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Old 01-27-2023, 08:45 AM
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Default Osthoff Guitars - Back in the Saddle 23'

After a bunch of setbacks, many medical, I am finally back in the shop semi-fulltime. I don't want to go into the details about the set-backs but I am still dealing with a shoulder injury. I have learned to adapt so that can I resume work.

Anyway, I wanted to share some shots from the shop. I am resurrecting my Vintage Series guitars and am excited to be doing these again. For now, I will be concentrating on pre-war martin style guitars, D-18, D-28, OM-18 and OM-28s. I plan to keep close to the tradition with some minor tweeks like adding a trussrod for example. I also will be substituting Madagascar Rosewood for Brazilian on some of the 28 models. As my Brazilian stock is low, If I can (responsibly) obtain more Brazilian, I will put that on (some of) the 28 styles.

Here are a couple shots the D-28 and OM-18 that are in process at the moment:

This is the D-28 with the ladder braced back. I created a different logo for this series that is just a simple ol-timey font. The braces are close but will get a final carving during the voicing stage.



Here is a shot of the OM-18's back on the Go-bar deck



I am sure Martin didn't use molds back in the 30's but I decided to make molds mostly to keep the sides in place to avoid springback while the rims are waiting other operations. I won't use a radius dish on these to profile the top, as I want to stick closer to the traditional approach.




Although I use a bolt-on neck system on my own designed guitars (which I love for the ease of removing the neck if needed,) I will be using the traditional dovetail on the Vintage Series. I decided to drop the PW designation from the Model(which stood for prewar as the PW confused at least one very savvy person.

I made the reinforcement strips from natural cloth. I know some use bias tape for this, and while it is a clean look, most bias tape is made with polyester. I found traditional glue (hide) does not stick to the polyester very well. Maybe there is bias tape without the polyester, but all the stuff I found had it in there.



Thanks for checking em out.
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  #2  
Old 01-29-2023, 07:39 AM
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Here is a shot of the Rosettes for the OM-18 and the D-28. Trying to stay as close to tradition as possible in size and form. The glue pot is warming up and hope to get to the bracing on the D-28 today. We will see as it is Sunday and I do try to take some time out of the shop for Sunday things. For example the dogs are patiently waiting to listen to jazz and have their sunday eggs.

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Old 01-29-2023, 07:52 AM
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John, it is nice to see you both back at the bench and posting here is the AGF Custom Shop…
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Old 01-29-2023, 08:22 AM
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Welcome back John! You've discovered the best therapy (for injuries and life lessons) - keep moving.
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Old 01-29-2023, 11:55 AM
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Good to see you moving about.
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Old 01-29-2023, 04:29 PM
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It certainly is great to see you active and back at the bench again John. Sorry that you are not going to make it to Artisan as I had hoped to see you there and play catch up. However, your health is more important so focus on that first and everything else will fall back into place.

In regards to the bias tape I try to use tape that is mostly cotton based. Its nearly impossible to find it without some small percentage of polyester or nylon in it. When applying it I first place a strip of masking tape on either side of the bias tape's location. Paint HHG glue on the wood, place the tape into the glue than paint more HHG on top. I use a stiff nylon bristle glue brush and when applying HHG to the outside I tap the end of the bristles 90* to the tape to force the glue down and through the tape. Final step is to wipe off the excess HHG with a hot damp rag. Peel the tape off and your done. You might do it differently but this is the way that's worked well for me.
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Old 01-29-2023, 05:19 PM
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Nice to hear from you John and looking forward to seeing you and your work at some shows!
Phil
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Old 01-29-2023, 05:37 PM
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Great to see you’re back in action John. I live 30-40 miles from your shop. I’d like to stop by sometime. Good wishes for 2023 and beyond.
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Old 01-29-2023, 08:21 PM
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Let me pile on John, in welcoming you back. Sorry about the health (etc) issues.
But if you can still get out in the shop, that’s a great thing.
Your work on those replicas looks fantastic. Building in the Martin tradition is a challenging undertaking, but it looks you are well up to those demands.
Kudos!

Steve
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Old 01-29-2023, 11:17 PM
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Looks great. I never knew you did a vintage Martin style build.
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Old 01-30-2023, 05:19 AM
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Thanks everyone for the kind words. It has been a rough couple of years, but as mentioned ... life lessons. Although I am not at 100% (physically) I am so glad to be almost at full-time in the shop. I have been trying to set aside some time each day to play guitar. It is too painful to play the acoustic, so I have mostly been playing electric as that is better on my shoulder. It might be time to make a personal (ergonomic) acoustic for me.


Quote:
Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7 View Post
John, it is nice to see you both back at the bench and posting here is the AGF Custom Shop…
Thanks Bob, I look forward to seeing you soon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by srick View Post
Welcome back John! You've discovered the best therapy (for injuries and life lessons) - keep moving.
Thanks, it is a good way to look at it. I didn't feel that way for the past couple of years

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
Good to see you moving about.
Thanks Bruce, I hope we can catch-up in person soon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim McKnight View Post
It certainly is great to see you active and back at the bench again John. Sorry that you are not going to make it to Artisan as I had hoped to see you there and play catch up. However, your health is more important so focus on that first and everything else will fall back into place.

In regards to the bias tape I try to use tape that is mostly cotton based. Its nearly impossible to find it without some small percentage of polyester or nylon in it. When applying it I first place a strip of masking tape on either side of the bias tape's location. Paint HHG glue on the wood, place the tape into the glue than paint more HHG on top. I use a stiff nylon bristle glue brush and when applying HHG to the outside I tap the end of the bristles 90* to the tape to force the glue down and through the tape. Final step is to wipe off the excess HHG with a hot damp rag. Peel the tape off and your done. You might do it differently but this is the way that's worked well for me.
Thanks Tim, It would be nice to come over to Harrisburg for a couple of days. Realistically it probably won't happen. I am thinking about it though. I was going to La Conner, but I did have to back out this year. (Boy to I miss Shirley.)

Regarding the Bias tape, thanks for letting me in on your method. I think I will just "stick" with making my own from sheets of material that does not have the polyester in it.

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Originally Posted by riorider View Post
Nice to hear from you John and looking forward to seeing you and your work at some shows!
Phil
Thanks Phil, I do hope to participate in WILS (Woodstock) this year.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Haasome View Post
Great to see you’re back in action John. I live 30-40 miles from your shop. I’d like to stop by sometime. Good wishes for 2023 and beyond.
Thanks, it would be great to have you come by. It would give me an excuse to clean up a little. I am in the shop most days. I do try to take some time out of the shop on the weekends, but lately it seems like I am in there then too playing catch-up. Stop by!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird View Post
Let me pile on John, in welcoming you back. Sorry about the health (etc) issues.
But if you can still get out in the shop, that’s a great thing.
Your work on those replicas looks fantastic. Building in the Martin tradition is a challenging undertaking, but it looks you are well up to those demands.
Kudos!

Steve
Thanks Steve, in my absence, I have been lurking and grabbing inspiration from you and Ryan. Yeah the Vintage stuff does have it's challenges, but there are a lot less distractions in the ascetics, wood choices etc. You're right it is still challenging. I won't call these replicas although I am trying to stay very close to tradition on them. No bar frets, and I will use a truss rod. On the D-28, I am using Madagascar Rosewood instead of Brazilian. Most of my Brazilian is too small for a Dread. Perhaps, I will make a few with Brazilian if the demand is there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by justonwo View Post
Looks great. I never knew you did a vintage Martin style build.
Thanks Juston. Yeah I started the Vintage Series many years ago. My ADD kicked in and I wanted to focus more on modern guitars and really dug into my own designs. I still get a ton of satisfaction making my own style guitars, with bevels, composites, wedges, new wood choices etc. I won't give that side up and I do have a couple of my designs in the pipeline too. Once the D-28 and the OM-18 are into the finish booth, I hope to get moving on those too.

Whew, that is a long post. Thanks again everyone for your kind word.
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Old 01-30-2023, 08:54 AM
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Welcome back, John. It must feel great to get back in your shop!
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  #13  
Old 01-30-2023, 04:39 PM
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John, the work on my Brazilian / redwood dreadnought is looking amazing. Great we are in the home stretch. Worth the wait I’m sure.
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Old 02-02-2023, 08:25 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by richsd View Post
John, the work on my Brazilian / redwood dreadnought is looking amazing. Great we are in the home stretch. Worth the wait I’m sure.
Thanks Rich, and thank you so much with your patience. I look forward to the day when you are playing the SD (and hopefully truly inspired)
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Old 02-02-2023, 08:36 AM
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Been busy in the shop trying to get things a little more organized to have a little better work flow. I was busy on the dark-side with some amp design and a pedal mod but that is for another forum. I have been playing electric a little bit as that is soooo much less painful on my shoulder injury. Anyway, I digress ...

I got the D-28's bracing glued up. I am not totally happy with how messy the cloth patch on the X-brace came out, but it is fine otherwise. Cleaner than the most of the old Martins.

I will use my glitter (chiladni) patterns to help guide me on voicing the top and back. I doubt I will see the symmetry in the patterns that I get from my double x-braced guitars, but that is fine as I am sticking closely to tradition. I will then clean-up the bracing a little more.



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