What's you your workbench?

pat foster · Post by **pat foster** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:17 pm

Lillian,

Good show and good luck with the surgeon.

Ricardo,

Welcome! That is a great-looking back. Keep us posted on its progress.

Pat

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 1:05 am

Thanks Pat. I'm going to need it.

James Mc · Post by **James Mc** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 1:11 am

Hi Michael
Looks great!

One of my first posts on this forum was about Australian weed woods and their possible use as guitar timbers. Camphor Laurel was on my hot list as a very beautiful timber that seemed likely to work, but I couldn't find a single example of anyone using it on an acoustic. In terms of timber properties, the bit I had seemed to be very like raintree (monkey pod), so I figured it would make a nice guitar. Love to hear your thoughts on it as a guitar timber and a sound clip if you have one.

Cheers
James

Dennis Leahy · Post by **Dennis Leahy** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:21 am

Ricardo,
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that back is not suitable for a guitar. Thate are far too many crossgrain defects. Please place it carefully in a box, along with the sides, and ship it to me. I'll PM my address.

Lillian,
The router tower looks very cool, and I suspect that your dissatisfaction with the cradle is the height. Does the height allow too much wiggle? And, as for your trip to the oral surgeon - what can I say - it sucks, but hope the pain is manageable. I have it on authority from a wise woman that oil of clove may help.

But don't forget the pain pills, and take them before the pain gets unbearable, as they are much more effective.

"B", a.k.a. woodrat, a.k.a. John,
Love that combination of EI Rosewood against the Tas Blackwood! She'll be a looker!

Michael,
That Camphor Laurel is just beautiful. At 3/4 size, do you think the top material stiffness, and/or material thickness, and/or top bracing required heavier gauge strings than you expected? What is the scale length? She sure is pretty!

Dennis

{edit} Thate? Geez, what typo-ridden keystroke combination makes the word "Thate"? I can only guess that I was fighting between "There are" and "That has" in my mind, and both won. Ricardo, "There are far too many crossgrain defects." Whew, now I can sit back and wait for the postal carrier. I was wondering why it hadn't arrived!

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:58 am

Welcome to the forum Ricardo. Very nice piece of Blackwood you've got there. Looks very similar to some pieces that I got from out of the Otways.

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 7:02 am

Dennis, the tower is my version of Stew Mac's binding jig. I couldn't figure out how to do the bearing setup they use, so I used linear bearings instead.

The "issues" I still have to deal with are from not choosing materials for it with more thought. I chose the Rigid trim router to be the dedicated router before I decided on a jig design. As you can see, it has a bump on the top to aid in holding it. But it hits the tower, which is a good thing and a bad thing. This keeps it from dropping down too far while being used, but it also limits its travel. The easiest solution would be for me to cut down the tower, which I may do yet, or raise the body in the cradle. My thought was the higher I put the body in the cradle in relation to the base, the chance of it being out of plumb decreases.

I should have spent more time planning the cradle before I started slapping things together. The black knobs need to be switched out with a much lower profile. There is enough room between the tower and the cradle if I slid it straight into it, but when I come around a curve, the knob hits the tower. No biggie. Just need to get some T-nuts.

I also would like a way to tighten the grip on the sides to keep it from rocking with in the cradle. So I need to either come up with a plate that I can screw closer to the sides or put a couple more arms on the cradle.

The jig works, which surprised and pleased me. Easy to use, packs away easy enough. I'm glad I put the time into it.

So far it is ice and better living through better chemistry. Fran will be stopping for the oil of clove on her way home. I didn't even think about it today, imagine that.

Localele · Post by **Localele** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:43 pm

James, The Camphor Laurel has a lot of uses but in typical fashion it is best out of old trees. Not tall skinny regrowth which tends to be pale , soft and unstable.Older trees produce very stable timber and a variety of figure.Color is variable and my thoughts are that there are 3 to 4 sub species of Camphor.Different trees can vary in color from a nice honey gold to more biscuit brown through to more dark chocolate and then almost black with yellow and green tinges.It doesn't all seem to be soil/water related but rather different species with different leaf colors to go with it.
Dennis, The plan is basically the Scott Antes 3/4 or Style 5 martin. Scale length of 21 3/8 ". String width at nut 1 9/16" and at saddle 2 5/16", towards the Norman Blake sizes for large fingers.String gauges were more a factor for me coming from ukes to steel strings and being careful of the extra tension involved.Martin use Custom Light 11-52 on their size 5 now.My problem was with the low E as I was well under their size in the sets I had.Started at 48 went to 50 and ended up at 53.Should have trusted them but where is the fun in that. We had a stall at a Craft Market today and a number of people played it in various tunings and it sounded great.I am sure it wouldn't have liked the drop D tunings with the smaller low E string but it was no worries today.
The small plans sure are a bit of fun and most people are surprised at the volume and tone that comes out of the small body.
Cheers for now as it is definately "Beer O'clock".

Rod True · Post by **Rod True** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:34 am

Lillian wrote:Dennis, the tower is my version of Stew Mac's binding jig. I couldn't figure out how to do the bearing setup they use, so I used linear bearings instead.

The "issues" I still have to deal with are from not choosing materials for it with more thought. I chose the Rigid trim router to be the dedicated router before I decided on a jig design. As you can see, it has a bump on the top to aid in holding it. But it hits the tower, which is a good thing and a bad thing. This keeps it from dropping down too far while being used, but it also limits its travel. The easiest solution would be for me to cut down the tower, which I may do yet, or raise the body in the cradle. My thought was the higher I put the body in the cradle in relation to the base, the chance of it being out of plumb decreases.

I should have spent more time planning the cradle before I started slapping things together. The black knobs need to be switched out with a much lower profile. There is enough room between the tower and the cradle if I slid it straight into it, but when I come around a curve, the knob hits the tower. No biggie. Just need to get some T-nuts.

I also would like a way to tighten the grip on the sides to keep it from rocking with in the cradle. So I need to either come up with a plate that I can screw closer to the sides or put a couple more arms on the cradle.

The jig works, which surprised and pleased me. Easy to use, packs away easy enough. I'm glad I put the time into it.

So far it is ice and better living through better chemistry. Fran will be stopping for the oil of clove on her way home. I didn't even think about it today, imagine that.

First off, I hope your surgery when well and you're taking it easy.

Hey Lillian, nice progress there Sister! On the router in your binding jig, what if you just rotated it 90*? Would that clear the nub at the top?

I think having the body up that high would make it less stable in the cradle . The closer you can keep it to the base, the less likely the arms can flex.

the other think you can do would be to add a piece of 1/2" plywood to the arm where the router sits. Extend it out an extra 1 to 1-1/2", cut the aluminum channel with a 'U' shape to allow the bit in the correct place. That will put the router out further which will solve the issue with the 'nub' at the top of the router.

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:39 am

Well what a busy bunch you lot have been.

BBM, it's always good to go back if you have wood to remove, it's only when you need to start putting it back on that the real problems begin. I am sure the harshness of your sons critique will be mellowed by the skill of your now greater experience. If not you can always stifle it a little by making him eat saw dust

Rocket, I did wonder when viewing your earlier post where the tailpiece had come from, nice work on the casting, very tasteful.

Tim, nice job on the uke, I see from your new avatar that you managed to find someone to play it for you.

Rod, you have a very nice pair as well, the Imbuia will be simply spectacular.

Michael, very impressive stuff the laurel looks so warm, lovely little git.

Woodrat are you setting up to push Bob Taylor off his perch? Good selection of necks and a very tidy looking OM.

Ricardo that blackwood is disgusting

Lillian, good to see you going forward girl, I am sure you will have the jig sorted by next one and that is all we can hope for, each one a little better than the last.

Cheers

Kim

obmit · Post by **obmit** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:52 am

Why stop now, Ukulele No#3

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:51 pm

Thanks guys. I'm slow, but I'm persistent.

Rod, the problem with rotating it is that I won't be able to see what I'm doing. No, you are right, I can rotate it. All the action is going on below the bracket. I don't need to look through the base to see what I'm doing. I'm not allowed into the shop until I stop taking the vicodin, so I'll have to get back to you on that. If I can't rotate it, I can shorten the tower down, then I can redo the cradle with lower arms. With the way things are set up now, using the bump to prevent it from bottoming out, I have about three inches of travel. That should be more than enough room. The only time it might be an issue is if I ever do a wedged body.

Surgery went as smoothly as possible, thanks for asking. He left 6 stitches behind in hopes of avoiding a dry socket. But told me to start taking the antibiotic and if I'm feeling fine after three days, or five days to not worry about the rest of it. I raised an eyebrow to him and let it go. I know better than that. He should know better than that. Other than being on very limited soft foods, life is good, well as long as I have drugs.

Deano · Post by **Deano** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:39 pm

It's no acoustic..

Stu · Post by **Stu** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:16 pm

Deano..........looks like someone's got their Tiger Myrtle carving boots on tonight !!! Lurvelly

Got any other closer contour shapes for us ?

cheers, Stu

Deano · Post by **Deano** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:28 pm

Wait till you see the tasmanian eucalypt build

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:55 am

Dean, you've got sexy down pat and are well into sensual.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:40 pm

Speaking of which Lillian, what's happened to your Avatar?

rocket · Post by **rocket** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:20 pm

Hey Dean, you have been busy, that looks fantastic, nice work, i like the sweep up to the edge.

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:48 am

I took it down because it was really bothering a few people, with me being one of them.

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:57 pm

Kim wrote:

Woodrat are you setting up to push Bob Taylor off his perch? Good selection of necks and a very tidy looking OM.

Cheers

Kim

Yeah Got him running scared. He emails me weekly asking me to leave him a slice of the global guitar pie! Thanks for the compliments.

John aka Woodrat

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:59 pm

Lillian wrote: I took it down because it was really bothering a few people, with me being one of them.

I wasn't one of them

Hippety Hop · Post by **Hippety Hop** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:24 pm

These two have been strung up for less than a week. Both sopranos. They both feel and sound pretty much the same, except one is slightly louder - probably due to it's larger sound hole. I started the one with the rope purfling first, but it dragged on so long that I started the other and finished them at the same time. There was also the one with the warped top that got rejected...

It took me a couple of weeks to get the courage to rout the first one. Then I bought a cocobolo fretboard, but it didn't look right. Then after a few coats of oil on the neck, I realised I'd have to sand it off and fill the pores properly...

The first is made of streaky myrtle with zebrawood back & sides, and lace sheoak neck. The other is perhaps AA blackwood. They both have gidgee fretboards & bridges and plastic binding.

They have (lag screw) bolt on necks, so the fretboard isn't stuck to the body. I was going to screw the bridges on too, but as I was screwing the bridge on the first one it split. I glued it up, but it split again. I gave up, but I will screw future bridges on. It worked alright on the concert uke. On the second one I drilled through the saddle slot into the body and pinned the bridge into position with a couple of brads while I glued it.

The rosette on the blackwood uke is zipflex, with thin black/white purfling either side.

Cheers Hip.

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:43 pm

They look great Hip, I really like the crushed velvet blackwood with the zipflex rose, that is one very classy looking uke.

Cheers

Kim.

Localele · Post by **Localele** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:51 am

Nice work there Hip.It seems to me you can get away with mixing timbers on a uke more so than guitars.What string spacings do you use at the nut and saddle?

obmit · Post by **obmit** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:11 pm

Nice Uke's Hip good to see you have experimented with a different sized sound holes. I keep meaning to do this but dont want to go away from standard specs.

This Forum is turning into the Uke club

More Ukes the better.

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:23 pm

My Sapele Mahogany Concert Uke was finished over the weekend. I reckon this is my best effort yet. The tone is warm and with great volume. My first time using Mahogany. I like it! Koa appointments from Dave in Hawaii. Thanks Dave!

Better get the lawn mower running over the weekend aye!

Cheers

Alan

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