedure was to go over the channels with a small fingerplane iron to get them right. Doing it freehand was good, but this is better! A dedicated scraper plane. It's super consistent and works great, and I had fun making it. It registers on the sides and top, just like a binding router. The blade can be adjusted the same as a wooden plane to any depth needed.
[IMG]IMG_5424 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5427 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #21  
Old 07-26-2018, 07:42 PM
TomB'sox's Avatar
TomB'sox TomB'sox is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: The Lone Star State
Posts: 13,449
Default

That binding tool is super cool and I can see how helpful that would be!!!! Oh, the guitars look good too hahaha...Still love that rosette.
__________________
PS. I love guitars!
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old 07-27-2018, 01:32 PM
justonwo's Avatar
justonwo justonwo is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 7,120
Default

Those are looking super cool. Cute kid, too!
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old 08-01-2018, 07:54 PM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

Work has continued on the bodies this week. The last couple of days have been spent working on purfling and center strips.

For the last year or so, I've been doing a center strip that is tapered slightly, which is inspired by Bruce Sexaur. I told you Bruce that you're in my head! It adds a little bit of difficulty to the job, but I like the balance that it offers. My little twist to the design is to add arrows at each end of the strip. It's a simple thing, but I've come to like it. All three guitars in this batch have a center strip with the arrows.

Here is the walnut guitar with cocobolo center strip and curly maple purfling.
[IMG]IMG_5431 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5434 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5435 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]

Tomorrow I will start on the binding. All three guitars have the top and back purfling installed as well as the center strips.
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old 08-01-2018, 07:55 PM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by justonwo View Post
Those are looking super cool. Cute kid, too!
Thanks Justin. And I'm pretty fond of the kid. She can stick around.
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old 08-16-2018, 10:54 PM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

Work on these three guitars has taken a bit of a back seat recently to a family vacation to Alaska (which was amazing!), and the assembly of three new guitars, which happened this week. Of of those new guitars, is actually a part of this batch of three guitars in this thread. It was commissioned by an individual through The North American Guitar. Today it got its first set of strings. It has Macassar ebony back and sides and a Swiss moon spruce soundboard. RL15 model.

Here are a few pics to share. I was immediately taken with the depth and clarity in the Macassar ebony.

[IMG]IMG_5440 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5443 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5445 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5464 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5465 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]

I'm eager to get back to work on the three guitars at hand tomorrow!
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Old 08-17-2018, 12:48 AM
Michael Watts Michael Watts is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London UK
Posts: 2,984
Default

Beautiful work Ryan, keep it up!
__________________
www.michaelwattsguitar.com
Album Recording Diary
Skype Lessons
Luthier Stories
YouTube
iTunes
Instagram

Guitars by Jason Kostal, Strings by Elixir, Gefell Mics and a nail buffer.
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Old 08-17-2018, 04:17 AM
The North American Guitar - Richard Poll's Avatar
The North American Guitar - Richard Poll The North American Guitar - Richard Poll is offline
AGF Sponsor
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: London, UK
Posts: 88
Default

Such a great thread, Ryan, thanks so much! We can't wait to receive these guitars! All three are available to pre-order now!
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Old 08-17-2018, 07:00 AM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Watts View Post
Beautiful work Ryan, keep it up!
Thanks Michael! Good to hear from you.
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Old 09-08-2018, 07:55 AM
gerberguitars gerberguitars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Canton, Ohio.
Posts: 287
Default

It's been a while since I've last updated this thread. I feel like a lot has happened in the last couple of months.

Thrown in the mix was a family trip to Alaska with hikes to glaciers with the kids, flights over Anchorage in my brother in law's plane, lots of little nieces and nephews running around like animals, all good times.
Alaska is an amazing place to visit. Not sure I could live there in the winter, but man it's beautiful. It's one of those places that makes you realize how small you really are. The mountains, wildlife, ocean, glaciers.

I sent a few new guitars out the door in the last couple of weeks. It's always fun to have new guitars around the house to play for a little while before they get shipped out.

I have been taking pictures along the way of the current batch of guitars, but haven't made time to post, so I'll try to play catchup in the next couple of days to get everything up to date.

Let's see where we left off. Binding. The walnut guitar was the first one of the batch to get binding, and the first one out the door for finish as well.

[IMG]IMG_5494 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5491 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5522 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_5534 by ryan gerber, on Flickr[/IMG]
__________________
Ryan Gerber
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Old 09-08-2018, 09:11 AM
justonwo's Avatar
justonwo justonwo is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 7,120
Default

Lovely work. Very clean and original. The woods are really striking and the colors meld well together.

Might I humbly suggest the use of rainbow colored binding on the other guitars?

Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Custom Shop

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:15 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=