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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
 Posted - 01/13/2006 : 10:29:35 AM
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Well folks, a year or two ago i threatened to think about getting ready to maybe try to someday perhaps get around to building enough courage to start making a guitar from scratch. I am pleased to report that I finally started.
I had decided on a Weissenborn, a lap-slide instrument whose neck is simply an extension of the body cavity. I did this for two reasons. First, Weissenborns sound really cool. Secondly, I figured the most difficult part of building a regular guitar was the neck joint, so i found a way around it with this guitar style
Early last year i had the koa sliced up into 1/8 inch boards, then, back in June i began cutting out the pieces for back, top and sides. My son was building a guitar at the same time, a regular steel string flat-top. I hesitated to put any of the parts together because we were working in a gravel floored, unheated shop, and the humidity was often high and the temperaure varied frequently during the days, and with the seasons, ranging from 80 above to 55 below. He dicided to put his togehter anyway, and now i see his joints are splitting apart as the wood has dried out. I waited because i knew i was getting electricity this fall that would allow me to have a constant heat source in the shop without cutting and hauling another 10 cords of wood a year. My son is away at college....can;t bring myelf to tell him what has happened to his project.
So, with the recent acquisition of real electricty i have begun in earnest to make this guitar. I have glued the back and top, sanded them, braced the inside surfaces. the headstock is cut out and veneeered, sides cut out and waitng to be bent...another scary part,but i have practiced on some scraps and think this weekend is the big date for that project. Then it is a mater of gluing in the kerfing, assembling back and top to sides, and doing the finsish work.
I am really excited. I sent some pictures to Andy, hoping he might be able to post them as i said i would last year when this was just an idea. If they do get on here, don't shrink back from the sight of the headstock....it is just the veneer i put on, but left it long and will probably trim it back to a less gauche outline before i am done. Or, maybe not!
Next project after this will be to learn how to play lap slide..Konabob, where are you???
Updated photos posted 1/24/2006
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Karl
Frozen North |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2006 : 7:03:14 PM
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| The talent of the taropatch.net members never ceases to amaze me. Way to go Karl! Looking good, real good! |
Andy |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2006 : 7:53:24 PM
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| Thanks for the photos, Karl. Looking good. Jesse |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2006 : 11:22:04 PM
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I found a good reason to chop off the grotesque headstock extension. It wouild not fit in any case i had, and i am NOT going to make a new case!
Got the courage up to bend the sides last night. Got a few scorch marks on the waistline on the frirst one, but that way i can npick it out in a crowd of other Weissenborns.
Today i glued in the kerfing, cut down the headstock, made the bridge
In the pictures you can see the main structues are koa, the bracing is spruce, the fingerboard is a piece of walnut i have carried with me since 1969 when i first moved west, then north. Finally found a use for it. It is also the bridge material, heel block, bridge plate and headstock
Will send more pix in a few days when it starts looking like a guitar |
Karl
Frozen North |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2182 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 10:19:20 AM
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| Purty wood, Karl. Too bad you had to trim the fishtail to make it fit the case. Is it gonna be a 6 or 8 stringer? Slippery instruments are cool anyway. |
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Konabob
`Olu`olu
USA
928 Posts |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 4:53:09 PM
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Konabob
Yeah, i followed the mantra "Just Do It". Now that i have begun, the trick is to not doo-doo it
Good luck. Plans are easy to come by, but instructions are not. I may have some talking points if you get around to building one.
Thumbs,
that fistail looked ok from the front, but i had just slop-glued it onto the headstock blank, so from the rear it was pretty ugly. Making it look cool from all angles would have taken a lot of work, and it still wouldn't have fit the case. It will be somewhat distinctive fcrom the Weienborn/Knutsens, becuase i am not using the standard headstock pattern. Also, it might be a bit smaller than normal, as the sides sort of shrunk up a bit after they dried. I could have re-bent them had i not already glued in the kerfing!
Gotta give it a rest tonight, tho....been staying up til 1-2 am every night, and that wears on me at this age...hard to get thru a whole work day still standing.
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Karl
Frozen North |
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slkho
`Olu`olu
740 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2006 : 4:16:16 PM
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WOW Gramps!! Looking good. I didn't you could that sort of stuff, way to go.
( Better kerfing then kwifing I figure).
-slkho |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2006 : 11:25:17 AM
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Can't surf, don;'t know any serfs, gotta kerf
Next up is gluing headstock to something, then gluing that to something else...not sure just which order, though.... |
Karl
Frozen North |
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slkho
`Olu`olu
740 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2006 : 12:52:43 PM
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...hip bone's connected to the leg bone, the leg bone's connected to the....
-slkho |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2006 : 03:38:50 AM
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| Added updated photos in Karl's original post. |
Andy |
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Mainkaukau
Lokahi
USA
245 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2006 : 06:04:11 AM
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| Cool pictures, the pics of the guitar are also cool :o) |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2006 : 11:56:20 AM
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Hey Karl,
I don't see no yellow snow!
What you use the chains for? (third picture from the bottom) |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2006 : 4:49:24 PM
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Wow! Gorgeous pix - looks like you have the sun back.
How 'bout coming down to LV in April?? |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2006 : 09:05:55 AM
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The yellow snow is only found closer to home for some reason. These pix were taken abut 1/2 mile down the driveway. What you see is not snow on the branches as we have had none in over 2 months. It is hoar frost, that settles out of the air like dew, only as crystals. It sticks to any non-moving surface and builds up. As long as there is no breeze to blow it off it just griows, but in 36 winters this is the largest accumulationi have seen. In Fairbanks, where there are more people, cars, houses, etc., emitting moisture into the air, the phenomenon is quite striking...up to an inch of frost covering all sides of any twig or branch of blade of grass. This fairyland scenery will vanish at the first hint of a wind, but so far, none of that fro 2 months either.
The chains are remnants from when i had a dog team. I keep a few pieces around to hold up shelving in our cabin, which has a motif best described as early alaksana/junkyard/mountain-man-wannabe/cowboy/renaissance/garagesale revival, with a good helping of scanahoovian wifery thrown in to make it liveable.
Yes, Nancy there is sun. It comes in at about eye level at high (or shall we say low) noon. No warmth in the bugger yet, though. Is LV anywhere near LA? |
Karl
Frozen North |
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chunky monkey
Ha`aha`a
USA
1025 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2006 : 1:43:41 PM
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| What's that white stuff all over the place? |
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