Side Bending, the learning experience...

Thank goodness that mango is such a flexible wood. Spritz a little water on it, place in the side bender and in no time it just bends. It is also very easy to straighten out once bent. Ask me how I know this.....
Yes, I "got" to practice straightening one of my side pieces!
Here is my newly straightened side board.
I placed the bass-side piece in the bender upside-down. oooops. I caught it when I was lining up the grain on the tail end of the guitar, well trying to at least. Since the two side pieces are "bookmatched" the grain should match up on either side. It does now. This time I marked the wood and paid much attention. Going slow is sometimes hard for me. This is a good exercise.

I also finished up the 90 degree bend on the lower side where it joins the neck. I couldn't do it on the side bender so I made a bending pipe. This is one of those "old" ways to do it. I got an electric BBQ lighter and squished it in the vise so it would fit into a 2 inch galvanized pipe. Clamped the pipe into the vise and it's ready to go! I thought the electric option was better than the propane torch method given my ADD. I was amazed how easy it was. I had heard all sorts of horror-stories, but just wait till it gets hot, keep spritzing and GO SLOW. Piece of cake.

I'll get some better photos for next time. These don't make much sense without arrows and labels. Next time.


I also cut the scarf joint and glued my neck blank. The neck joint is 10 degrees, where as most other steel strings is 15. Strange. I'm not doing the traditional mortise/tennon neck joint. Since I'm part of a class they had everything set up for the scarf joint method. Which is what most people do now days.

I'm going with walnut for the neck, as is traditional to the Maccaferri guitars. Walnut is also one of those things I am allergic to (along with just about everything). I haven't noticed any itching or stuffiness (other than the usual spring time stuffy nose) or Anaphylactic shock that I get when I eat walnuts. That's a good thing. Then again, I have lots of benedryl just in case.....
I still have to trim down the sides to the right depth, rough out the head stock and laminate the heel block which I hope to get to this weekend.
I'm very excited. It's starting to look like a guitar, as opposed to just a bunch of pieces of wood.

Oh, I forgot: I still need to do the rosette, which is done (finally) and soundhole. Then glue down the braces.....

Holy Mangled Mango, Batman!

After several weeks of doing fiddly stuff and not make ANY progress on the guitar I finally got around to bending sides. This was very exciting because now it would actually start looking like a guitar. When people have asked to see what I'm working on and I show show them flat un-cut or bent wood they seem disapointed. If I say, "yes, but here are the braces I've made--no, you don't see them because they go on the inside" they doubt my sanity even more so.

Bending is also somewhat nerve wracking. Taking an expensive (about $40 a slat)piece of FLAT wood and forcing it into a couple of gentle curves and a couple of very extreme curves is daunting. If not done right, Snap Crackle, Pop and swearing will result. I practiced on some "doorskin" paneling before I used the mango.

This is what happens if you go too fast. This is the lower front of the guitar. It has a bend that's about 140 degrees. Good thing it was the doorskin. I have lots of it!

Fortunately, there was very little drama.


I got to use the class's Fox Side Bender. It's a jig that holds the wood and pipe bending forms I made earlier and heats the wood using light bulbs while you clamp in various directions.
The wood gets spritzed lightly with water and wrapped in parchment or aluminum foil (to hold the steam in) and placed between 2 steel slats. Then, it's placed in the machine and the giant clamp on top gets cranked down. Turn the lights on and let the heat and water work their magic.


Little by little you tighten the cauls into place. The big crank is first. It's the waist of the guitar, and it has a gentle curve. Next is the rear or lower bout of the guitar.




The bass side was fairly easy as it was 3 gentle curves and it bent in about 20 minutes. The treble side was the tricky one. You can see the light leaking out between the the wood/steel sandwich and the side of the bender. The side will eventually bend to the shape of the mold thanks to the springs on the caul (big wood thing on the outside) and the heat. This made me nervous! I still have to do another outside bend where it will join the neck. That gets done on the pipe bender next week.

After the bending and the cooling. the sides get clamped into the big mold so they will retain their shape and its a nice safe way to store them.


I also went ahead and pre-bent the ebony binding pieces. One less thing to worry about down the road.




Now I have to get back to the rosette, which is proving to be a major headache.
I keep wandering back out to the garage to see if there is anything else to do. I am not good at the waiting-thing.
Maybe this is good for me?

Rosette bending jig

I've been stressing about bending the purfling for the rosette for several weeks. I had some inside pieces from the routing jigs and thought it would be a good start for a template. I made an inside piece and screwed it to a piece of mdf. I was thinking of clamping the strips as I went around but that would get crowded real fast.
I drilled several holes and cut down some wood skewers to act as pins.
Wa-la.

It looks like a cribbage board but seemed to work.


First, I soaked the wood in HOT water in the kitchen sink for a few minutes, then put it into the jig.

I did get some de-laming and cracking in spots but I think that was because I was going too fast.

Guitar Update-forms and functions!

Last night at guitar class I got more work done on the molds for the shape and got the back glued up. Seems like I'm building the workshop before I can build the guitar.
Before I could glue the back I had get the two sides baby-butt smooth. With NORMAL wood it's a few passes with the block plane and a quick check on the light table (to make sure that it fits perfectly) then smear some glue on the edge and slam it into the glueing jig.

Oh-no, with Mango, the wacky grain necessitated getting a router jig set up to cut the edges with identical cuts on both sides. Even that took about 6-8 passes with checking in-between on the light table. But, in the end I got a light-tight joint and was able to glue up the back. Next class I hope to thickness sand it and cut out the basic shape.

I spent a lot of the time working on the damn molds. Six inches of mdf board weighs a ton. Moving it on the band saw will surely allow my chiropractor to send his kids to a nicer college.


I still need to tidy it up with my fancy Japanese pull-saw and the spindle sander.

I also sanded and drilled the bending forms to go into the bending machine, It looks like the machine from the Princess Bride. I'll get a photo of it for next time.

I am hoping to be able to start bending next time too.
When I got home there was a box from the LMI with my stuff for the next few steps!
Neck and Finger board: Walnut and Ebony.


The black sticks are the Ebony binding for the outside of the guitar. They protect the edges from dents etc. The tiny black/white sticks are the prufflings. They go between the top/side wood and the ebony binding. All this stuff is wood which will need to be heat bent as well as the sides.


The sticks with the notches cut in them are the edges for inside the guitar. This helps hold the sides to the top and back. I bought the pre cut stuff because I'm lazy.
Here's the headstock plates. I'm going with Ebony on top of Birch. That way I get a nifty little white line between the walnut neck and the head plate.

I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about how all of this is going to work together. I'd still be wearing Giranimals just for the simplicity if they made my size!
We'll see....

Guitar Update

The past two weeks have been hectic. I'm doing LOTS of stuff but not making much progress in any of them.
At last weeks guitar building I was able to get my mold glued up. It's 6 layers of 3/4 inch particle board; and about 900 pounds. Next week I will cut out most of the insides and it'll be ready for side bending.
Also, I ran the top through the giant drum sander to get it down to about .100 of an inch. After each pass through the sander you check the boards with a digital caliper and give the machine a 1/4 crank and shove it through again. After 10 or 12 passes, its ready for the next step. Cutting out the rough body shape and doing the rosette. More on that later...
I'll get some photos up when I can.

Playing wise, it's been hard to sit down and practice. Too many other shiny things have caught my eye. Stuff like going to see my guitar teacher's band play, re-roofing the garage and fixing Joels' quad, but I digress.
I'm currently working on two different and challenging pieces. One a manouche piece called Valse a Django and Asturius or Leyenda by Albeniz. Asturias is a great classical piece that is all overt the neck and has some wild parts, making me concentrate on finger and arm positioning. Because you have to hold these chord-like positions, moving fingers around but staying in position it's painful. My fingering is getting better as a result, at least my left hand. I need to tighten up my right hand now. The picking has pedal tones, played on 1 string, then 2 strings then 3. It's a good division of attention exercise. Fun stuff.

Guitar Update-Templates

My wood has showed up and we're starting to cut and glue stuff! It's hard because I want to charge into it, but that's not how to do it. It's a good thing to learn....
I've got my mold partially glued up and have the outline drawn on the tops of 2 of the 3 pieces--picture a sandwich, the guitar outline goes on the bread and a larger piece of mdf goes between them. It all gets glued up, then cut out next tuesday.

Also, I glued up the top of the guitar. It comes as 2 pieces of Bear Claw Sitka (it's hard to see the sworls in the grain, but it's very cool), then you plane it, check where the two pieces meet using a light table, then plane and check some more. When they are perfect--NO light can be seen through the seam-- then you can glue. It took about an hour. The class instructor used mine as the demo, but I was the one doing the planing.


I also got the template for the guitar cut out and sanded. I spray glued a copy of the plan to a piece of plexiglass and cut it out on the bandsaw at home and cleaned it up on the disc and spindle sanders in class. Plus about an hour of hand sanding. It's funny, it may look smooth, but if you run your fingers along the edge you feel all sorts of bumps. Those gotta' go.

I bought a belt/disc sander today and cut out the router guides for the Rosette and sound hole. Everyone else in class can use a hole-saw, but I'm making a 'D' hole guitar and that requires special jigs for routing the channel for the rosette and sound hole. It was a good exercise in patience (not my strong suit). The first ones I made I cut out of 3/4" mdf and routed with the dremmel tool. They looked like crap.

Today, I cut them out of some scrap plexi and sanded them on the new sander. I also made a spindle sander with my drill and vise. Then, lots of hand sanding. I had to touch up some spots with Bondo, which I'll clean up tomorrow.
Anyhow, here are the router jigs:



The big one is the outside of the rosette. The thin one goes inside to cut the inside of the rosette. Then the thick ring goes inside the big one to cut the soundhole. I'm hoping to do this next week.

Ok, this is weird...

Last Friday, I was working on the front walkway. Chipping out some broke pieces of slate and putting new ones in. Easy-peasy. I had the right tools, knee pads and oodles of experience.
After quitting time I noticed my knee was a little tender. No wonder, I'd just spent 4 hours on it. A few advil and shower will fix that.
By dinner time it had puffed up to the size of a softball and gotten all pink and stiff.
The next morning I couldn't stand on it or bend it. Very strange.
Go to health barn and get some Anti-inflammatory stuff and go home.
Can't sleep because of the throbbing; that and every-time Marilyn rolls over or the cats jump on the bed they whack my knee.
oh-well.
The upside is, the walkway looks bitchen and I have only a few more tiles to set (the fiddly-cut ones) and the in-floor lights to plug in and I'm done. Maybe next week.....

It's out! Buy some!

Marilyn's newest book is finally out! Marilyn did the artwork for Vile Things. It's cool as all the flora and fauna in the book are real. Very gross, Very cool.
We're hoping it'll go to a third book (book 2 comes out next year) because that's when the big bucks start.
Here's the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Search-Vile-Things-One/dp/0439908884/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225556354&sr=8-1

Practicing....

I'm taking a break from Romanza, mainly because I'm having trouble with the #@%&* B7 chord and some pinky stretches I can't quite do. I've tried other positions and other voicings but I get muted strings (they go thud) and it bugs me. So I'm taking a break.
This week we're working on polishing Penetration and working on the solo to Pipeline for my surf pieces. I am coming back to Bouree after several weeks off. I was able to sight read through with only minor mistakes. I am also working on Tush and La Grange, both by ZZ Top.
It's funny how a phrase in one piece will trigger a lesson in another song. In Bach's Bouree there are a couple chromatic runs, that lead to a discussion on types of scales, which lead to Pentatonic (5-note or blues) scales. So we had to work on La Grange/Tush.
It was fun jamming on these songs. It's different when you have the chance to switch back and forth from lead to rhythm parts. The only rule was that I had to use Pentatonic scales or chromatic runs. It's cool when you start to hear the out of key notes. I mean, be aware of them. They were there before in my playing but I didn't notice I guess.
Also with the ZZ Top pieces I get to practice with my distortion and compressor pedals.
I am also digging my new ISP Decimator. It's a noise reduction pedal that sucks out the amp-buzz that comes from having non-grounded outlets.

It's Finally Here!

Marilyn received an advance copy of her book Vile Things today!
You can pre-order it thru Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Search-Vile-Things-One/dp/0439908884
It'll probably be in the Scholastic Book Fair after November.
The Second book is done and will be on shelves sometime next year. We're hoping it goes to a third or more in the series. $$!!
We will need to travel to exotic lands so she can observe animals up close.
Meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next series: Haunted Histories. Hopefully it'll be out 2010. It takes about 18 months for a book go through "the machine". The writing and artwork are actually faster than what happens after the publisher gets it. It'll be very fun.

I am very proud of her.

My son the dancer!

Photo courtesy of lawrence Kims' blog: http://www.laurencekimblog.com/

Two weeks ago my sister Wendy got married on San Juan Island. The wedding photographer posted some of the photos on his blog. Check them out. Wendy and Brett are the second group down. Joel was the king of the dance floor that night.

Neemo update

After spending 2 nights at the vet's Neemo came home. We have to give him antibiotics for a few more days but he is back to his old self.
The vet wasn't sure why he was sick. The IV and the antibiotics helped.
Today, he woke me up 3 times while I was trying to take a nap because he needed attention or because I wasn't supposed to be napping. So, things are back to normal.
We had to go out of town the day after he came home so he was probably a little disoriented for a day or so. He was very POed with me last night. He sat on my night stand facing away from me while I read. Then slept on my shoulder after I went to sleep, facing away from me. So I guess I have been shunned. I hope I learned my lesson.
I'm glad he's ok. I really am a creature of habit and cats seem to reinforce that. After being on the road for a few days, it's good to be able to fall back into those familiar routines (ruts?).

Neemo

My best buddy, Neemo is in the hospital tonight. He's our cat of 15 years. He has been feeling poorly the last week or so. We thought is was just the heat or fleas, I took him to the vet and they wanted to keep him overnight because he was dehydrated and needed an IV drip and antibiotics.
We knew that something was not right because usually when anyone comes into the house Neemo would run in terror to hide under the bed. But lately, he would just look up from the file cabinet next to my desk where he naps and then just go back to sleeping.
It's hard for me to get to sleep since for the past decade or so, Neemo has at 9pm every night come and meowed in a voice belonging to a much larger cat, at me, telling me it's time for bed. I then spend the next hour or so reading while Neemo makes biscuits on my shoulder. After I go to sleep, Neemo sleeps on top of me. Five minutes before the alarm goes off, he is meowing and pushing on my face to wake up. We're still working on the idea of weekends, but he means well...
We couldn't bring him home tonight because he's not eating. He has always been a fussy eater, but the vet wanted to make sure he was ok. Hopefully, he'll be well enough to come home tomorrow.
We really are cat people. The rhythm of our house revolve around their whims. I feel a little lost.

Here's a picture Marilyn drew of Neemo and a photo of him when he brought me a mouse at 3 am(I was so proud)!

Marilyn's book got reviewed

This is Marilyn's toy book. You can check it out at http://thetoymaker.com/
She's had millions of her toys downloaded by people all over the world. It's pretty cool to see her be able to touch that many people's lives in a positive way.

George Carlin 1937-2008

I grew up listening to George Carlin records. I was introduced to them by a friend who had an older brother and he would let us listen to his records--they were much cooler than ours. My sister Val and I would memorize some of the cleaner routines and repeat them at the dinner table. Everyone one would laugh till it hurt. We thought his drug humor was funny even though we did "get" all of the joke.

Through George Carlin I got interested in all sorts of other comedians and writers. Every time I use the word "stuff" I think about his riff on "stuff".

Earlier this year, we rented his last HBO special from net flicks and thought we'd watch it as a family. We talked to our son before and prepped him for the language part; none of this is repeatable at school. That many swear words just got boring.
I enjoyed his observations and his message that we need to not take things for granted, but the swearing got old fast. Maybe I'm getting old?

Here's the wikipedia link for him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_carlin

Grooming gone bad

Most days I am so proud of my child.  

Then this evening he was combing his hair and somehow GOT HIS COMB STUCK IN HIS HAIR!  How does this happen?

Maybe we're just crappy parents for letting him use something so obviously dangerous without appropriate supervision.  

Oh well, here's one more thing for those future therapy sessions....

That's my boy!

Bathroom Hell update

I insulated the walls, put up the wonderboard, got the tile on the floor (except for the hole, which is waiting for the plumber) and the tile on the walls, painted the walls and and put the light fixture up.  Yesterday, we put the new clawfoot tub in.  

All that's left is having the plumber connect the drain and put the valves on and patch the hole.  Then I can grout the tile, and hook up the sink, tub and toilet.  Then again, the fixtures for the tub, and the whole sink have yet to arrive.... 

I have some trim tiles too but I'm hoping i can finish that this week.

Maybe by this weekend?

Bathroom Hell!

What's better than having a water leak in one bathroom?  Having a water leak in both bathrooms!

We noticed some water staining along the base boards and near the tub drain in our big (?) bathroom at the end of the hall.  We had been planning to do a remodel for some time but want to wait till we could afford it etc...  Oh, well.

I pulled up one of the base boards and found mold of various colors.  So, that lead to cutting out some of the wainscoting, which lead to a total bathroom re-do.  After I got the wall boards off we found that the shower pan in the other bathroom is leaking as well!  Wonderful.

We also found that our tub drain was cracked below the slab and needed to be replaced!

This calls for a real plumber, so we call a friend of a friend who is real good/cheap and he makes a big hole in the floor, cuts out the old drain then tells us he has to go out of town for a week or two!

This projects is approaching the point where it is cheaper and easier to just burn the house down and start over.

The good news is I am off-track (since I work through the summer I get to take time off thru the year) all next week so I am going to be able to work on the bathroom.  

My district has "spring break" in April so I can work on the other bathroom then.  Oh-boy!

Then again is is very therapeutic for me.

Cub Scouting

Two weeks ago, I took my cub scouts SCUBA diving!
Sports Chalet has a program called "Discover SCUBA". It's a free 2 hr. intro to diving.
4 boys, another dad and I went. It was great! I used to dive years ago and have forgotten how much fun it was.
Also, for Joel it was very exciting. We've been doing swim lessons for years with little signs of improvement. Finally I bought him a mask and snorkel and had him try it. He took to it right away, with no fear or hesitation whatsoever.
The pool at Sport Chalet went from 4' to 13'. Joel was the only one of the cubs to go to the bottom of the 13'. He spent an hour underwater and we had to drag him out of the pool when it was over.
Several of the other boys were "non swimmers" but they were still able to play around underwater. It was very exciting for all of us!

I want this job!

I saw this on Dark Roasted Blend.
So, how does one get a job doing this?